Bosch, Buderus, Balantia, Aqualogy, Prosolia, CIAT Group, Grundfos, Euroconsult Group, Schneider Electric and Gas Natural Fenosa will present financing options and tools for hotels to be more efficient in energy management.
With the slogan The Power of Tourism, FITUR and Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Grupo Habitat Futura, organize the fourth edition of FITURGREEN 2013, to be held in hall 10B05 of the exhibition fair, that will focused on the funding models for energy efficiency through Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), energy and sustainable building certifications, and management of sustainability in tourism industry. The program this year will include workshops and case studies on advanced technologies for monitoring and controlling energy efficiency, efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), efficient lighting, water management and thermal insulation.
During the morning of the opening day, entitled Reducing costs without investmen“, which will take place on Wednesday 30th January, experts from Gas Natural-Fenosa and Prosolia will explain agreement options and the implications of Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) for the hospitality industry, including the types of contracts and success stories of hotels that have implanted formulas, adapted to the particularities of the hotel industry. The benefits, advantages and challenges ESCOs and hotels must resolve to grant access to energy efficient technology, will be debated in a panel discussion with the participation of representatives of Bosch, Buderus, Balantia, Prosolia and Gas Natural Fenosa.
In the afternoon, two workshops will be held. The first will be devoted to studying the conditions, characteristics and steps to be taken in order to implement advanced energy monitoring and controlling systems, with the help of Grupo Euroconsult and Schneider Electric. The second workshop will be present case studies and the results of two pilot projects, carried out under ITH Sustainable Hotel: Efficient HVAC for Hotels, carried out in collaboration with Grupo CIAT; and Efficient Lighting for Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, with Light & Energy.
The second session, on Thursday, January 31st, will be devoted to defining the keys of “360 Sustainable Hotel”, that is to say, to clarify the differences between certifications, standards and models of energy management and responsible tourism that can be implemented in tourism and travel industry. In addition, Asociación de Hoteles de Turismo de la República Argentina(Hotel Association of Argentina), ITH partner, will present its Sustainable Hospitality Program and Green Hotels in Argentina, recently awarded with the UNWTO Ulysses Award in the category “NGOs and public institutions and their innovative contributions”.
Demands of institutional entities and customers on sustainability and energy efficiency are increasing, and that is the reason tourism industry is bound to know the ways to reduce the environmental impact of its activities. To this end, representatives of Spain Green Building Council – LEED, PEP Passivhaus and BREEAM Spain, along with Thomas Azcárate Bang, president of the Institute for Responsible Tourism – Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and Gonzalo de Castro, vicepresident of TÜV Rheinland Ibérica, will explain the main models for legitimizing and endorsing environmental and energy policies on the hotels.
In addition, speakers will analyze success stories, such as Hotel NH Eurobuilding (Madrid), first hotel in Europe to be certified with ISO 50.001 energy management certification, and leader in the implementation sustainability and energy efficiency measures at the hotel. Water will be the central issue to be discussed at a workshop, conducted by Grundfos Spain and Aqualogy, which will be focused in studying the steps to implement technologies and systems to manage this valuable and much needed resource for hotels.
Finally, on Friday, February 1st, the presentations will address on Sustainability in the Tourism Industry. Attendees will learn tools and systems to design sustainable management plans for hotels, regardless of their size and turnover, including Intelitur platform, an initiative led by the Spanish Chambers of Commerce, and developed by ITH; and WTO Hotel Energy Solutions (HES), whose Spanish version was launched in late 2012. The next challenges and trends related to sustainable tourism that hotel industry must face in the near future will be raised in a panel discussion, with Thomas Meller, director of Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI), Arantxa Garcia, responsible for Sustainable Development for Accommodation & Destinations Sector of TUI Travel PLC and representative of Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development, and Daniel Frey, Preferred Partner & Auditor for the Iberian peninsula of Green Globe, among other experts.
Green Hotel & Tourism Solutions
This year, for the first time, FiturGreen program will include a parallel session, Hotel & Tourism Green Solutions, which will take place on Thursday January 31st, from 14:30 to 20:00 hours, and organized by Grupo Habitat Futura. The meeting will analyze operational and management issue, architectural design, facilities and the latest market innovations. The conference will bring together some of the most outstanding professionals, both engineers and architects as well as national hotel groups, such as NH Hotels, TMA Arquitectura, Jaime Beriestain, José Riu de Martín, Oriol Tintoré, Cuende y Gutiérrez Arquitectos, Francesc Valls, founder of ESADE Centre for Tourism Management, the CAMP platform, among other experts, to show, through case studies, how sustainability benefits and contributes to profitability in tourism industry
Rehabilitation and sustainable building -key to the hospitality industry, are getting an ever more global, multidisciplinary scope; and this is also related with the need to use more sustainable, healthier, attractive and profitable materials and resources, able to provide solutions to sustainable hotel management. When compared to other competitive Mediterranean destinations, these factors add value to Spain tourism companies; so to updated facilities, to renovate with distinctive design and sustainability criteria, will also help to reactivate the construction market and to reinforce the local hotel industry.
Green Hotel & Tourism Solutions is supported by Colegio de Arquitectos de Madrid, is sponsored by Geberit, Hansgrohe, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Lutron, and counts on the collaboration of Bosch, Euronit, Cosentino, Lamp and Pladur.
