Due to the recent design change to the website. We have deemed it of more use to post latest Green news for the hotel on our brand new blog. This allows more staff members of the hotel to contribute and hopefully provide up-to-date information regarding the hotel. The current information of this page will be kept for archive purposes. The old blog information will however be replicated on the new blog.
You can find the blog here.
Got The All Clear On Public Recycle Bins
7th April 2010
A few years ago we installed recycle bins on the corridors for guests to directly recycle their waste, however one thing you need to be aware of before installing anything in you corridors is the remaining width in the corridor after install against the total possible number of people whom may be trying to escape down it. Not looking into this properly lead to the removal of the bins 1 year later after a fire risk assessment.
This resulted in asking the room attendants to recycle what they found as best they can from guests over the interval which has worked quite well and we willcontinue to encourage this.
We have now just bought a smaller and quieter recycling system for each floor.
I say quieter because you also need to consider the noise produced from lifting bins lids and dropping say an empty coke can into the bin late at night.
Direct Transport website?
27th March 2010
I met with a journalist last night called Richard Hammond who put me onto a website called http://www.transportdirect.info which allows you to make journeys using a mix of public transport. There is even a cycle route web widget.
I have just put a webwidget to this page here, so if you want to calculate the best sustainable route to a destibnation you can.
What KgCO2 are we using per Unit?
25th March 2010
I just got a call about this question we are using for electricity 0.43 Kg CO2 per KWhr, for gas 2.2Kg per M3, for water 0.261Kg Co2 per M3.
By the way the latest graphs are below for Kg Co2 we produce from Power, light and heat.
We are 5 months into the financial year, with the best of the weather ahead to really test the solar heating capabilities.
Hopefully the next order of SMD lights will arrive next week.
What have you been up to lately?
24th March 2010
Attended the Y10 conference recently and was asked "what have we been doing on the green front lately?"
We installed the bio-boilers and are now moving them again to a more permanent location in transport container. All is not lost as the old pipe work will be used for the new laundry equipment as the laundry needed to expand with the increase in demand from the hotel business. I am very pleased as it is a good opportunity to install a new 10foot high accumulator which will make the heating system more efficient.
Rainwater harvesting install is going to plan and is already supplying the public toilets with rain water harvested from the roof.
Solar panels, these are producing a lot of hot water and the pool is presently the main benefactor as at this time of year most heat is produced when guests have left their rooms and are exploring the local area, at this time the control system is manually (will be fully automatic shortly) switched over to the pool heating circuit. The gas consumption in the pool area has fallen by 20% in the last month (year on year) for the pool boilers, though overall gas consumption is up in the financial year to date due to the cold weather in January 2010 which resulted in 30% increase in gas consumption that month.
LED lights, I am just about to place another order for LEDs (due to a lot of enquires), we will be shortly selling these items on eBay having satisfied ourselves that our supply’s are good quality. Overall the electricity usage did increase a little overall in January 2010 on prior year (bad weather and gloomy days), I am happy that the total financial year to date consumption is down on last year (again!)
So overall since November 2009 (the start of our financial year) to February 2010 we are
2% up on KG's CO2 from gas consumption on prior year,
6.5% down on KG's CO2 from electricity consumption on prior year,
35% down on CO2 from water consumption on prior year,
Resulting in a 2.5% less CO2 from the combined CO2 from power, light, heat and water consumption.
( NB Different types of energy are used to different quantities in the business, our biggest fossil fuel derived CO2 culprit is electricity, then gas then water, so if you really want to make big "inroads" into reduction of fossil fuel derived CO2 just turn the electrical items off when not in use, replace inefficient bulbs and turn that thermostat down!) You do not need to invest in expensive projects until you do the simple stuff that works first!
You also need to consider your own organisations circumstances, requirments and main useage culprits!
Do the Solar pannels work?
25th January 2010
Atended the SHA anual ball at the weekend at the Spa, and I got asked the above question. My answer was yes, payback still looks like roughly 8 years. The pannels are providing a great deal of warm water at this time of year (though it has been cloudy lately) but no matter how many pannels you do have the temperature will not get much above 35 oc. Though this does save a lot of energy that would have been used to heat the water from 8oc (ground water temp at the moment) to 28oc (with a heat exchanger due to the specific heat capacity of water, you will normall only get the water to 8oc below the solar temperature).
I am still happy to say 6m3 of water at around 65oc from March to October on every bright day, plus with the pool heat exchanger the lower temperature of 35oc at this time of year is exchanged into the pool as the pool only needs to be around 30oc, very little heat is lost. This has worked so well that we have now taken out the now redundant second boiler to heat the pool water.
