Background and Introduction
The human impact on environment is the most concerning issue of the day and all industries that are engaged with environment add to the degradation of the environment. The hospitality industry like any other industry is responsible for impacting the environment owing to their nature of business. It is a known fact that the entire hospitality sector has a negative impact in the environment due to their mode of operation and may not directly affect the environment but can contribute greatly to the degradation of the environment with the associated impacts of stakeholders, the consumers, the shareholders and the associated industries that provide support to the hospitality. The resolution of the environmental impacts can be associated with the sustainable practices that can be implemented to lessen the impact on the environmental and allow responsible growth for both the hotels and the environment. Looking at the nature of the functioning of the hotels, these industries are huge consumers of several resources including food, energy and water and human resources which have their respective footprints in the environment and add up to the environmental impact. This paper will look into the various possibilities of sustainable practices that can be implemented with respect to the energy efficiency and implementation of energy efficient policies. The paper will review peer journals that provide information about sustainable practices in the industry and the way they can be implemented (Deale, Nichols and Jacques 2009). The paper will analyse the scenario of the Marriott hotels in Switzerland and suggest energy efficient sustainability practices to promote responsible tourism and contribute to the environmental development by reducing the carbon footprint and impact on the environment. The following sections will include the methodology that has been adopted to get an understanding of the energy usage of the hospitality industries across the world. The methodology used will be qualititative analysis to evaluate the current trends in energy usage of the Marriott hotels and thereafter the recommendations will be made in the form of an action plan to be implemented to ensure efficient energy usage in the hotel.
The literature reviewed for the paper reflects on the various sustainability practices and that are implemented across the hospitality industry worldwide. The journals will also include reviewing of the several technological improvements that have been made in order to ensure energy efficiency. The article “Sustainability in tourism destinations: Exploring the boundaries of eco-efficiency and green communications” was reviewed to get an understanding of the relationship between sustainability and its associated environmental costs in the tourism industry. The author, J.N Holleran has tried to understand the impacts of the tourism industry with regards to hospitality and the various factors that are attached to it that contribute to the environmental sustainability. Along with the most important aspect of transport and other allied service that is attached to the industry. The author has brought the context of tourism sustainability in this paper and the article gives an insight into the sustainability practices of the industry (Holleran, 2008). The article being published in the journal of Hospitality and leisure marketing provide the background for the paper by indentifying the concept of sustainability with respect to the hospitality and tourism sector. The paper also brings into its purview the necessity of Life Cycle Management in determining and measuring sustainability with respect to the hospitality and tourism.
Literature Review: Sustainable Practices in the Hospitality Industry
The next article that has been reviewed include the paper by J.S Horng et al. (2016) which outlines the “The role of sustainable service innovation in crafting the vision of the hospitality industry” and the study identifies the key characteristics of the sustainable service in the hospitality sector. The study identifies the attributes of the hospitality sector that could be innovated to create sustainable services in the industry. The paper takes into account the way human resources can be used sustainably to initiate sustainable work practices in the industry. This paper gives an understanding of effective management of the employees in a sustainable way in the hospitality sector.
The next article that has been reviewed by the paper outlines and reviews the applicability of energy efficient retrofits in hotels using energy performance contracting. The article “ANP model for sustainable Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) using Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) for hotel buildings in China” has been authored by P. Xu and E.H Chan provides a concrete background for implementation of retrofits in the hotels for ensuring energy efficiency (Xu and Chan 2013).
This paper reviews and evaluates the energy efficiency of the retrofits and the sustainable resolution of the energy consumption of hotels and hospitalities with reference to China. The findings and the implications of this paper can be implemented to various contexts including Switzerland with modification according the requirements of the region. This paper is a credible support for the article. The implication of the Analytic Network Process as stated in the article in implementing “Building Energy Efficient Retrofits” provides a basic framework that can be used to understand the context of sustainability with respect to energy efficiency in hospitality.
The next article reviewed for the analysis of the paper includes “Energy saving supporting tourism sustainability: A case study of hotel swimming pool heat pump” and has been authored by W.W Chan and J.C Lam and provides another context of energy efficient practices and the way these can be implemented. The paper outlines energy consumption and energy efficient practice through the context of thermal performance, energy saving, indirect emissions and financial feasibility of using heat pumps for outdoor pools and provides a context of sustainable energy usage through the implementing energy efficient appliances. The article has been evaluated on the basis of the energy measurements calculated form a rooftop pool of a city hotel and the average coefficient of performance was analysed to get an understanding of the energy consumption and thereby implement sustainable practices.
Methodology
The article by L.A Pace titled “How do tourism firms innovate for sustainable energy consumption? A capabilities perspective on the adoption of energy efficiency in tourism accommodation establishments” gives an understanding of the necessity to initiate energy efficient technologies and appliances to promote sustainable tourism. The paper allows us to understand the recent trends in sustainable practices and thereby create certain practices that promote sustainability with regards to energy consumption in tourist accommodations to understand the capabilities of the industry in promoting energy efficient practices. The article is a credible source and contributes to the research of this paper.
