The critical mass of a large conference group staying and meeting in a hotel represents a significant input to that property’s energy use.

Add to this increasing demand from companies for high environmental standards for the organisation of their conference, and it’s not surprising hotels are starting to respond.

Here we look at how two popular hotels and a private lodge are joining the sustainable movement.

By Kathy Ombler

Sustainable Stonefly
Stonefly Lodge, which opened near Nelson in November last year, has been built with the environment in mind. So much attention to environmental sustainability has been considered in the design, construction and operation of the five-star lodge, it is now showcased by Qualmark as an Enviro Award application case study.

For owner John Kerr, Stonefly is the realisation of a life dream. He’s spent 30 years in management at highly regarded Australian eco-resorts at Ayers Rock, Daintree and Arnhem Land, he was chief executive of Sustainable Tourism in Cairns and he’s travelled the world on an Australian government environment grant to study top international ‘eco-resorts’.
“I saw some wonderful innovations but there was not one property that had done everything, so that inspired us.” Kerr had always wanted to build his own fully self sustainable property from scratch. Stonefly, sitting on 150 acres of private forest on the banks of Motueka River, is it.

The entire project is self-contained and does not require power, water or waste water management from any other source. The lodge’s total power consumption is less than half that of an average New Zealand household. Exploring the latest technology to achieve this, Stonefly was eight years in the planning and took three years to build. The lodge is constructed from plantation timber milled on the property and extensive stonework, also collected from the property.

Power is supplied onsite by three natural energy sources, run by the latest technology, says Kerr. “We use a micro hydro generator; it’s a clever invention incorporating a washing machine motor, designed by Eco Innovations. There’s also a wind generator, a bonus when it’s windy, and photo voltaic solar panels.
“All three energy sources are complementary. In summer we get most of our power from the sun, the hydro system provides more power in winter and in spring and autumn we have more wind.”No electricity is used for heating, and the key to this insulation, he adds.

First – the floor. The lodge sits on a concrete pad with insulation separating the concrete from the ground and pipes set into the concrete. A log burner (burning plantation timber from the property) heats water that’s pumped through the pipes to keep the floor at a constant temperature. A centrally located fireplace provides additional warmth with a heat transfer system distributing heat throughout the lodge.

Second – the walls. All exterior and interior walls are insulated by New Zealand wool, supplied by Christchurch’s Latitude, and the exterior wall is 50 per cent thicker than required by building regulations.
Windows are double-glazed with “Low E” glass that Kerr says is 40 per cent more efficient in reducing heat transfer than normal glass. A purpose designed sunroom allows the winter sun to warm the internal stone pillars and concrete floor.

In summer, excess heat build-up is released via electric motor operated windows at the hottest points of the building, creating effective cross-flow ventilation to cool the interior.
Operationally, the sustainable focus continues. Domestic water is heated by solar panels on the roof, cooking is on a restored Rayburn wetback stove and Scandinavian refrigeration, which Kerr says use one third the normal amount of energy of normal domestic fridges, have been installed.

The Lodge has two ‘feeds’ for electricity, one for low voltage LED lighting and one 240 volt feed for appliances. “Every time you change voltage you lose power, this is an energy saving of 15 per cent,” says Kerr.
All waste water is treated on site by the Biolytix system which uses a wet soil ecosystem of worms, beetles and microscopic organisms that reduce the waste to a quality fit for watering the lodge’s permaculture garden. The garden is being developed with the aim to provide the majority of fruit, vegetables and herbs for guest meals.

Stonefly is an exclusive property. There are just four guest rooms – the maximum lodge capacity is eight – all upstairs with private balconies overlooking the river to Kahurangi National Park. Downstairs, the massive double-sided stone fireplace takes pride of place in the open plan dining room, sun room and games room. There’s also a large open kitchen, library and ‘Matai Bar’, while the ‘loft’ can be set up as a small boardroom.
Kerr says the lodge has been primarily designed for private sole use events, retreats and of course fly fishing on the Motueka and other local rivers.

InterContinental checks in
InterContinental Hotel Wellington has been highly commended for improvements made to its sustainability programme by international sustainable travel and tourism certification organisation EarthCheck.
The five-star Wellington property recently achieved EarthCheck’s status of Benchmarked Accommodation – Business Hotel. EarthCheck chief executive Stewart Moore noted that the hotel was initially benchmarked in 2006 with the latest data analysed at the end of 2009. 

EarthCheck provides organisations with a science-based environmental management tool designed to minimise their environmental footprint and calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A variety of measures are analysed for benchmarking, sorted under eight broad headings of policy, energy, water, waste, paper, community, cleaning and pesticides.

InterContinental Wellington recently upgraded to EarthCheck from the Green Globe scheme.
According to Richard Boys-Cheer, chair of the InterContinental Wellington Responsible Business Committee, EarthCheck responds directly to the major environmental issues facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management.

“We’re committed to improving our practises. It’s fantastic to be able to say, for example, that our water saving rating is 97.2 per cent, when we were sitting at 50 per cent four years ago.”
“The waste we send to landfill has dropped by more than a litre per guest per night, and sits at 16 per cent better than the (EarthCheck) Best Practice level. More than 85 per cent of our paper products are eco-labelled or recycled (six points above Best Practise) and our water consumption has dropped by almost 100 litres per guest per night (nearly seven per cent better than the Best Practise level),” says Boys-Cheer.
“The programme will continue to provide us with an operational framework to increase efficiencies, maximise the benefits of corporate responsibility initiatives and minimise environmental impacts.”

To achieve the results to date, the InterContinental Wellington team wrote and implemented comprehensive best practise policies for several departments within the hotel.
Measures such as installing low flow shower and tap fittings throughout the property, implementing frequent checks for leaks, purchasing biodegradable paper products and diverting food waste from landfill to the Wellington City Council’s compost plant are giving the effective results.

Accor’s Mercure Hotels
Accor’s Mercure Hotels have become the first hotel group in New Zealand to offer carbon neutral conferencing – and pay for it.
The seven Mercure properties across New Zealand have teamed with the Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI) to commit to pay carbon offsets for any meeting held in a Mercure hotel. The institute uses a carbon calculator to calculate the emissions from energy used to heat, cool or ventilate a meeting venue; electricity used and emissions embodied in food and beverages supplied for the event.
The scheme was launched lat month. Initially, offsets purchased will be used to fund the Household Energy Efficient Lighting Project, implemented by New Zealand energy efficiency company, Energy Mad.