Did a talk to the Town Team on Sustainability
19 th January 2010
Did a talk to the Scarborough "Town Team" last night, I forgot that the town team is concerned with planning, as we have had some discussions over the years with a small minority of people whom want to see the Crown spa Hotel building remain exactly as it was in the "olden days" even if this means it will be a borderline 2 star hotel and run down.
So as I sat down and realised the above I thought "oh crap!" I expected that this was going to be a tough ride, however I was very pleasantly supprised at their reception and the discussions after the meeting. I basically the people at the meeting were not the "minority I have previously encountered. My talk covered the journey from 2005 to the present day and the future plans regarding the enviroment. I explained per the powerpoint here what we have done, and took some show and tell items an "Effergy meter" (see below) a simple socket power useage measurer and 50w Halogen bulb, 2W old style LED and 2.5W SMD (a true 50W replacement). Overall it is not until you see the brightness of these lights in real life that you can really see where I am comming from with regard to them.
SMD lights Continued!
22nd December 2009
Yes the new SMD's work. They use 2.5watts of power and to date we have 300 installed and not one failure. At last we have a halogen comparable replacement which costs 5% of a equivalent 50W halogen to run, but with very similar light output. We hope to be selling these shortly online on our Ebay shop.
SMD lights!
2nd October 2009
Today had a chat with a new supplier refered to me through a good ebay contact. I have now got suppliers for SMD's (Surface Mounted Diodes) which are brighter than LED's and use a similar amount of power. I have 300 GU10 bulbs comming each with 48 SMD's rated at 2200mcd per SMD, in English it means I have found a direct replacement for bright 50W halogens!
This supplier can also supply B22 candle and bulb light fittings at 200LUX! So hopefully lights are finally sorted once replaced they will not need replacing for around 3-5 years.
AAArgh!LED lights have started failing!
2nd September 2009
Todate since January 2009 89 of our 500 LED lights have failed! This is saddening as they cost £6+ each. However spoke to the supplier and we have come to an arrangement. However, overall the concept of LED has been proved. We are sourcing some replacements at £9 per light, which give out 50watt of light for 2.5watts of power. Not all things work first time, but prove the concept and people quickly get on board. LED lights SHOULD last around 50K hours where as a fluorescent lasts around 5K hours. The replacement lights have had a 100 success (non failure) rate, so hopefully we can resolve this shortly.
The year so far what have we produced in CO2!
24th August 2009
Today I did a quick calculation on the amount of CO2 we produced on a rolling year to July 2009 compared to the previous rolling 12 month period, I got some strange but dissapointing results which puzzled me at first.
We have reduced tonnes of CO2 by 15 metric tonnes C02 produced from 776Kg tonnes (year to July 2008) to 761Kg tonnes (year to July 2009), roughly 2%. However this does not include the "to be finally fitted" solar panels, the "to be fitted" rainwater harvesting, the use of our LEDs for the full year in many areas (this has been a problem lately as many of the bulbs have failed and I am awaiting replacements) and the "to be finally fitted" wood burning boiler to power heated water for the laundry, it also masked the carbon saving of bringing the laundry in house (see below) which will be roughly 11KG tonnes CO2 since it was brought in house in January 2009.
So I can say we have saved around 3.5% CO2 (adjusted for the 11Kg tonnes CO2 above ) on the previous year at the moment, though on the face of it this does not appear to be a big saving and I must say i felt a little "down on the matter".
So I got out the older figures and then I realised that in 2005 our values were 1,005,000 KG. So since 2005 we have reduced by 25% our CO2 impact and yet we have increased the number of room nights occupied in the hotel by 12.5% without the BIG CO2 benefit of having installed and fully running quick fixes things like solar panels abd wood burning boilers which would have affected the past values tremendously.
In previous years our values for CO2 produced were
2005 1,005,000 KG
2006 909,000 KG -10%
2007 809,000 KG -12%
2008 767,439 KG -05%
2009 761,662 KG -03%
Kg's CO2 produced per room night has fallen from 45.7 in 2005 to 32.5 year rolling to July 2009 (I expect the this year's "year end" results to drop further as the influence of the season starts with a busy August, September and October). So we will just have to wait and see.
Crown Spa Awarded GOLD!
12th August 2009
Today the Crown Spa Hotel was awarded the GOLD award standard from the Green Tourism Business, an officially reconised body which grades tourism businesses for their commitment, action and visible results in enviromental, cultural and social aspects of their activities. 
