Corinthia Hotel Lisbon - The Energy Efficient Hotel

The Corinthia Hotel Lisbon, currently the biggest five star hotel in Lisbon, claims to be the most energy efficient hotel in the city.

A refitting project started in 2011, developed in a partnership with Galp Energia and ISQ Energia, two energy companies operating in Portugal, increased its energy efficiency dramatically.

The company was committed to reduce its energy consumption and at the same time its CO2 footprint by implementing efficient systems, and by the use of renewable energy sources.

The measures included the optimization of the water heating and acclimatization systems, lighting hardware and software and installing both a cogeneration and solar stations.

By the end of the refitting, the hotel was able to save 2,02 GWh/year. That’s 22% of its previous yearly energy consumption.

Replacing around 6300 halogen light bulbs for LED alone, granted a 202.599€/year save. The equivalent of 635.181 KG CO2/year or 31.753 trees.

Source: http://www.galpenergia.com/PT/Media/Noticias/Documents/2011/Apresenta%C3%A7%C3%B5es%20Evento%20Hotel%20Energeticamente%20Eficiente_Hotel%20Corinthia.pdf

Nearly zero, nearly there

The Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) is an initiative inspired by the European Union's targets for the greenhouse gas reduction and co-funded by the EU's Intelligent Energy Europe Program.

Its purpose? To accelerate the rate of refurbishment of existing hotels, namely the small to medium, helping them to become Nearly Zero Energy Buildings by:

- providing technical advice to committed hotel owners

- demonstrating the profitability, feasibility and sustainability of investments towards nearly zero energy

- undertaking training

- promoting front runners at national, regional and EU level to increase their market visibility

The neZEH claims as benefits for the hospitality sector:

- energy savings and thus reduction of operation costs

- an improved image and service for guests

- access to a new "sustainability" market segment

- achieving Corporate Social Responsibility targets and sustainable balance

The initiative, a consortium of European institutes and agencies and the UNWTO, will run for three years (2013-2016) and includes several pilot projects in 7 countries.

In the next few weeks, we'll try to unveil more about those particular projects.

source: http://www.nezeh.eu/home/index.html