Hotels make savings with water-efficient technology
Dated: 10/10/2008
With businesses using 55% more water than they did 25 years ago, many hotels are beginning to recognise the financial advantages of being more water-efficient. Three South East hotels selected as water saving champions by Brighton-based environmental consultancy Ecosys, are discovering the cost benefits of being water-wise and enjoying savings of around £96,000 per annum between them. Each of the independently owned SME hotels were selected to receive a water efficiency audit in 2007 through the SEEDA funded Hospitality H20 Project. This looked at a variety of factors and identified key action points, along with cost savings that were achievable.
Two of the hotels taking part in the project- Chatsworth Hotel in Worthing and Deans Place in Sussex- replaced a number of their existing toilets with ultra efficient 4.5 litre ES4 WCs from the Green Building Store as part of their water reduction strategy. Other water saving measures taken included installing sensor controls in the urinals and fitting flow restrictors to the taps.
Nancy Bluck, Water Consultant at Ecosys said; “We wanted to show businesses how easy it is to increase profit and help save energy and water simply by using resources more efficiently. The ES4 WCs from Green Building Store were specified because they had already proven to be robust and reliable in high usage settings and we have not been disappointed. We are delighted with the project results, which show that the hotels have saved over 4 million litres of water between them over the course of a year!” In Deans Place Hotel it is estimated that the reduction in water usage will achieve savings of around 2,592m2 of water per annum, leading to a significant increase in profit.
Peter Bramich, Manager of Deans Place Hotel said, “We are delighted to have taken part in this project and pleasantly surprised to discover how much water and money can be saved by taking a few simple measures. By replacing the previous WCs with ultra-low flush models that use half the amount of water, we are saving hundreds of pounds each year.”
Notes for the Editor
• Green Building Store has been a leading manufacturer and supplier of sustainable building products throughout the UK since 1995. For more information please call 01484 461705 or see the website at www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk
• SEEDA is the government funded agency set up in 1999 responsible for the economic and social development of the South East of England. www.seeda.co.uk
• Ecosys is an independent not-for-profit environmental consultancy set up in 1998 in Brighton. See www.ecosys.org.uk for further information.
• The average person in the UK uses 150 litres of water (approximately 16 buckets) and this has been rising by 1% per year since 1930 (source: Waterwise).
• Water and sewerage bills have risen faster than inflation for the past three years running (source: Consumer Council for Water, 2007).
• The Water Technology List is a government scheme that offers tax relief for businesses who want to invest in water saving technologies. For more information see www.eca-water.gov.uk