Energy Management in Alpine Hotels

Background

Receiving around 100 million visitors each year, the Alpine region is one of the world’s most important tourist destinations. Climate change is bringing some far-reaching consequences for the region’s highly seasonal hospitality industry. But while affected by climate change, hotels in the Alps also contribute to that change because of their high energy consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. With effective energy management and appropriate energy saving measures, hotels can improve their energy efficiency, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs, and become more competitive in a sector characterised by rising standards and customer expectations.

Project

The project was based on activities already carried out in 2015 and 2016, during Germany’s presidency of the Alpine Convention. This focused on climate change mitigation and sustainable tourism, under the motto ‘Green Economy in the Alps’. In this context, in April 2016 the independent think-and-do tank adelphi conducted a workshop on energy efficiency in the hospitality industry and the results were incorporated into the best practice guidelines, Energy Management in Alpine Hotels. They provide hotel operators with useful information on how to pursue their own effective energy management. The guidelines are published in German, French, Italian and Slovenian.

This project took things a step further with the conference of the same name (Energy Management in Alpine Hotels), on 28 and 29 November 2017 in Bolzano, South Tyrol. The operators of small and medium-sized hotels were able to learn about funding programmes, advisory services, management approaches and technical solutions, as well as potential to save costs and secure a competitive advantage. The conference programme included presentations of best practices by hotel managers, discussions with and between energy experts, interactive workshops, a panel discussion and a visit to a hotel that has already implemented numerous energy efficiency measures.

State of Results

The conference brought together around 60 people from the hospitality industry and other relevant sectors in all parts of the Alps. They learned about climate protection measures and pursued further exchanges in their previously existing networks. As a result, the hospitality industry in the Alpine region has been able to implement measures for energy efficiency and energy savings.

Last update: April 2024