Sustainable tourism and greening your accommodation

Sustainable tourism is important for businesses and advantages include:

• Reduction of costs
• Protection of essential resources
• Delivering greater quality & enriched experiences
• Helping businesses compete into the future

The Travel Foundation believes that greening your tourist accommodation isn’t just good for the environment, but is good for your business as well. As much as 25% can be saved on water and energy bills. But, very often, accommodation owners have no idea where to start.

To this end, the Travel Foundation provides a number of tools for accommodation providers – tools that can assist owners and managers in operating a more environmentally-efficient and sustainable property. They provide comprehensive advice for accommodation providers who would like to green their property.

They provide

• Top tips for managers and posters for staff (download available from water, waste and energy pages).
• Videos that explain how to implement greener measures.
• Case studies to demonstrate the benefit of greening your accommodation.
• Advice on sourcing local products and fair employment.
• Training presentations to motivate staff to engage with your green scheme.
• Finally...advice on communicating the work you are doing in this area.

There are tools and advice that cover greener accommodations, greener tour operators, whale sharks, communications tools, sustainable tourism policies, running a water and energy saving project, and the part animal welfare plays in tourism. Follow this link for more information on the green business tools from the Travel Foundation.

Today we’re going to cover the greening of new builds and refurbishments in the accommodation industry.

Taking energy and water efficiency issues into consideration in the design phase of new construction, expansion and refurbishing projects is important. Incorporating efficiency in the original design of a hotel can reduce its energy and water needs by up to 50% compared to a standard-efficiency hotel. However, planning for energy and water efficiency, even when renovating or refurbishing, will make a difference to the hotel’s energy and water consumption. 

Some of the key efficiency issues that should be taken into account in the design phase of projects are listed below. 

Plumbing fixtures 

Make sure that all plumbing fixtures installed on property are water efficient. These include:

• Effective low-flow showerheads that consume no more than 10 L/min;
• Taps that consume no more than 6 L/min in guest, staff and public bathrooms; Taps that consume no more than 10 L/min in most kitchen, bar and laundry sinks;
• Water-saving toilets that use 6 L/flush or less; and
• Urinals that use 4 L/flush or less.

Recycling water

Keep in mind that a hotel often discards a lot of water that is clean enough to be reused for irrigation, laundry or other applications. Examples of these “clean” flows include rainwater from the roofs; defrost water from ice makers; cooling water from water-cooled refrigeration equipment (e.g., ice makers); condensed water from air conditioning systems; and backwash water from sand filters.

New equipment

Always take energy efficiency into account when purchasing new equipment, such as water heaters, air conditioning units, refrigeration equipment, motors and kitchen appliances. 

Lighting

Select light fixtures that can be equipped with energy efficient lamps, and are designed to transmit most of the light produced by the lamps.

• Moderate the use of decorative lighting.
• Design buildings that can maximise the use of natural light indoors.
• Consider LED lighting – find out more on LED lighting here

Ventilation and air-conditioning

• Design lobbies, lounges, restaurants, bars and other public areas that can rely on ceiling fans and natural ventilation rather than air conditioning.
• Use an energy management system to reduce the amount of energy consumed by lights and heating/cooling systems in unoccupied guestrooms.
• Reduce air conditioning costs by insulating exterior walls, insulating and venting attics, and installing a radiant barrier in attics.
• Reduce heat gains by shading windows and glass doors that are exposed to direct sunlight. This can be achieved with trees and landscaping, awnings or shades, or with special window-films that reduce light transmittance through the glass panes.
• Minimise air infiltration in air-conditioned areas by implementing the following measures:
  • Make sure all exterior doors and operable windows are weather-stripped (draught proofed).
  • Make sure exterior doors have a door sweep.
  • Avoid louvered or jalousie windows in air-conditioned areas. These windows are extremely draughty and substantially increase air conditioning costs.
  • Make sure all cracks and gaps around door frames, window frames and other features are properly caulked.
• Provide shading for the condensers of air conditioning or refrigeration units that are exposed to direct sunlight.
• Insulate all refrigerant lines properly. 

Water heating

• Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using solar water heaters.
• Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using the waste heat generated by chillers or package air conditioning systems to heat the hotel’s hot water supply.
• Insulate all water heaters, hot water storage tanks and hot water lines properly.

Still not convinced? Watch the Travel Foundation’s video (featured at the end of this article) on sustainable tourism to find out why greening your tourism business is a good idea. And find out more on the tools available from the Travel Foundation to help you green your accommodation.