Bernardo Winery Hotels|"Hotel Verde Claims ‘Africa’s Greenest Hotel’ Title"

Source         :     bdlive.co.za
Category     :    Bernardo Winery Hotels
By               :    NICK HEDLEY
Posted By   :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Bernardo Winery Hotels

IN LINE with a growing trend towards sustainable building practices in South Africa, hoteliers are also adopting "greening" initiatives, with the latest addition to the industry, Hotel Verde, claiming to be "Africa’s greenest hotel". The three-star hotel, which officially opened on Tuesday and is 400m from Cape Town International Airport, is part of the BON Hotels Group. André Harms, Hotel Verde’s sustainability consultant, said the 145-room hotel used various methods of "dematerialisation". It was built with concrete slabs containing recycled materials, using Cobaix Void Formers.

Mr Harms said the strategic placing of these recycled polypropylene, hollow spheres had saved about 1,279 tonnes of concrete. According to BON Hotels, to bypass the need for standard air-conditioning systems — traditionally one of the biggest energy consumers — Hotel Verde uses geothermal heat pumps coupled to 100 boreholes which are drilled 65m into the ground. At this depth, the temperature is a consistent 19°C. AGO Energy installed a network of pumps and piping specifically designed for Hotel Verde that uses the earth as a heat source in winter and "heat sink" in summer, "boosting efficiency and dramatically reducing operational costs". Hotel Verde also has photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and a grey-water recycling plant that is expected to reduce the hotel’s water consumption by 37%.

Meanwhile, listed hotel and gaming group Tsogo Sun last week became the latest company in the hospitality industry to pledge its support for the 49M energy-efficiency campaign. Tsogo Sun chief marketing officer Rob Collins said last week the 49M pledge involved a commitment to a 10% reduction in energy usage. Mr Collins said the group, which has more than 90 hotels and 14 casinos, continually revisits its environmental strategy across all its properties. Tsogo Sun has been working to reduce energy consumption with Eskom since May 2006. Cape Town’s Radisson Blu Waterfront hotel, which is part of the global Rezidor Hotel Group, was earlier this year announced as the group’s winning hotel in the Think Planet campaign.

With more than 430 hotels in 70 countries, the group is among the fastest-growing hotel companies in the world. The Rezidor group, under its Think Planet initiative, has set itself the goal of reducing its total energy consumption by 25% across its entire portfolio by 2016. Radisson Blu Waterfront hotel GM Michael Rathgeb said earlier in 2013 that the hotel’s staff had "completely obliterated the 5% target set for year one, and in doing so, set a challenge to the other (group) hotels by achieving the highest overall reduction in energy…" This energy saving was equivalent to 20,000 LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs lit for one year, he said.

Source : bdlive.co.za/business/transport/2013/08/27/hotel-verde-claims-africas-greenest-hotel-title