2. Technique of the Green Hotel:

• Intelligent building systems: Building Management System (BMS) / Building Automation System (BAS)

Intelligent building systems is a very popular concept nowadays not only in travel industry but basically in any industry that needs to use building in order to function. Building Automation System (BAS) in the beginning were explained as an evolution of BSM with better analytic functions, but since both systems are very similar and there is no bigger distinction between them, those two names are uses interchangeably.  Usually the bigger the building is, the bigger advantages this system have, especially when it comes to costs or sustainability. BMS is responsible for taking better care of electric and mechanical functions of building. It is based on specially designed computer program which have many useful features responsible for automatization of processes that takes place in the building and possibly eliminate any need for human interference into them. It allows companies to manage complex structures of building and save them a lot of resources and funds, it is possible thanks to analytic functions of these programs. Also, such systems have positive impact on customers reviews cause by growing awareness about environmental issues and appreciation of efforts related to sustainability and technology usage.

BMS can perform activities related to the electronic equipment installed inside the building and coordinate the way they perform. It can be responsible for the lightning. The program can make the lights turn on and off depend on what is the idea for it. The schedule can be different during the day and night, it can also react for a movement or other setting which are totally dependent on decisions made by person that is responsible for taking care of program. Also, the BMS software can provide information about the necessity of change the light bulb or insufficient use of light in certain sectors of the building. Similar setting can be applied to the sector called HVAC. The name of this sector refers to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Through the designated program the setting like temperature, working hours and so on can be applied, also information about the need for service are provided.

Beside this BMS can manage things related to – security, which is mostly responsible to managing cameras and communicating notifications and errors, – access to rooms, pools, garages etc. and creates the working setting that make the most sustainable conditions. Also, fire safety equipment can be managed through BMS.

Beside customers satisfaction, reduced costs and longer longevity of devices, BMS takes huge part in environment protection. Thanks to this system the energy usage drops drastically, and what comes with it, carbon footprint caused by it.

Even further development of BSM is Smart Building technology which is based on work of the same devices as BSM but they are connected into onto one network and exchange information with each other. Beside general functions of reducing energy usage and so on, Smart building is responsible for improving general health and wellbeing of building inhabitants by taking care of thing like water or air quality. That exchange is happening through Internet of things, and the data are being deliver by sensors that are implanted into devices.

• RFID systems

Radio-Frequency Identification is a technology that allows exchange of data between two devices through radio waves. Those devices have to be in some close distance to each other and depend on what devices are used that distance can vary from couple of centimeters to couple meters. Technology use antennas that is responsible for sending a receiving the signal filled with information, chip or tag that is responsible for collection and saving the information, reader with specific software installed into it that allow to make use of the received information. The name of this technology might not sound familiar for everyone but most probably this is used in everyday life by technology users. This technology is most commonly used in contactless bank card that are being used to pay in almost every shop. RFID chips are also installed into passports, allowing to access certain rooms, to track pets or any item that users wish to have better control over, like wallets. Also new generation of smartphones uses similar technology which is NFC (nearfield communication) to allow the contactless payment and exchange of the files.

Tourism industry also find plenty of applications of RFID technology. Especially during and after pandemic this technology gained a lot of popularity because of no need for physical contact between people. What makes it so attractive is high speed, low cost, increased security and general impression that the company is caring about implementation of newest technology and sustainability issues.

Most popular application in tourism industry are door lock. Instead of traditional keys, hotel provides its visitors magnetic cart with RFID chip implemented into it. Beside customer convince, the hotel stuff has better control over it, card can be activated or deactivated without need of physical access to it which increase the security. In case the card is lost the cost are also much lower. With single card customers can also access different sections of hotel like parking or swimming pool and the stuff can have easier access to activities done by them with the help of logs available through computer or another electronic device. If necessary, the payments can also be done with help RFID card remotely. This technology can also help hotel to monitor their inventory and prevent stealing stuff without any need for intervention from stuff site.

