Energy conservation

“Despite recent improvements to energy giving nearly 9 out of 10 people access, 840 million people remain without electricity. 37% of the global population, or 3 billion people, still use fuel and stove combinations that pollute household air, such as kerosene, wood, coal, charcoal or even dung for cooking and heating, resulting in 4 million premature deaths annually”. (UN, 2021)

Reliable and affordable electricity saves and improves lives. Among its many benefits, electricity powers computers, schools, charges phones, keeps food cold and businesses and essential infrastructure functioning. But, energy is also the main contributor to climate change, producing more than 70% of greenhouse gases, requiring investment and development in renewable sources.

For this reason, Goal 7 of the UN 17 Global Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, fundamental to human prosperity, is:

SDG #7 “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Energy supply is about 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While some 17% of energy consumption is now met with renewables, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns this needs to hit around 85% by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

1.1               Finite Fossil Fuels

The fossil fuels we have historically been using, such as coal, oil and natural gas, currently the world’s primary energy sources, are finite in supply. It’s not a matter of if they run out, but when: we are using them much faster than they can reproduce, as they were formed over millions of years compressing organic material, including carbon which gives off emissions when combusted. We have already passed ‘peak oil’, at current usage it may be gone by 2052. Switching to gas could then extend just 8 further years to 2060; filling its gap with coal could maybe last until 2090. During that time, we may find more reserves of fossil fuels, but they’re likely smaller than the rate at which our world’s developing population is consuming them. (Stanford)

1.2               Climate Change

Energy is the main contributor, producing around 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions (UN, 2021): burning fossil fuel emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, creating a man-made greenhouse effect for the world, whose insulation creates global warming. By 2030 global demand for energy is expected to rise by 20–35% (Better Growth, Better Climate, 2014). Stabilizing global temperature will require de-carbonising energy consumption, a shift to renewable or nuclear power from fossil fuels, significant energy efficiency and large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for remaining fossil fuel use.

1.3               Health and Well-being

Switching from fossil fuels to renewable and nuclear power would not only reduce the risk of climate change, but also reduce pollution, reducing mortality, disease, and ecosystem and biodiversity damage, for a healthier world.

1.4               What’s that got to do with Tourism?

Tourism, as one of the largest economic global sectors, is one of the largest energy-consuming sectors. Tourists also use energy (and water) with a greater intensity than local people, often to local detriment where scarcity exists.

With over a billion tourists a year set to continue increasing, tourism’s energy consumption looks only set to grow. So how hospitality gets its fuel needs provided, and how that affects and is affected by the processes of the world’s climate and ecosystem, is vital.

Tourism is both a victim of, and contributor to climate change: rising sea levels, melting glaciers, floods, avalanches, water scarcity, deforestation, biodiversity loss, desertification, wildfires, drought and diseases hurt the tourism economy.

But these impacts are in part created by Tourism operations, which contribute around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions: from aviation, accommodations, restaurants, activities and other transportation. The consequences of tourism not utilising renewables can seriously impact a business, industry and world.

As such, tourism can be incentivised to help accelerate the shift toward renewable energy, increase its share in the global energy mix, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contribute to innovative energy solutions in urban, regional and remote areas and provide reliable energy for guests.

Customers and investors are increasingly expecting tourism businesses to be responsible and held accountable for their carbon emissions and reports. Responsible organisations voluntarily follow codes of conduct and certification schemes, such as we highlight in our Places information.

1.5               Alternative energies for sustainable tourism and the future

Tourism and energy need not be opposed to each other: with renewables, sustainable energy and tourism can complement each other.

Sustainable energy is the one collected from renewable sources, meaning those which are naturally replenished, such as solar from sunlight, wind, water from rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat: natural resources to which many tourism establishments have access.

With its large consumption of energy, tourism has a great cost incentive to utilise renewable energy for greater efficiencies and longer term cost savings – the purely economic ‘business case’ for sustainable tourism makes sense, as well as for the planet. Initial outlay may be required to change but over time works out much cheaper than previously-used energy sources. By measuring and monitoring consumption, organisations (and guests where they are aware!) can become more aware of managing consumption, efficiencies and thus longer term impacts.

Tourism is thus at the forefront of many innovative sustainable energy solutions. Whether it’s airlines making aircraft lighter, using biofuels or fuel-efficient taxiing, hotels saving energy with key-cards or towel reuse, or hospitality supporting local communities with energy services and related economic opportunities, the tourism industry knows it has to reduce its carbon emissions for a sustainable future. But with more than a billion tourists per year, more must be done.

1.6               How Can Tourism Help?

1.6.1        Energy efficiency

Using less energy to perform the same task (eliminating energy waste), is often the most immediate, and cheap, way to reduce the use of fossil fuels. If we applied all the energy efficiency technologies available today, we could cut energy consumption straight away by a third (World Bank, 2015).