The inspectors commented that "Crown Spa Hotel achieves a GOLD award. The hotels owners are dedicated to making the hotel a leader in sustainable tourism, the hotel is undergoing renovations in which all possible environmental options are being used, K glass double glazing, regulation exceeding Kingspan fitting, using skylights for internal lighting and also the fitting of two new biomass boilers, amongst others. Every bulb in the hotel is low energy with over 60 LEDs fitted to one conference room alone, reducing the electric costs for the hotel. All laundry is now done on site, when previously
it would have been driven to Durham, this has reduced environmental impacts and created local jobs. The hotels green initiatives are also well communicated to guests and staff alike, through use of notice boards, website and LCD TVs in public areas."
Overall in the last year a further 5% reduction in the direct carbon footprint has been made by the Crown Spa, above and beyond the 4% reduction the previous year, the Crown Spa Hotel will be well on its way to a 20% reduction from the 2007 levels by 2015. The EU target is 20% by 2020.
David Frank Administration Director and a Green Champion said "This is great news and another first for the team at the Crown Spa Hotel and a First for North Yorkshire, and 49th holder of the coverted GOLD award in the UK. We are firmly committed to our social, cultural and environmental responsibilities at the Crown Spa all of which has been done without grant assistance, we have done this because we believe it is the right thing to do!"
Crane Lowers Solar Panel Structure
3rd August 2009
95% of the scaffolding to the front of the hotel has now been removed. A small amount remains to enable painting of the annex section this week, after which it will be removed. The crane in the picture is lowering the solar panel uni-fix structure to the roof in order for the solar panels to be secured and capable of withstanding high winds. The crane will return next week to install the second set of frames. Calculations from 3 physical working test 30 tube panels indicate we should be able to heat 6600 litres of water to 65 oc in the month of August at that hight and angle.
Carbon Offset Calculator
16th May 2009
Yes we now have a carbon offset calculator on the web site after much searching.
Rainwater Harvesting For Laundry
15th May 2009
Yes we have a plan of harvesting rain water to flush the public toilets and supply water to the laundry.
Public Toilets
We are considering a 3650 ltr system (though a 6550 would do according to the calculations)for the public toilets to be situated roughly outside room 109. If a smaller system than 3650 is needed due to weight loading we should be able to do this or split the system in say 2 x 1500ltr.
Laundry
We are considering a 10,000 ltr system (though a 6550 would do according to the calculations) for the laundry to be situated under the fire escape. A 10,000 ltr system would allow for heavy laundry loading in the season.
Roughly the benefits are
· The total payback for the system would be roughly 10 months for the laundry
· We would be complying with our organisations CSR framework
· We would reduce our carbon footprint by roughly 4.5 Tonnes CO2 per annum
· We also get an extra 10 points on our Green Tourism Grading
· And also gain a valuable publicity opportunity
Basically a rainwater harvesting system diverts some (not all) rain water, filters the contents and pumps them to be used for basic cleaning purposes outside, toilet flushing and clothes washing.
The systems also come with a flush option to periodically flush a system to drain and top up with mains water if the water has stood a while.
Rainwater for the laundry the rough calculations. I have not allowed for any disinfection (do we need to? Can use UV light or chlorine)
The laundry uses around £4K of water per year, the cost of installing the gray water tank (10Kl) would be roughly £3.5K.
Have I missed anything? Looking at the last few years charges with Yorkshire the main charges are sewage treatment.
The calculations were created from here http://www.rainwaterharvesting.co.uk/calculator.php
Assumptions
Laundry Litres Water used in March 09
Soft Water 135000
Non-softened 29000
Total Water Used 164000
Final Cost saving on water (inc. sewage) used (1.98 per M3) £324.72
(water used cost is £136.12)
Or roughly (£3900) £4K per year in water assuming same as march all year round.
Rainwater Harvest for laundry
Tank £2460 http://www.rainwaterharvesting.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=BWST-V10000-DAK3&cat=27
Pipes say £250
Labour £500
Contingency £250
Total £3460
UPDATED November 2009, We have had this project delayed even though the equipment is here due to the buildinug works and being able to get the access to the car park, due to the contractors being on site it is no feasible. I think we will be fitting these in the spring 2010. However, I have done a similar project at home using an old chemical container that holds 1 M3 of water which is pumped up to a small holding unit which then flushes the toilets. With 4 kids it works a dream, water at home was costing around £600 per year with them. I will be shortly fitting it to the washing machine; my neighbours think I am mad!
