Page 56 - CAPE Green Engineering Syllabus 2016.docx_Neat

4. land-use planning and management;

5. air quality and noise control;

6. waste water management;

7. solid waste management; and,

8. environmentally harmful substances.

The environmental goals are clearly stated in the hotel mission statement and are reinforced in
posters and notices throughout the hotel. The hotel also has a large “energy wheel” which can be seen
by all the guests. This displays the energy used in the hotel daily, and gives an indication of the target
of maximum efficiency.

An energy budget has been allocated to all the hotels. The environmental and maintenance unit in
each department is responsible for budget management. The Environmental Manager has an
environmental action plan, and is required to identify specific projects to attain energy conservation
goals. This is communicated to all department heads. Once the planned activity can be funded by the
budget, the project is implemented.

The environmental department has a mandate for energy conservation, and has embarked on a
number of projects to enhance EE in lighting and air conditioning. Solar water heating units are used
extensively on the property, and the hotel has a programme also aimed at water conservation and
waste management.

Other EE and conservation projects include an automatic key card that shuts off all appliances and
lights when a guest leaves the room. Also, linen reuse cards have been issued to encourage guests to
conserve on laundry use.

In the area of RE, there was one pilot project with respect to solar air conditioning. The solar unit was
provided by Solar Connections, a local company. It and used solar thermal energy to satisfy 70 per
cent of its energy requirements and the national grid to satisfy the remaining 30 per cent.

We will attempt to quantify the environmental impact of a Sandals La Toc which is 70 per cent
Renewable Powered and 30 per cent supplied by St Lucia Electric Company Limited. We will proceed
by calculating an estimate of the amount of energy the hotel consumes when all rooms are occupied.

The hotel determined that this particular unit was not appropriate as it did not have the potential to
reduce energy use significantly enough. Additionally, if the hotel was to adopt these air conditioning
units, it would need to install one in each room. This would mean that the hotel would not be able to
benefit from economies of scale through use of a centralised system as it currently does.

CXC A36/U2/16 52