The Cloughjordan Ecovillage is an ongoing project to create an

eco-village An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural en ...

community with commitments to ecological, social and economic sustainability. This community is being developed on of farmland within the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

Oxpark Oxpark ( ga, Páirc an Daimh) is a townland in the Barony (Ireland), Barony of Ormond Lower, County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located north of Main Street Cloughjordan. Historical structures Cloughjordan House is an histori ...

purchased in 2005 and merges with the existing village of

Cloughjordan Cloughjordan, officially Cloghjordan ( , ), is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is in the barony of Ormond Lower, and it is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. The town is situated in the north-western part of Tip ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The first residents moved into their homes in the eco-village in December 2009. A district heating system powered by a wood chip boiler provides hot water to the homes. A

community-supported agriculture Community-supported agriculture (CSA model) or cropsharing is a system that connects producers and consumers within the food system closer by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an altern ...

scheme was established in 2008. Members of Cloughjordan community farm are drawn from the eco-village and surrounding area. The farm aims to supply members' families with much of their food using biodynamic principles. The farm cultivates 12 acres within the eco-village. Village Education Research and Training (VERT) is a working group within the eco-village. It is committed to running courses encouraging best practice in sustainable living. Twenty nine near

zero-energy building A Zero Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy c ...

s in the village were open to the public during the "Near Zero Energy Buildings Open Doors Ireland" event held in November 2013. Other NZEB Open Doors events took place in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Hungary, France, Malta, Slovenia, Poland under the NZEB 2021 program promoted by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. A community

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

, created within the eco-village was opened by

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

in April 2017.

References

{{reflist Cloughjordan Ecovillages Intentional communities in Ireland