Panning for Solar Panels Given
15th April 2009
At last I have found some reasonably priced solar panels; basically I have been researching suppliers for 30 tube (vacuum tube) 58MM diameter and around 1800mm long solar panels. Prices have ranged from extremely efficient (95%) 30 tube panel sets from around £2K per panel; to 80% efficient 30 tube panels for £400 and less (to BS standard BS EN12975-2 ). So very much a no brainer with regard to which panel to choose by the time you have factored in the cost of additional damage prevention systems for the cheaper panels there is still a considerable cost saving.
Solar Panels at the Crown the costs and the benefits
We have 60m of available width space to fit solar panels to the roof, this means we can reasonably fit 27 panels maximum to the roof, though it will be around 25 due to gaps between panels
The total costs of these panels at 30 vacuum tubes each will be around £400 each (est. present costs are £433 before discounts) panel, I have allowed for £100 of fittings and tubing per panel in the costing
and an equal amount of labour.
The panels come with a fixing kit for mounting on a flat roof do have a look at http://www.top50solar.org.uk/ for some suppliers, panels can be supplied with the flat roof stand or pitched roof mounts.
The above suppliers are the most competitive suppliers I have found from 50 suppliers and I have narrowed down prospective quotes for 30 tube solar vacuum panels to go to 6 suppliers.
Assumptions
- local solar values have been used,
- 80% efficiency of the vacuum solar tubes (flat panels are roughly 75% efficient), (there are two types of solar panel flat and tubular)
- tilt angle is latitude + and - 15 degrees, though more probable that only the positive tilt will be used from 54 degree angle (so 39 to 70 degree tilt at 54 latitude)
- direction of facing panels is SE and SW (SW is slightly more optimal for winter performance)
- days sunshine data and KW hr’s per M2 (from last 60 years at High Mowpeth),
- total heat store of 2.5K litres with 90 KW coils per cylinder (4 cylinders in total),
- a suspected doubling of gas costs in the next 3 years from 3.5 per KW hr (inc.ccl) to 7.5p per KW Hr,
- sunk (past) costs up to today’s date are ignored, (these total £11k at today’s PV values after tax)
- maintenance costs of £200 per year after year 4 (I presume we will have to replace faulty tubes etc..)
- cost of capital of 10%
- max number of 30 tube panels fitted is 25 (though might be able to get 27)
- each 30 tube panel is roughly 2M long (hypotenuse), 1.6M max vertical height and 2.5M wide and 100KG full weight (if an un-mounted solution is used then the height will vary between 1.6M and 1.2M.
If I include past costs this is extended to 7.5 years.
How much hot water can we produce?
From early April to mid August excess heat will be produced, the excess quantity produced is to a degree
difficult to calculate as some excess may be “put back” into the hotel hot water system and not be an excess
i.e. if a period of “heavy draw” is experienced.
However the main thing to realise is that all the excess heat will be recovered and dumped into the pool;
after putting these numbers through some more number crunching taking into account
the day time air temperatures, temperature of the solar fluid reaching the pool heat exchanger etc…
roughly a percentage % of the pool heating bill will be supplied from excess heat from the solar panels as follows:
- For May 25% of pool heating will be solar,
- For June 50%,
- For July 30%,
- For August 15%,
The beauty of using the pool as a heat store is that if there is very little hot water draw on any given day the excess heat will
Be dumped automatically into the pool. This is very possible in March, April and September and October months.
I have a table below based on local historic data for sunlight and kwh's per M2 sunlight for the Scarborough latitude
|
|
|
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apl |
May |
Jun |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
Days in month |
|
|
31 |
28 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
30 |
31 |
|
Kw hr Per M2 Per Day average |
|
|
0.64 |
1.17 |
1.94 |
3.32 |
4.17 |
5.00 |
4.44 |
3.61 |
2.78 |
1.67 |
0.78 |
0.47 |
|
Average Sunlight per Day in Scarborough area last 60 year average |
|
1.6 |
2.4 |
3.2 |
4.5 |
6.0 |
5.8 |
5.8 |
5.6 |
4.4 |
3.3 |
2.1 |
1.3 |
|
The direction of a facing panel also alters the efficiency in northern latitudes basically south is not always the most optimal in the real worlds data though somewhere between SE and SW should be fine.