The article by H. Tooman et al. (2009) researches the case studies of the best practices in sustainability in the hospitality in Germany and Estonia. The article looks into the challenges that are faced while implementing green technologies and green credentials and reviews the myths that are attached with the adaptability of the staffs to environment friendly practices yielding negligible results altogether. The paper reviews the sustainability practices that are followed by the Estonian and German Hotels and how these practices are managed to bring about sustainable changes across the hospitality industry. The article will give insight into best practices that can be implemented for the hotels in Switzerland to foster the growth of sustainable practices in energy efficiency.
The qualititative analyses have been adopted as the methodology of the paper. Qualititative analyses of peer journals were done as a part of the literature review of the article to have a basic understanding of the sustainable practices in the hospitality industry across the world. Articles on the basis of energy efficiency has been reviewed to get an understanding of the energy consumption of the hospitality industries and several other aspects, The official website of the Marriott group of Hotels were reviewed to get an understanding about the sustainability practices that are followed in the organisation and to get a clear idea about the energy consumption of the hotel.
Importance of sustainability in Hospitality:
The hospitality industry is one of the major consumers of resources and contributes largely towards the carbon footprint of the world. The importance of implementing the sustainability practices ensures that environmental degradation is reduced from the resultant implementation. With the growing concern for global warming and climate change scenarios, it is essential that these industries take responsibility of their action and initiate the pioneering steps towards sustainable practices (Becken, Frampton and Simmons, 2001) .
Energy Consumption in the Hospitality Industry
Energy Efficiency
Energy consumption is one of the major requirements for any industry and the carbon footprint generated due the consumption of energy is one of the greatest when compared to other resources. The implementation of sustainable practices in the environment therefore reduces the impact on the environment and practicing sustainability in energy consumption through modification of property, implementation of green technologies and consumption of energy produced from greener sources enable the environmental preservation and sustainable usage of the resources.
Energy efficiency practices include several management practices, procedures, and inclusion of technologies that allow efficient management of energy by either reducing consumption of energy, optimum usage of energy based appliances and by practicing effective management techniques to ensure that wastage of energy is avoided (Kuš?er et al. 2017). The hospitality industries have huge consumption of energy to maintain the huge property and requirement luminaries consuming a major portion of the energy, the chillers and other associated heavy industrial appliances that contribute to the high energy consumption in the hotel. The energy usage for the rooms and the various decorative locations require luminaries which end up consuming a huge amount of energy (Cingoski and Petrevska 2018).
Energy Consumption: The Marriott scenario
The Marriott Group of hotels publishes their annual energy consumption reports to provide information to their stake holders, and state their stand on the energy consumptions and sustainable practices to ensure compliance with the environmental policies. The Marriott International report gives an account of the aims and objectives of the Marriott group of hotels with respect to their environmental sustainability policies. A review at the Marriott Environmental Report 2015 gives an understanding of the projected targets that Marriott has set for themselves.
The report on sustainability outlines the strategy that supports business growth by reducing impact on the environment and by implementing practices that help to protect the planet. The sustainability practices and social impact strategy of the Marriott is driven by several initiatives that promote and support the core values of the Marriott and include a wide range of sustainability practices, returning to community through CSR and best practice implementation.
The organisation has adopted the 2025 sustainability and Social Impact Goals that have been developed throughout the adoption of the policy. In order to monitor the sustainable developments and practices the organisation has developed the Platform “Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction” which focuses on four major areas to implement its sustainability programmes to ensure the development along with sustainable platforms. The nurturing of the goal depends upon the sustainable operational practices to ensure reduction of energy wastage and promote responsible use of energy resources. The organisation claims that they have started formal programs as a part of sustainable goals since 2007 and has evolved gradually into an environment friendly programme. The Marriott International has stated that these sustainable goals are instrumental in the growth of the organisation and therefore enable them to ensure environmental sustainability.
Recommendations for Sustainable Energy Efficiency Practices in Marriott Hotels
Goals and Targets
The goals and targets of the Marriott hotels across the world include best practices on all of their franchises. The Marriott Zurich also abides with the similar goals and the vision to achieve their target to ensure energy efficiency and resource management. The goals and targets can be identified as follows:
- Reduction of energy and water consumption by twenty percent by the year 2020
- Empowering the stakeholders and hotel Partners to build and develop green hotels.
- To create green supply chain for all procurements.
- Educate and inspire the associates as well as the guests to conserve and preserve the environment.
- To address the persisting environmental challenges through innovative conservation initiatives that ensures rainforest protection and water conservation.
The goals of the Marriot in ensuring energy efficiency in their property and are based on sustainability goals. The reduction in the energy consumption an the implementation of energy efficient appliances and technologies will help Marriott, Zurich o achieve its goal. In order to bring about a change and achieve energy efficiency in the property, it is important to bring technological changes coupled with organizational changes to ensure the effective management of energy along with the creating scope for improvement through sustainable implementation (Marriott.com 2019).
