Creating paradigms for nearly zero energy hotels in South Europe

• Main Authors: Theocharis Tsoutsos, Stavroula Tournaki, Maria Frangou, Marianna Tsitoura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIMS Press 2017-12-01
• Series: AIMS Energy
• Subjects: nearly zero energy; net-zero energy; buildings; sustainable tourism; technology policy; high energy efficiency hotels
• Online Access: http://www.aimspress.com/energy/article/1767/fulltext.html

According to the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings recast, hotels and other buildings of a certain size, frequently visited by the public, should set an example in environmental and energy performance. Moreover, being energy intensive buildings, they are at high priority for becoming nearly Zero Energy Buildings. Even though they represent a specific category, along with restaurants, till today there is a lack of credible data for this type of buildings, especially taking into account the wide range of different typologies (coastal, mountain, urban, rural or business, resort, spa/wellness, bed & breakfast). This paper presents the results of the actual energy performance of six south European countries (Greece, Croatia, France, Romania, Italy and Spain) plus one north (Sweden) for comparison, analyzed in the framework of the nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) project. The project focused on providing technical assistance to existing pilot hotels for refurbishing into nearly Zero Energy Buildings, demonstrating the sustainability of investments towards zero energy and undertaking training and capacity building activities at regional, national and European level. The results showed that the primary energy use for the hosting functions across all sixteen pilot hotels can decrease dramatically—from an average of 277 kWh/m²/y to an average of 102 kWh/m²/y; an average reduction of 63%. At the same time, Renewable Energy Sources share for the hosting functions can be increased from an average of 18% to an average of 46%. The analysis also showed that hotel non-hosting functions, i.e., other facilities that require special indoor environmental conditions, such as spa, kitchen etc. are more critical than the hosting functions; their primary energy use can decrease from an average of 727 kWh/m²/y to an average of 374 kWh/m²/y.