Tilt can also alter efficiency this is generally the degree of latitude you are at (54 degrees at Scarborough) though in summer a panel will give generally more than enough heat so maximising the winter sun is often preferred in northern latitudes (as seen in table above). To maximise summer heat have a tilt at your latitude +15 and to maximise in winter (and reduce the chance of your panel blowing away) tilt at latitude -15. So basically adjust your tilt twice a year if you can, tilt up in Spring and down in winter.
Basically you can now work out the theoretical average energy per month from a solar panel (very easy with a spreadsheet)
Flat panels work to roughly 75% but can often be a lot less at northern climes (even if you tilt adjust), a vacuum tube works at around 80% efficiency if correctly facing roughly SE to SW and tilt adjusted.
If you know your absorption area (e.g... 2.4m2)
You can now calculate the energy produced per panel so a 2.4m2 panel in vacuum tube (80 % efficient) format will produce a maximum of about 9.6KWh's per day in June (5.0*2.4*0.8), about enough to heat all the hot water for a 3 bed house plus some extra. However do look at the winter period where this is reduced to around 1KWh per day. Therefore, you have to choose between paying for extra panels or to rely on other mean of heating hot water during the winter period; but do remember these are MAX values! So in real life result will vary from site to site.
Panning for Solar Panels Given
19th March 2009
Today we were given planning permission and listed building consent for two atrium-type runs of solar panels and four glazed roof lights.
The new features will be on a mansard roof which is in the process of being built these panels form part of our ongoing initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint and improve energy efficiency. David Frank, administration director at the hotel, addressed the council's planning and development committee about the proposals and referred to the Government's CO2 reduction target for the country of 20 per cent by 2010.
Basically I had to speak before the council planning committee at this meeting I informed them that : "At the Crown Spa Hotel, we have managed to reduce our CO2 output by seven per cent since 2005, around six households worth, through team training and replacement of less efficient items.
"By granting this application it will achieve a reduction of CO2 output equivalent to nine to 10 households, put the hotel within three per cent of achieving the tough 2010 Government target and send a clear message to the businesses and households of the borough that the 20 per cent reduction is possible in old buildings."
Finally I added: "I have children and I want to be able to say to them with hand on heart that with regard to climate change and my influence on any future impact that I have done the right thing and all I can that is practicable."
Scarborough and District Civic Society in keeping with their stance on such projects of modernity objected to the plans because the roof lights are "out of keeping with a grade II listed building of this quality" and the solar panels "add even greater clutter to the roof".
At the meeting, Richard Flowitt, vice-chairman of the society, said: "Quality buildings such as these are special and need extra special care and protection. They are our inheritance from past generations who have brought great design quality and architectural wealth to the town and left behind buildings of style for us to enjoy forever."
Cllr Dilys Cluer said: "I agree with the civic society that they are the inheritance of past generations but if we don't do something about climate change we won't have a forever to enjoy them."
In a report, Jill Low, planning manager for the council, said: "It has been established that there will be views of the roof from elsewhere in the town and the conservation area, but that due to the distance of these views, the proposed development would not result in any detriment to the appearance of the historic building or conservation area."
So now I am on the hunt for solar panels!
LED Bulbs Arrive
18th February 2009
Today we finally received 250 2.5w 60 LED GU10 bulbs. 185 are for the corridors of the Health Club and Spa Treatments; these corridors are lit for 15 hours per day, each bulb was a 50watt halogen; this equates to around 22 tonnes of CO2 per year (about 2 average households) and they cost £5600 per annum in electricity costs.
The LED replacement bulbs cost roughly £6 each and the cost of fitting each bulb with various adapters is around £8 giving a total cost to replace these 185 bulbs of roughly £2500. Fortunately these replacement bulbs are 3watt each (considerably less than 50watt), they will still be on 15 hours per day but will now produce only 1.31 tonnes of Co2 and cost around £350 per year to have lit. We got these bulbs from Graham Smith of Future Green Light on Ebay shops.
Wood Burning Boilers Arrive
11th February 2009
Today we received 2 large ROJEK wood burning boilers at 49.5 KW weighing 500 kg each. We have bought these to assist in heating and hot water for the hotel at 100kw's they are rather powerful as they give this output all the time as long as they are kept fed 
with wood every 5 hours. Unlike a gas boilers you can not turn them off so they basically operate at a lesser degree of flexibility so you need some large vessels to store all the hot water produced. Fortunately we have just the thing in the accumulator tanks. The aim is to use this heat to supply the hotel and test the theory and principle of attempting to run a hotel this size with some green energy. Incidentally we got the boilers from http://www.axminster.co.uk/shop-Rojek.htm the delivery and service have been very good. UPDATED April 2009; We have not as yet fitted these boilers we are somewhat behind a little; such is life. We are having trouble finding a place that is not too far away where we can fit the 5000l accumulator; these things are very big!
