Renewable Energy Use in the Hospitality Industry in the UK - Term Paper Example

RENEWABLE ENERGY USE IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN UK s Thesis ment Due to great concerns about the rapid depletion and degradation of the environment, there is needed to shift the sources of energy use to ensure the economy survives. The shift from fossil energy to renewable sources of energy by 2012 was expected to have economic significance all the same. This paper focuses on the fundamental principles of laying strategies and how to implement the strategies in order to achieve sustainable development by 2024 regarding a low carbon economy. The paper explores different energy sources that are available in the tourism and hospitality industry in the UK and gives a detailed strategy on how these resources would be used to reduce energy consumption. Introduction Tourism and Hospitality industry has been the main target when it comes to corporate and social responsibility aimed at ensuring that resources are not depleted and the world continues without depletion of resources. Amongst the most proposed ways of conducting sustainable development is by using low carbon emitting energy sources. Most of the hotels in the UK have been encouraged to switch to energy saving means of energy as well as cheaper methods. The UNEP together with other environmental groups like the Copen Hagan have been keen on the level of carbon emissions to the atmosphere and have moved to propose heavy fines to higher levels of carbon emitted to the atmosphere (Ghadeer Malek, 2011). For this reason, this paper identifies the use of LED lights in the UK hotel and hospitality industry as one way of ensuring sustainable development. Sustainable energy sources in the hotel industry in UK There is need to shift to cheaper and low consuming sources of energy such as the Light Emitting Diodes commonly known as LED’s. Recently 2 hotels in UK installed 145 new LED lights in their premises. The move from the other ordinary bulbs was taken after it was found that the use of LED’s would reduce electrical load by 3.67m watts across their total 32 hotels that are spread all over UK. Moreover, the company realized that this would save the company £250,000 annually. With such proven cases already existing our strategy aims at ensuring installation of LED lights in all the hotels in the UK (ONeill, 2013). It is estimated that this could lead to considerable reduction in energy consumption by 20% in the energy circuit in the US. The other strategy that is aimed at reducing the amount of electricity consumption is the use of solar energy. Solar energy is the safest form of energy with no effect on environmental degradation. Most of the modern hotels currently under construction in the US are installed with special solar panels that are aimed at absorbing solar energy and converting it into electrical energy. The UK government has been keen to switch to solar energy as a nation and this forms part of the strategy to include hotels. However, the use of solar energy is usually hampered during the winter seasons but it is better than nothing (Mechthild Nagel et al, 2005). The strategy is to install solar panels in all the hotels within the UK. This will reduce significantly the amount of electrical energy by 50% with exception of winter seasons. According to a recent article by the Telegraph columnist Ambrose Pritchard reports that global solar is slowly squeezing the revenues of petro regimes in Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela (Evans-Pritchard, 2014). According to this article 29% of total energy consumption in the US last year was from solar while other States such as Massachusetts and Vermont confessed up to 100% of the solar energy. With scientists being able to trap 31.1% of sun’s energy using 111-V solar cell the amount of electrical energy consumption will reduce by £2.59. This amount is expected to reduce significantly within the next 10 years with constant research and advancement in technology to £0.6 by 2024. Currently solar panels prices have collapsed with 64% reducing the cost of installation which translates to a higher return on investment. With these kind of revolution we propose that all hotels across UK to switch to use of solar energy and eliminate dependency on electricity as a source of energy (Hartmann Betsy, 2007). Apart from energy use, there is also need to consider the amount of water consumed by hotels in the UK. Currently most of the UK hotels have shower based kind of bathrooms which are running at 20 liters per minute. This is quite a large amount of water wastage and this leads to high amounts of bills every month. According to Peter Gee the CEO of Uma Hotels in the UK, their shower baths have been costing them £58,000 a year across all their 32 hotels across UK. For this reason, there is a proposal that all hotels within the UK switch to Hansgrohe shower heads which will reduce water consumption. The CEO of Puma Hotel proposed the use of Hansgrohe showers which he confesses that has led to 25% of water consumption. He projects a total of 50% savings by next year when the project is fully installed and operational in all their hotels which will reduce their water bills from £58,000 to £24,000. This is more than half the expected. In addition to this the CEO says that the use of the modern type of shower gives a standard impression while reducing five liters of water consumed in the showers per minute. The other strategy aimed at reducing the cost of energy use with the hotel and hospitality industry is to use eco-friendly energy sources within the hotel. Most of the hotels use vehicles to transport their visitors from one location to another. For this reason, we put a strategy to shift from fossil fuel to ethanol fuel. This is also aimed at reducing the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere (Della Porta, 2005). Knowledge is necessary for both internal and external environment. In 2010, the company expanded their Ecoline portfolio by providing Australia with energy saving vehicles and environmentally friendly machinery. The company produced their first vehicle, which is able to operate using ethanol. The Flex fuel VE series II Commodore is the most fuel-efficient car capable of operating with high blended ethanol fuel. The vehicle is efficient in the sense that it returns the consumption of diesel by 5.6 liters in ever 100km. Through this knowledge, we shall make contact with Caltex Company for in production of bio-ethanol fuels, which are 85% ethanol and 15 % petrol (Kong, 2008). It is also important to understand that this kind of fuel can also be created from household rubbish. Within the next 10 years we expect all the hotels within UL to shift to these kinds of vehicles and reduce the impact of environmental degradation. Future predictions of low carbon economy Prediction can be done to monitor and give projections concerning the successful future of low carbon economy. This can be done by monitoring the global production of low carbon environmental goods and services. A growth rate of 5.3% annually is projected in production of low carbon environmental goods and services (Nesta, 2009). There has also been tremendous increase in green jobs from 1370 billion dollars from now to 2740 billion dollars by 2020 which is projected as a growth rate of 5.5% annually (National Audit Office, 2009). The loss of jobs due to the implementation of the Kyoto protocol has been increasing significantly and this shows that the use of low carbon energy is in the process of being enacted. Due to the involvement of new technology while shifting from fossil energy sources to renewable sources of energy, it is expected that job creation will rise from 24% annually to 42% by 2020 (UNEP, 2007). Future scenario of low carbon economy There are three scenarios which can be summarized to show the future of low carbon economy. The scenarios include; the success in developing and integrating economic activities that are aimed at reducing the rate of carbon emission into the atmosphere. The second scenario is on development on world class export and manufacturing growth aimed at reducing carbon emission into the atmosphere. Finally the last scenario is on development of world class low carbon oriented activities based on business and financial services. For each scenario there is future projection and reasoned judgment on the implications available in case of failure. The future of low carbon economy exists under careful examination of the environmental policies that have been established. It is expected that more policies should be developed with concerns of ensuring that the transition from fossil energy sources to renewable energy sources is smooth. Conclusion There is need to shift to renewable sources of energy. The strategies proposed above are genuine and reliable means of creating sustainable development in the hotel and tourism industry in the UK. The need to use solar systems as well as use of LED bulbs will reduce electrical consumption. Use of Hansgrohe shower will reduce the amount of water by 5 liters per minute. Shifting from fossil fuel to ethanol based source of energy will also reduce the amount of carbon emission in the atmosphere. References Della Porta, D. a. (2005). Global justice movement. Transnational protest and Global activism, 16-23. Evans-Pritchard, A. (2014, April 9). 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