New online sustainability tool for hotels launched
31 August 2011
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced the launch of a new online tool to help hotels evaluate their energy consumption and assist in improving their energy management and cutting costs.
The Hotel Energy Solutions (HES) e-toolkit, which was developed after three years of testing and research, provides hoteliers with a report that shows their current energy use and recommends appropriate renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and actions. It further sets out what kind of savings on operational expenses hotels can expect from their green investments through a return-on-investment calculator.
Testing of the toolkit was finalized in August in over 100 European properties in four pilot destinations: Haute-Savoie, France; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Bonn, Germany; and Strandja, Bulgaria. According to the UNWTO, the tookit received very positive feedback from the participant hotel owners and managers.
The online tool is part of the UNWTO’s Hotel Energy Solutions project, which aims to increase energy efficiency (EE) in European small and medium hotels by 20% and their use of renewable energies (RE) by 10%.
It will be available free to all accommodation establishments registered with the project, the UNWTO said, stressing that whilst the project was developed with European Union member states in mind, it is expected to be rolled out globally over the coming years.
“Tourism is today one the largest drivers of employment and development. Millions of people are employed in the sector around the world, in a wide range of positions and levels, contributing significantly to local economic growth and wellbeing. Tourism is also responsible for 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions, out of which hotels and other types of accommodation account for 2% - a comparatively small, yet important, footprint that the tourism sector has assumed as a priority to be addressed,” the UNWTO said in a statement.
Hotel Energy Solutions is a UNWTO-initiated project supported by the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The project has been implemented in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA), the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) as well as the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).
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