The sustainable hotel has been the model to look out for in the past few years, marking a mini revolution in sustainability and helping pave the path for a cleaner future. An entire 1% of global greenhouse emissions come from the hotel industry alone. While 1% seems like an awfully small number, think of it on a global scale and you will realize that it is actually a significant problem. Whereas the eco-friendly hotels can save several tons of CO2 emitted per room just by implementing simpler practices. And then there are the non-tangibles: Hotels that rely on sustainable practices are more preferred among millennials, nearly 705 of them in fact, according to a 2020 analysis from the UN IPCC. With the help of a good commercial kitchen design and planning here’s how you can turn your new hotel into a sustainable venture, and maintain a green corridor in tourism.
The Easy Stuff:
These are the simpler changes you can make to set yourself apart from other hotels. Simple things like getting rid of single use plastic in all the rooms and also operations, switching to LED lighting in the rooms. Ensure that guests do not have to buy water bottles all the time and add water stations everywhere so that guests do not have to hunt for water either.
Construction
If you thought construction was not a big part of building an eco-friendly hotel, think again. Using sustainable materials like fly ash or rammed earth both reduces costs over the long term and helps with keeping the cottages cool. Use mud left over from digging the hotel site for the construction. Make sure that you don’t build over sensitive areas or in eco sensitive zones.
You may also want to consider eco-friendly electricity options right now when consulting with our
. Install timers on lights, invest in alternative forms of energy like solar or wind farms on the roof of the hotel, install solar heating for the hotel’s water supply and so on.
Eco friendly kitchen
Make sure everything in the kitchen is sustainable as much as possible. Obtain sustainable produce from local markets so that you don’t have to spend time and energy on sourcing, thereby reducing carbon footprint even more. Stick to low energy heat sources for the kitchen like induction cookers. Where gas or fire is absolutely necessary, use burners where wastage is minimal and allows you to control the heat to precision. Going for environmentally friendly packaging and waste disposal will also help reduce the amount of waste that needs to be processed.
Going farm to fork is another way of keeping things eco-friendly. Using produce grown on your own farm saves you a ton of resources, while adding the vital element of sustainability to your hotel. Talk to our commercial kitchen design to figure out how to implement an edible garden in your operation!
Eco friendly operations
You may think that the day to day operations of your business cannot be done in an eco friendly manner, but this is further from the truth. Simple things such as contactless payments save heaps of paper every month, for instance. Having timings for electricity based on peak hours also helps. Add recycling bins in all rooms so that guests can help you segregate waste.
Eco friendly laundry
When it comes to laundry, it is often conceived as difficult to manage an eco-friendly operation. Laundromats often involve chemicals that may be harmful to the environment. But there are also eco-friendly detergents that might be more expensive but do not have any ill effects when dispersed into water or the environment. Another area where resources can be significantly reduced are the washing machines themselves. Industrial size washing machines typically consume a lot of energy; find one that suits the energy grade of your locale and also has a dryer option so that you don’t have to invest in a dryer separately, which is a waste of even more options.
If you want to know how you can start an eco friendly hotel, or slowly convert your existing operation into an eco-friendly one, talk to our commercial kitchen planners at Kilowa to figure out the best plan for your operation. Our commercial kitchen design consultant will then help you get a design that suits your needs for a sustainable future ahead.
