Good practices related to green energy

2 min read

Two related good practices from Hungary are presented. One is a system-level initiative and the other is a specific hotel.

Green Hotel Award, Hungary

This good practice is an example of how an incentive scheme can also boost the use of green energy. The Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants launched its incentive scheme for Hungarian hotels in 1993 to protect the environment. The work started with a series of articles published in a trade journal, since environmental protection cannot be effective based on a managerial decision or instruction, but if environmental awareness is integrated into the attitudes of a wide range of staff.

Subsequently, the Association’s environmental section was formed, and a package of programmes entitled “Don’t disturb” was produced, which included detailed aspects ranging from energy and water conservation, waste management, reduction and recycling, to guest information, on the basis of which hotels could form their own environmental teams and start work according to their own capabilities.

The first call for proposals was launched in 1994 and since then a new call has been published every two years. Successful applicants are awarded the right to use the “Green Hotel” logo for 2 years. A 3-member jury judges the entries, scores them according to strict criteria and announces the “podium” winners. To be awarded the title of “Evergreen Hotel”, a hotel must have achieved at least three podium places (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in its category in the periods since 1993.

source: www.hah.hu/palyazatok/zold-szalloda

More information: https://www.hah.hu/en

Hotel Stáció Wellness & Conference **** Budapest, Hungary

Since 2012, the hotel has been awarded the title of “Green Hotel” several times in the competition of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants, as Hotel Stáció is a leader in the country in the use of renewable energy. They are proud to have been awarded 1st place in the Green Hotel Award for 2019-2020.

To achieve this title, the hotel has made efforts in many areas, from waste management, insulation and the use of environmentally friendly cleaning products to many other very important things. However, in terms of the use of green energy, the implementation of a heat pump system in the hotel is a particular highlight.

The basic problem was that a wellness hotel in general is a very energy consuming and wasteful operation, just think about the energy demand of saunas, steam machines, heated pools and the large amount of domestic hot water, and the fact that there is also a cooling demand, because in summer the whole house has to be cooled, and in full season the server room, the plunge pool next to the sauna and the Kneipp pool, which also requires a lot of electrical energy. This costly, energy-intensive problem of running a wellness hotel can be solved most efficiently by heat pump operation. A heat pump can produce both cold and heat, just as a domestic fridge in your home produces cold inside and heat on a black grid at the back. The heat pump heats with A+++ energy efficiency and produces cold as a by-product for free. In practice, this means that in summer operation it produces domestic hot water and in return cools the house, the Kneipp treadmill and the plunge pool for free. And in winter, it heats the house and prepares the domestic hot water, while continuing to cool the server room and the aforementioned spa pools according to our cooling needs. So, in summary, it produces one type of energy (hot or cold) with A+++ efficiency, while at the same time giving us the opposite energy (hot or cold) as a gift. This feature of heat pumps makes them the only choice for hotel buildings where there is a simultaneous demand for heating and cooling – typical of wellness hotels – because they are environmentally friendly and easy on the wallet.