Eco-friendly hotel

by Natasha Christou Digital Marketing Consultant

Eco-friendly hotel
Within the next 20 years, our planet could reach the peak regarding oil consumption. What’s more worrying is that the demand for oil continues to grow year upon year as the global production of oil appears to decrease.

This ever-growing problem will impact the way that hotels are constructed in the future, and how eco-friendly strategies can benefit hotels in terms of their cost-efficiency.

When constructing new hotels, most of the machinery used, if not all are powered by fossil fuels and crude oils. The reason for this, is that without them, the construction process would not be able to function in its current form. This is however, having a detrimental impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Within the UK, 50% of carbon emissions are accounted for by the construction industry and machinery within the production process.

In the light of this, the awareness off how pollution is starting to impact our planet, is finally being realised and as result, attitudes are beginning to change. Within the construction industry, Eco-friendly practices have been growing, and although the US market have estimated revenues of $245 billion, UK firms could also take advantage of these environmentally friendly practices.

Providers of container hire and waste disposal solutions, Reconomy explain further on how eco-friendly practices can be implemented within the construction of hotels and other buildings, and once they’re built, can help tackle climate change.

When constructing a new hotel, the UK government are instructing construction firms to use green processes by passing legislation. Post-construction, firms are also encouraged to incorporate green technologies within the build to benefit the environment once construction is complete.

Building an eco-friendly hotel
There are three core principles that need to be taken in account during the construction of a hotel so that’s ecologically beneficial to and within the environment:

1. What needs to be established, is whether energy is being wasted during construction. During the production process machines can more than often be overused. This leads to energy that is wasted that can never be used again. So that a motor isn’t overworked, electric vehicles or machines with hybrid-engines should be used so that when a motor is overworked – electric engines can help power and support the overall load.

2. Once the building of the hotel is complete, what energy is being generated within it, and is it being wasted?

3. Furthermore, assess whether materials for the construction of the hotel have been locally sourced – if they haven’t, a decision has to be made on whether they can be recycled in the future.

For the roofing of the hotel, recycled paper can be utilised instead of new insulation that’s often expensive. By using cheap and practical alternatives – insulation that is produced for individual roofs will be more cost effective when using pre-existing materials. By using timbers that are sourced from sustainably managed forests within the local areas, this avoids when to chop down trees that will not be replanted.

Ecological hotel structures and their design
Based on making the most out of the hotel structure, these eco-friendly techniques can help to save costs, and energy within the hotel design.

· Drainage systems and water filtration. When biological waste is treated safely, water can be re-used within a hotel. Rainwater can also be utilised and collected into specific drains that recycle it, so it can be re-used instead of water from a tap and also used in outdoor spaces such as gardens and courtyard spaces for plants

· Low-energy lighting. Low energy lighting can last twice as long as regular lightbulbs, which accounts for an energy saving of 100%

· Solar energy panels. Solar energy is fast in becoming a cheaper alternative as opposed to other forms of commercial power. When using them within a hotel’s power supply, this can account for a significant saving in energy costs. A hotel also covers a large surface area, which means that many solar panels can be used, maximising the amount of electricity that can be generated in this energy efficient way.

Benefitting from environmentally friendly construction
The day-to-day running of a hotel can account for 80% of hotel’s overall cost, which can be expensive. Reducing the total running costs of a hotel by one third, introducing green initiatives can help reduce these costs to 53.3% of overall costs.

When it comes to the hotel’s architectural design, daylight should always be considered. This is because daylight helps to save on artificial lighting costs. Furthermore, it is considered by many that the ‘indoor environment quality’ of a hotel can be improved when natural light is abundant – this is because it creates the illusion of more space within a more natural feeling environment, benefitting the health of occupants that are present within the building.

Once the construction part of hotel begins, long-lasting materials that can be recycle should always be utilised. This means that fewer new materials will be used during construction, helping to reduce the overall cost of the build whilst less energy is consumed in order to produce the new structure.

To tackle climate change, construction firms will have to use these materials and techniques within their construction processes. By producing hotels that are greener, more environmentally efficient and conceptualised with the long-term future of the planet in mind, this will ensure that buildings are constructed in a sustainable way for generations to come.

Sources:

http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/ecofriendlyconstructionmethodsmaterials.html

http://www.nationwideconstruction.us/eco-friendly-construction-8-advantages-of-green-building/

http://www.inc.com/best-industries/issie-lapowsky/green-construction.html

http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/ecofriendlyconstruction.html

http://www.innovationsforthebuiltenvironment.co.uk/

http://www.livingbeyondgreen.com/development-construction/