Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a cornerstone of sustainable hotel operations. By embracing solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric power, hotels and resorts can significantly reduce their environmental impact, achieve cost savings, and appeal to the growing market of eco-conscious travelers. While challenges exist, the benefits far outweigh the hurdles, making renewable energy a critical investment for the future of the hospitality industry.
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Resort Energy focuses on these renewable energy sources for resorts and hotels:
Solar Power: One of the most accessible and widely adopted renewable energy sources is solar power. Hotels can install photovoltaic panels on rooftops or other available spaces to harness sunlight. Solar energy can be used to power various hotel operations, including heating water, lighting, and even air conditioning systems. Innovations like solar water heaters and solar pool heating systems are becoming increasingly popular in the hospitality industry.
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Wind Energy: Although more common in large-scale applications, wind energy can also be viable for hotels, especially those located in windy regions. Small-scale wind turbines can be installed on hotel properties to generate electricity, contributing to the hotel's overall energy needs.
Geothermal Energy: Geothermal energy harnesses the heat from beneath the earth’s surface. Hotels situated in geothermal hotspots can utilize this energy for heating and cooling through geothermal heat pumps. This technology is particularly effective for maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures without relying on conventional HVAC systems.
Biomass Energy: Biomass energy, derived from organic materials such as wood, agricultural residues, and waste, can be used to produce heat and electricity. Some hotels have adopted biomass boilers to generate heating, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
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Hydroelectric Power: For hotels located near water bodies, small-scale hydroelectric systems can be an effective way to generate electricity. This method harnesses the kinetic energy of flowing water to produce power, which can be particularly useful in remote or off-grid locations.
What Resort Energy Does
Project Assessment
The first step is to conduct a feasibility assessment. This will help uncover a system’s potential benefits, challenges and life cycle, with a unique site in mind. Financial, resiliency and sustainability opportunities will all vary from place to place.
It can be easy to overlook details at the beginning of the process, but missed details often result in increased costs and project delays.
System Eligibility
The next step (although it often happens in conjunction with the feasibility assessment) is to complete a 30% system design. This involves laying out the basic types and sizes of technologies involved, their intended locations, the methods for interconnecting them within a microgrid and a plan for working with the local utility. The goal here is to help set the course for future detailed design considerations
Financial Planning
Before beginning the full design process, it is also crucial to conduct financial planning and develop a cost estimate for the project. These are critical to a system’s feasibility and can illuminate opportunities for third-party financing. It is important to lay out all budgeting guidelines, so as to accommodate such assistance and equipment purchasing.
Project Management
Being vendor agnostic allows our team to bid projects and access competitive market pricing. We then screen contractors, negotiate contracts and oversee your projects from concept to completion. We also offer ongoing reporting and asset management.
Full Design
Once these steps have been taken and the logistics of the system have been determined, it is time to carry out the full design, moving forward from 30% to complete blueprints and documentation, including a utility interconnection agreement.