Introduction
There are numerous requirements when it comes to the construction of hotels or hospitality buildings. There are various construction standards set by the international organization for standardization (ISO) that are to be considered. The main aim of these requirements is to ensure that hotels are constructed in standards that favor the environment, water conservation, energy efficiency as well as indoor environmental quality. It is the role of hospitality managers to ensure that their buildings meet all the ethical, financial, and social requirements with respect to environmental conservation and the safety of their guests. This paper aims at highlighting some of the ISO requirements with respect to site selection, environmental design, alternative materials, water conservation, and energy efficiency as well as indoor environmental quality.
Site selection Issues
Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the need for the construction of environmentally friendly hospitality property. These are referred to as ecohotels. Construction of ecohotels ensures that critical environmental considerations are made ranging from site selection to the designing of the hotel to the operations within the hotel. There are numerous issues that arise if one intends to select a site for hotel construction as per ISO standards (Beals 2009, p. 24). These include the site where the hotel is to be constructed. Such a site needs to be close enough to the construction materials needed in building the hotel. This is in order to reduce energy consumption in transporting these materials to the construction site. The site needs to have good access to renewable materials which are environmentally friendly. There is a need for water conservation. As a result, when selecting a site for hotel construction, it is imperative to ensure that the site has an adequate supply of water. A lot of the effluent produced in hotels may lead to water pollution. Hotels need not be erected in areas that have proper water pollution protection methods (Beals 2009, p. 45).
Environmental design elements
The main aim of ISO in coming up with proper environmental design practices is to reduce the environmental hazards caused by hotel buildings. Typically, buildings contribute greatly to air and atmosphere alteration, land use as well as energy and water consumption. In the United States alone, approximately two million acres of land are constructed every year. In 2006, about forty percent of the total energy used in Europe and America went to hospitality buildings. A lot of carbon dioxide emitted in the environment can be associated with buildings. As a result, ISO found it necessary to establish building designs that will minimize the amount of natural resources taken in by hotel buildings as well as the amount of pollution emitted from thee facilities (Birchfield & Sparrowe 2003, pp. 24-35). While most hospitality developers focus on the cost of developing and managing such property, they underestimate their environmental implications. There are numerous practices that need to be taken into consideration when constructing ecohotels in order to reduce and completely get rid of the impacts hotel buildings have on the environment. This includes taking advantage of renewable resources such as the use of sunlight passive solar, photovoltaic methods as well as active solar. There is also a need for use of trees and other plants in roofing, rain gardens, and also in the reduction of run-offs. Other techniques that can be used to enhance the refilling of groundwater include the use of packed gravel and porous concrete in place of ordinary concrete or asphalt.
Alternative building materials
There are numerous building materials that can be used as alternatives to ensure that a building is environmentally friendly. Some of these include the use of renewable plant materials such as bamboo and straws. There is also lumber gotten from forests and which is approved as a renewable construction material. Recycled stones, ecology blocks, dimension stones, and recycled metals are also some of the non-toxic and reusable materials that can be used in the construction of eco hotels (Bridge & de Haast 2004, p. 67). Other recyclable materials that can be used include flax linen, sheep wool, sisal, seagrass, expanded clay grains, wood fiber plates, and calcium sandstones. Some of the recycled industrial materials that can be used include foundry sand, coal combustion, and demolition rubbles. Polyurethane blocks can be used in the reduction of carbon emissions. These are cost-effective and very productive when it comes to the reduction of carbon in the environment as a result of buildings. Building materials need to be extracted and processed at the site where the hotel is to be constructed to reduce the consumption of energy associated with transporting the materials to the construction site (Bridge & de Haast 2004, p. 84).
Water conservation
Water conservation is a vital aspect of environmentally responsive hotel. There is the need for hotel developers to ensure that they have minimized the rate of water usage in the hotel. Areas where water is used greatly include the hotel proper: that is guestrooms and public areas; kitchen and the laundry area. To reduce water wastage, low-flow fixtures need to be used in the hotel buildings on all areas that use water. Other measures of water conservation in the hotel can be introduction of systems where guests can have the freedom of deciding not to their bathing towels and beddings changed every day to minimize water usage. As the system is voluntary, its effectiveness in water conservation depends on the location of the hotel, type of the hotel and the ability of the hotel operators in explaining to guests the importance of conserving water (Enz & Harrison 2008, p. 54). Use of grey water can significantly facilitate in water conservation. Hotels using grey water system can reduce their rate of fresh water wastage by half leading to reduction of cost associated with water and sewer services. Grey water is where unclean water is mechanically treated while others can use ordinary treatment methods such as constructed wetlands.