The Findings
The Marriott reports that they have globally reduced energy intensity by 9.4 % against the 2007 baseline consumption. In 2014 the Marriott has adopted retrofitting of luminaries and have reported that Marriott properties have reduced over 40 million KW/h of electricity globally and Marriott Zurich has contributed notably. The Marriott also reports that they have reduced 30,000 metric tons of Greenhouse Gas Emissions annually. The Chiller Diagnostic tool has helped to save 28 million kw/h in 2014 globally. The kitchens have been redesigned with intelligent ventilation and have helped the organisation to reduce energy consumption in electrical ventilators.
The Marriott Zurich has specially implemented energy efficient and environmental action plans through various effective measures that are described as follows:
Energy and Environmental Action Plans
The Energy and Environmental Action Plans have been implemented to evaluate return on investment of their projects and to prioritize the owner investments.
Signature Projects: The Marriott is implementing Signature projects that are designed with accordance to LEED certification. The new properties are being developed keeping in mind the LEED certification and promote environmental sustainability through the energy efficient buildings as part of this programme. This includes lighting upgrades, installation of variable frequency pumps to save energy. The most important part of the task includes the up gradation of the old and power consuming appliances with energy saving appliances including the lighting and luminaries, the chillers and boilers and air handling appliances, the laundries and kitchen and outdoor facilities (Marriott.com 2019).
The retro commissioning is one of the major initiatives of the Marriott globally to minimise energy consumption and promote efficient energy consumption. The Marriott Retro commissioning is a major drive across the Marriott Properties including the Marriott, Zurich. This initiative aims at reducing energy consumption and foster energy efficient appliances mostly lights that are now converted to retrofit LEDs. The energy efficiency of LEDs is nearly 7-8 times efficient when compared to standard lightings. Apart from these, retro commissioning of ventilators, heaters, ventilation and air conditioning or HVAC have been done to initiate energy efficient practices. Simultaneously, the Chiller and Boiler systems have been integrated with automation and intelligent digitization to promote efficient energy practices. Lighting retrofits have been the most largest reforming programme to reduce energy consumption and promote greener and cleaner means of energy production (Marriott.com 2019).
Conclusion
The Building Automaton Systems is one of the initiatives undertaken by Marriott, Zurich to include and integrate building automation systems with other automated controls to increase the efficiency of the buildings. The automation has allowed the Marriott to install smart, ‘integrated occupancy thermostat systems’ that are coupled with entry doors to prevent wastage of energy when guest are not occupied and at the same time they allow the property management systems to deliver responsive ‘temperature setback efficiency’ without affecting comfort of the guest and their preferences.
The Marriott has also initiated the renewable energy concepts to promote environmental sustainability and efficient energy practices. Several properties have been installed with self integrated energy units to produce its own power. The properties in India harness nearly 37 percent of their energy from local wind and solar sources thus contributing to greener and cleaner environment (Marriott.com 2019). The properties California installed 536 Kilowatt Solar PV panels to generate their own energy. Marriott has ensured that the properties globally contribute to cleaner environment and get 70% of their energy requirement met from renewable resources.
Conclusion
The necessity to implement sustainable practices in hospitality is the need of the day and it is a priority that cannot be avoided. The way to sustainable development can not only be achieved through efficient energy usage but needs to be done through an overall approach. The sustainability in hospitality can be achieved only when all the stakeholders, investors, suppliers and associates have been included in the process and sustainable practices are followed through and managed throughout the process. The efficient management of energy resources will not ensure saving of energy but at the same time will enable the organisations to reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to the sustainable development by helping the growth of the environment as well. The hospitality as clearly noted consume up huge resources of energy apart from water and other resources. A systematic operational practice is therefore required to ensure that these industries contribute back to the environment to balance their impact on the environment. The application of advanced technologies will definitely help to reduce the impact of the industry on the environment and ensure efficient energy management, it is equally important to implement sustainable practices and initiatives to guarantee the long term effectiveness of sustainable practices. Without regular programs and practices it has to be understood that the environmental practices should be developed with the most
The recommendations include the several practices that have been implemented across the other properties of the Marriott, Zurich. Most importantly it has to be understood that the sustainability of the environment depends on the effective usage of energy. The energy efficiency of the environment is an important aspect and efficient management of the practices can be implemented through installation of the rooftop pools and the of self supporting energy systems. The installation of retrofits for lighting is already in the plan of the Marriott, Zurich. The most important factor that would increase sustainability in the Marriott, Zurich is the employee engagement in sustainable practices which would make effective change and in achieving the end results. The energy efficient replacement of the appliances will help them bring about a change and lower down their consumption of the energy. It is to be recommended that the hotel creates ways to lessen their carbon footprint and energy efficiency is one of the methods. The energy efficiency can also be effectively practiced by monitoring the wastage of other resources that require energy consumption. For example the water for swimming pool can be recycled and reused by managing it through structural modification. The heat pumps that are to employed can be replaced with a central heating system that would provide heating of the water for all of the property therefore reducing the individual energy consumption. The cost effectiveness of the energy consumption must also be initiated to ensure sustainability. Using greener and cleaner source of energy will also ensure sustainability with respect to energy efficiency. The modification of the property with efficient energy management systems will also enhance sustainability by checking wastage of energy.
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