All the sunny hours through the year can help hotels save on energy bills.
Croatian tourism sector has been largely excluded from energy efficiency incentives so far, but this is a great investment opportunity. The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU) and accompanying financial institutions will focus on this activity in the coming period, it was said at the conference “Promoting Energy Efficiency and Use of Renewable Energy Sources in Tourism Sector”, which took place in Zagreb as part of the Rexpo Investment Fair, reports Poslovni.hr on December 4, 2017.
Dubravko Ponoš, the director of the FZOEU, pointed out that the Fund had invested 1.6 billion kunas in energy upgrade projects, many of which use energy from renewable energy sources. “Also, 15.6 million kunas has been invested exclusively in the tourism sector for this purpose, with 70 individual projects. I am sure that interest will be greater in the future. We will also use EU funding to make our tourism industry even more competitive,” said Ponoš.
He added that, in the context of tourism, the transport issue should also not be forgotten, because there is a significant transformation ahead in this area as well. “There is a need to develop infrastructure along the roads, but also in terms of tourist offer of individual towns which will have to offer alternative mobility solutions, such as public bicycle rental systems. Accommodation facilities will also have to offer solutions, from charging stations in hotel garages to electric bicycles rentals,” said Ponoš.
It is estimated that an equivalent of 150 litres of fuel is spent annually on heating and cooling a single hotel room. At the same time, tourists coming to the room consume about 1,500 litres of fuel.
Miroslav Madžar, managing director of Jolly JBS, presented the project of the Olympia Hotel in Vodice worth 170 million kunas, which used energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources systems to save millions. He pointed out that the hardest phase of the project was the very beginning since they were pioneers who could only learn from their own mistakes.
“The installation of the first 300 kW of solar power was an investment worth 800,000 kunas, and we implemented the project in cooperation with the Fund. In the first year, we saved about 50 percent of our energy investment. Our building now has the best possible energy grade, we have a photovoltaic power plant, we use solar energy to heat water, and we plan to continue with other measures such as rainwater collection.”
“Our conclusion is that projects such as these are well-worth the investment and effort and we are convinced that every other hotel company on the Adriatic coast would have the same experience. It is important to provide continuous education for investors because they often abandon good projects due to a belief that administrative procedure and paperwork will slow down the project implementation,” concluded Madžar.
Translated from Poslovni.hr.
