How to Build Low-Emission Hiking Huts 

As part of the EUKI project Reducing Emissions in Carpathian Mountain Huts, a team around project manager Marcel Șofariu and architect Nicolae-Daniel Tulban visited 25 mountain huts across Europe to learn from other countries’ experiences in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in highly sensitive and challenging mountain environments. 

First, energy consumption should be kept to a minimum. This is one of the great benefits of mountain huts owned and run by mountain clubs compared to private, profit-oriented guesthouses or hotels, says Nicolae-Daniel Tulban. These latter facilities, whose numbers have recently been increasing in the Carpathians, are usually reached by gas-guzzling, carbon-emitting private vehicles. They also consume large amounts of energy for lighting, heating, hot water and leisure amenities such as swimming pools and require more frequent and elaborate food deliveries than simple mountain huts. 

The Jonsstølen hut in Ryfylke, Norway, reveals the huge potential for reducing energy consumption, using only around 10 per cent of the electricity of an average hut in the Alps. Not all of the rooms have electric lighting and the hut has no energy-intensive water pumps. Instead, water is supplied by nearby springs and the washrooms are equipped with dry toilets. The bedroom space is smaller and more compact and guests sleep in dorms rather than in twin rooms. “Many hikers really appreciate this kind of simplicity,” says Marcel Șofariu. 

Second, the focus is on the use of technology to reduce emissions during construction, renovation and operation of the huts. Integrating local or recycled building materials, solar panels and heat pumps are some of the options here.  

However, the technology should not be too complex, warns Marcel Șofariu. “We have seen solar and water pump systems installed in some Austrian and Swiss huts, which are difficult for the hut keepers to handle: they are not engineers and are usually busy running the huts. If a warning light starts flashing in the basement, bringing technicians and their equipment up into the mountains to solve the problem can be quite a challenge.”  

The project partners have summarised the lessons learned on the field trips and present their recommendations for climate- and environment-friendly mountain huts in detail in their Guidelines for the Mountain Huts in the Romanian Carpathians. They offer 12 solutions based on a range of architectural designs and technological standards, highlighting their environmental, economic and social benefits – always with the aim of ensuring minimal environmental impact, close-to-zero emissions and cost benefits through optimised technologies. 

The guidelines may also be helpful for other mountain hut owners or associations and have already been presented in Spain, Poland, Bulgaria and Croatia.  

While good options are available, the major obstacle is funding. New huts in the Alps generally cost between 2.5 and 4 million euros. Indeed, one hut in Austria cost a staggering 11 million euros. As the Transylvanian Carpathian Tourists Association and the Carpathian Section of the German Alpine Club cannot mobilise these resources themselves, they are hoping to access other funding opportunities, possibly in cooperation with local and regional authorities.  

The way forward 

“It is important to have all the options on the table now,” says Nicolae-Daniel Tulban. “If we start building a network of hiking huts – or even just one as an example of best practice – we want to do it right. We don’t want to make the same mistakes that others made decades ago.”  

Tourism in the Carpathians is therefore currently at a crossroads. It has two options: to pursue a low-carbon, environmentally friendly pathway with the prospect of sustainable growth, or to repeat the mistakes made so often in the past.