Another environmental consideration in hotel building construction is enhancement of water quality. A recent study has proved that over time, the quality and safety of water in hotels has been compromised. This underlines the need to ensure that current hotel building designs ensures that quality and safety of water is improved. To ensure the quality of water and at the same time minimize energy consumption, it is imperative to keep distribution temperature low. However the temperature may not be enough to eliminate some of the harmful organisms found in water. This can be resolved by use of storage tanks that have enough temperature to kill all dangerous organisms that may be in water. Conservation of water on laundry can be achieved through installation of laundry equipments that allow fractional reuse of laundry-waste ejection such as using water used in rinsing clothes to wash others for first wash. Reduction of water wastage in kitchen can be achieved through use of equipments that conserve water (Gee 1994, p. 125). However, most of water conservation efforts in kitchen can be attained through educating kitchen users on the need to conserve water.
Energy efficiency
There is a need to ensure to ensure that proper measures are taken to reduce energy consumption in hotel buildings. This is in order to increase the efficiency of both the interior and exterior of the building referred as building envelope. Some of the measures that need to be taken include use of insulated walls, ceilings and floors as well as high-efficiency windows. For hotels with limited sources of energy, it is imperative to use passive solar building design. This facilitates in regulating the temperature inside the hotel during sunny period reducing the need for heating and cooling systems that may consume energy. Here walls and windows are oriented in a manner that trees planted around the building shields them from direct sun during summer while they are able to collect enough solar energy during winter. Besides, proper placement of windows can ensure that the hotel receives enough light energy during the day eliminating the need for electricity. Installation of water heaters run by solar can also reduce energy consumption in hotels. Environmental impact of hotel building can e reduced through onsite production of renewable energy (Hassanien 2006, pp. 41-64).
Indoor environmental quality
To achieve environmentally responsive hotel design, it is important to use correct Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system (HVAC). This system not only helps in energy conservation but also ensures that indoor environment is conducive and safe. The best way in ensuring favorable indoor environment is to control the materials used in interior construction of the hotel. The system facilitates in filtration of outside air in guestrooms as well as in all public areas. For a long time, hotel operators have assumed the importance of air filtration in guestrooms. Failure to effectively filter air in guest rooms has been blamed for biological growths in the rooms. Improving air filtration in guest rooms and other public areas facilitates in improving air quality in those rooms (Huffadine 1999, p. 26). This can only be achieved if air filters are regularly inspected and changed when necessary. It underlines the need for hotel employee training on how to use, inspect and change these air filters. In the past HVAC systems have focused on air quality and temperature control in hotels. However, in ecohotels, this trend changes significantly. A favorable indoor environment is where humidity is well controlled, air velocity and motion addressed leading to entire environmental condition being regulated with minimal adverse effects. Humidity control is important in hotels because it not only leads to discomfort among the guests but also leads to growth of molds which might destroy carpets, wall coverings as well as other fabrics in the hotel rooms. Ventilation system in guestrooms needs to be installed in a way that it controls moisture in the room. This can be achieved through introduction of humid-free air in the room throughout. For highly humid areas, desiccant tools can be used to regulate amount of humidity in the rooms (Lehr 2004, para. 4).
Operations over the building’s lifetime
Sustainability of hotel buildings depends on responsible operations within the building. Every aspect of hotel building needs to be based on operations and maintenance phase of the building’s life. Despite the aim of waste reduction being addressed during building design, erection and annihilation phase of the building’s life-cycle, it is in operations and maintenance stage that ecohotels practices such as recycling and air quality improvement take place. Over building lifetime waste reduction can be achieved by using waste water from dish and laundry washing for subsurface irrigation. Waste and wastewater from the hotels can also be converted to fertilizer for other use. Human waste can also be collected and channeled to biogas plants for manufacture of liquid fertilizer. This helps in reduction of amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Stipanuk 2002, p. 176).
Conclusion
With time, people have started understanding the impacts of hotel buildings on the environment. This has made them put numerous considerations when designing, constructing and managing these hotels. Hotel site selection has been important in reducing amount of energy consumed in transportation and production of hotel construction materials. Materials that were being used before in hotel construction, has been found not to be environmental-friendly. As a result, people are changing to use of renewable materials such a bamboo and lumber extracted from forests. Energy consumption rate in hotels is being reduced through use of solar power as well as insulated walls. Hotel windows are also oriented in a way that light can get into the hotel rooms during the day reducing electricity use. As water is greatly wasted in hotels, proper water conservation mechanisms are being established. These include use of low-flow water systems as well as reuse of water in laundry. Passive solar building design is being used as a method of energy conservation. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems are being used to ensure that hotel rooms have the appropriate indoor environment (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2009, para. 2). Manual temperature and air flow regulation together with appropriately designed building envelope can also facilitate in improving the quality of indoor environment. Coming up with an effective incandescent environment through correct incorporation of normal and artificial sources of light can help in improving lighting quality in the hotel.
Reference
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