Thanks to those feature RFID system can help hotels to provide sustainable services. Because it provides real-time information hotel can avoid overstocking and losing their inventory due to thief’s. That also helps them to practice reusing of materials. The information’s related to needed inventory can help to invent more sustainable supply chains, reduce produced wastes and carbon footprint cause by unnecessary transportation of inventory.

• Water collectors

Water consumption is very important issue that needs to be addressed by tourism industry. Single hotel water use might not be a problem but when the whole industry will be taken under consideration the amount of wasted resources will be counted in millions of tons. For example, laundry washing. toilet flushing and irrigation doesn’t always require potable water use and can be easily replaced. Water collectors are becoming better, smarter and cheaper what should encourage business owners to invest in them, especially when it is clear that the prices of potable water will be rising.

There are many different types of water collectors and their usage might vary depend on what kind of building is in use, what is the climate of the region or space possibilities. Two main types of water collectors are above ground and underground. Above ground water collector are much less expensive as the amount of work need to install them is much smaller. They do take much more space than the underground collectors but can be easily installed on the roof where the space is usually not managed well anyway.

The water quality is manageable and the automation processes makes it easier to control and reduce the amount of work performed by human. It is important to remember that the potable water cannot be totally replace as it is needed for bathing, drinking or food preparation. But there are plenty of other application of water collectors as the use of it is still high. The harvested water can be used in numbers of ways to make the facility more sustainable.

Beside reducing cost of water consumption, the environmental benefits come with water collection systems. It can drastically reduce the amount of water needed which can influence the collection of water taken from natural supplies. Because of the infrastructure created by society, the rain water can cause erosion of it and can prevent huge amounts of water to come back to nature and disturb the water circulation. The effect of it is that the amount of used energy to is much higher than it could be.

Water collectors can provide water to cooling tower that use huge amounts of water anyway. It can be also for toilet flushing, laundry washing but also can stock hotels with water backups in case the regular water supplies will be cut off.

• Solar collectors

Solar collectors have gained a lot of popularity in recent years as more and more companies are trying to turn into sustainable energy and give their customers some cheaper solution for their energy supplies. Increasingly more devices are being powered by solar energy. But not only devices but also whole buildings are being powered by this type of energy. It is easy to see that the number of homes with solar panels on the roof is growing with fast pace.

They are designed to collect energy produced by the sun and turn it into electricity. There are several types of them like and the most popular ones are flat plate collectors and evacuated tube collectors. The most popular application of the is for water heating but the heat from water can be transformed into pure energy which can be used for providing electricity.

Tourism industry is using a lot of energy for powering things like lightning, air conditioning, water pumps, television and so on. Also, for computers and all the activities related to them like advertising, contacting with customers or managing their stuff or buildings. That creates the great demand for more sustainable solution in terms of providing energy. Solar panels and collectors can be an answer for that need. All the outdoor equipment can also be powered by solar energy.

Traveling is also a big part of tourism industry, so the emerging transition to solar powered vehicles is very important as well. Companies like Tesla, Toyota, Mercedes and others started the transition from fuel to solar energy and makes traveling more sustainable. There is high demand for other forms of transportation to implement this kind of solution in their products as well in the near future.

Transition to solar energy is a huge step that the industry has to take and it applies not only to big networks of hotels but also for small businesses. Their owners have to look at the long run effect of it. One of the reasons that they hesitate to invest in that energy is that the entry cost might be big. But the investment is surely beneficial. The investment will be returned to them because the energy cost will be much smaller and the initial expenses going to be returned to them and after that the profits will be much higher.

Cost is not the only reason that this transition must take place. The use of natural resources for producing energy is too big right now to continue this way in the future. Solar energy doesn’t use them as the energy is taken from sun, so the environment is not affected and the danger of global warming is not anyhow related to it. As the awareness about these issues is rising, the guests are choosing the places with sustainable solution applied much more often too.