International.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and other partners presented a tool to reduce energy consumption in hotels.
The tool, which is part of the Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) initiative, and is now available online at www.nezeh.eu, assesses the level of energy consumption of hotels and proposes measures to improve efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy sources.
The aim is to reduce energy consumption as much as possible. The development of the tool is the result of a three-year project funded by the European Union.
The neZEH tool evaluates the energy consumption of hotels through a questionnaire and determines which energy efficiency solutions can be applied, including the efficient use of non-renewable resources. In parallel, it seeks to raise awareness of the importance of the rational use of energy through the presentation of successful experiences.
The project aims to help Europe's tourism sector comply with the European Union's regulation on nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) according to which Member States will have to register minimum levels of energy consumption by 2020. Following this regulation, buildings must seek maximum energy efficiency as well as the use of renewable energy sources, including from sources produced in or near the same facilities.
The pilot project involved 16 neZEH hotels from seven European countries (Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Romania and Sweden), which will become inspiring models for the European hotel sector on maximizing energy consumption.
The neZEH project is a project co-financed by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme which aims to accelerate the large-scale renovation rate of hotels into nearly zero energy (nZEB) buildings by offering technical advice to hoteliers and presenting unique/exemplary nZEB projects in the sector.
The neZEH alliance consists of 10 partners from seven European countries: the Technical University of Crete, the Laboratory on Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems (Greece), which exercises coordinating functions, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the European Region Network for Sustainable and Competitive Tourism (NECSTouR), Sustainable Innovation (Sweden), Creara Consultores S.L. (Spain), the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute (Croatia), the Higher Institute for Territorial Innovation Systems (Italy), the Braşov Agency for Energy Management and Environmental Protection (Romania), the Federation of European Heating and Air Conditioning Associations (Netherlands) and ENERGIES 2050 (France).
Source: UNWTO.