There are great opportunities for using less energy in tourism and transport, eg:

• choosing LED light bulbs and energy efficient appliances like fridges and washing machines.
• refurbishing to upgrade heating, insulation, windows and cooling systems.
• using energy efficient vehicles, especially electric.
• changing standard operating procedures to decrease energy use.
• offering incentives to guests to use less than average energy.

1.6.2        Energy Innovation

Continual growth in air travel due to lower costs has shown reducing emissions by reducing consumption is not likely, despite efficiency innovations to airframes, engines, aerodynamics and flight operations: air travel is set to increase, despite a plan to offset carbon emissions, but only voluntarily on increased from international flights after a base year of 2020.

The reliance on offsetting (eg. tree planting to reduce equivalent CO2 in the atmosphere) leads to effectiveness for climate change mitigation being questioned. But where land transport has alternatives (rail, fuel cells and electric cars), to reduce carbon, aviation does not.

1.6.3        Energy Generation

Despite rapid growth in recent years, renewable energy still makes up a relatively minor share of total energy consumption. The challenge is to increase the share of energy generated through renewable sources in the transport and heat sectors, which together account for 80% of global energy consumption. (UN, 2019)

It’s also important to balance demand and supply, in total quantity and source, eg. using more or less from wind when there’s a spike in demand or little wind, balanced by alternative energy sources.

1.6.4        Solar

‘Photovoltaics’ (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials. A typical photovoltaic system employs solar panels, each comprising a number of solar cells, which generate the electrical power. PV installations may be ground-mounted, rooftop mounted or wall mounted, and may be fixed, or use a solar tracker to follow the sun across the sky. Solar PV generates no pollution and no greenhouse gas emissions once installed, with simple scalability. Cells don’t need direct sunlight to work – just daylight – they can still generate electricity on a cloudy day.

1.6.5        Wind

Wind has been used for centuries for power, such as windmills to convert the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes (sails) to mill grain in agriculture and pump water. Likewise, modern windmills tend to take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or wind-pumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater.

1.6.6        Hydropower

Water-powered hydroelectricity has been created since ancient times, using the power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, for useful purposes, such as watermills for irrigation. Whilst hydropower may not add large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere or emit pollution, dams can also have significant negative social and environmental impacts, for example altering a river’s flow, creating floods or deepening riverbeds, transforming upstream and downstream ecosystems, thus species, blocking fish migrations, affecting deltas, barrier islands, fertile floodplains, coastal wetlands and their populations. Submerged plant life can decay anaerobically (in the absence of oxygen) generating greenhouse gases like methane.

Electricity generated by hydro-electric power plants is the cheapest electricity, so it is no surprise that in 2015 hydropower generated 16.6% of the world’s total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity, and was expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years.

1.6.7        Biomass

Biomass means getting energy by burning wood and other organic matter. Biomass most often refers to plants or plant-based materials that are not used for food or feed, specifically called lignocellulosic biomass.

As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel, in solid, liquid or gas form. Burning biomass releases carbon emissions, around a quarter higher than burning coal, but has been classed as a “renewable” energy source in the EU and UN, because plants can be regrown.

1.6.8        Geothermal

Geothermal energy is the energy stored in the form of heat beneath the earth’s surface. From hot springs, geothermal energy has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since ancient Roman times, but it is now better known for electricity generation.

With 99.9% of the planet at a temperature greater than 100°C, geothermal energy is a significant carbon-free, sustainable resource that can provide a reliable, uninterrupted supply of heat that can be used to heat homes and office buildings and to generate electricity.

Environmentally friendly, whilst geothermal wells release greenhouse gases trapped deep within the earth, the emissions are much lower per energy unit than those of fossil fuels.

 

Summary The tourism sector consumes significant levels of energy based on both transport-related activities, such as travel to, from and at the destination, and destination-related aspects, such as accommodation, food and tourist activities. While the expansion of tourism resulted in an increase in fossil energy consumption and important greenhouse gas emissions, investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy in tourism are found to generate significant returns within a short period of time. Existing indicators focus on consumption, the use of alternative sources and the introduction of energy efficiency and saving programs. In addition, measuring the overall carbon footprint of tourism has become increasingly important within in the climate change discussions. However, measuring energy consumption in the tourism sector remains difficult and complex due to a variety of reasons, such as difficulties in capturing tourism´s indirect energy use from the construction of hotels, airports, cars and roads, as well as energy use in associated sectors, such as tour operators and their offices or travel to work by those employed in tourism. Questions for reflection ·         How can Tourism support the achievement of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? ·         Is energy conservation a challenge or an opportunity for Tourism Business?