Finally bought the LED bulbs
29th January 2009
Today I have finally ordered LED lights for the hotel; having proved the concept at home I have finally found lights with an acceptable brightness and Kelvin in LED.
So I have ordered the LED bulbs for the Spa. There are presently 185 of them in total lit for 15 hours per day, each bulb is a 50watt halogen; this equates to around 22 tonnes of CO2 per year (about 2 average households) and they cost £5600 per annum in electricity costs.
The replacement bulbs I have ordered are LED and I have managed to get them for £5.80 each and the cost of fitting each bulb with various adapters is around £8 giving a total cost to replace these 185 bulbs of roughly £2500. Fortunately these replacement bulbs are 3watt each (considerably less than 50watt), they will still be on 15 hours per day but will now produce only 1.31 tonnes of Co2 and cost around £350 per year to have lit.
So you can be green and be making economically sound decisions at the same time!
New In-House Laundry Opens
26th December 2008
Today we sent the laundry back to Sunlight, why? Well because we were very conscious of the environmental impact of the the lorry to Durham and back 5 days per week with our laundry. I have performed very through calculations and I hope they are right or else I will be eating a large helping of humble pie!
UPDATED January 2009; I now have one full months worth of meter readings for the laundry and I have made extrapolation calculations below, so it looks like no humble pie for myself.
Previously
- the Sunlight lorry traveled 180 miles (290 257.5Km) round trip in lorry which produced 272kgs of CO2 per trip with 260 trips per year giving a total CO2 output of 70 metric tonnes of fossil fuel derived Co2 per annum.
*Assumption for diesel fuel 2.68 kg’s of CO2 per litre diesel consumed and a lorry consumes roughly 0.35 litres per kilometre traveled.
The new laundry consumes
15m3 fresh water per month 300m3 or 23kg’s fossil fuel derived Co2 per year (though this should vastly decrease by 70% when the gray water system is installed)
The laundry equipment consumes 1500 m3 of gas per month or 39 metric tonnes fossil fuel derived Co2 per year (though this should decrease by 50% when the wood burning boilers are installed)
The laundry uses roughly 96Kwhrs of electricity per day for 365days per year or 15 metric tonnes fossil fuel derived Co2 per year.
Therefore roughly laundry fossil fuel derived Co2 produced as now 54 metric tonnes of Co2 per annum. Saving roughly 16 metric tonnes of co2 per year (1.75 households).
When wood burning boilers installed fossil fuel produced as now 35 metric tonnes of Co2 per annum. Saving roughly 35 metric tonnes Co2 per year (3.5 households).
Additional plus points
- 3 full time jobs for the local economy.
- Better quality linen can be used.
- Financially the project breaks even after 18months, allowing for reserves to be accumulated to replace equipment as required after 3 years.
- Managed to recover 2 extra bedrooms from old linen stores as we had to store more linen in the previous scenario.
New Wood Burning Boiler Fitted
30th November 2008
Today fitted the new wood burning stove for the hotel foyer, it is 18Kw's in power and looks very nice indeed, now we can dispose of the un-reclaimable
wood from the refurbishment works and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. UPDATED January 2009; one problem with this burner is that the rooms above are now too hot! Can you believe it! Yes, the radiators now have to be turned off in the rooms above.
The Year so Far in Brief
21st November 2008
Today we applied for the solar panel on the roof (fingers crossed), in order to do this I have extracted some data and updated our Green Policy in agreement with our "Green Team".
Our main aims are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Free Cycle and lastly Carbon Offset.
http://www.crownspahotel.com/corporate-social-responsibility.php#3
Our KG Co2 for the last 4 years is below;
2005 1,005,000KG
2006 909,000 KG -10 % reasons; various actions
2007 809,000 KG -12% reasons; master switches
2008 767,439 KG - 5% Reasons; various reasons LED lights some but mostly change in behaviour
In the 12 months to end of October this year we have reduced KG’C02 produced by 42,000 KG’s.
We have been really pleased with this achievement as it equates to a 5% reduction in year on year, this is after already introducing in previous years low energy lighting, efficient boilers (that can run at 450c) and master switches for guest bedrooms.
During recent months we have been identifying are consuming the most energy, this has been tied down to areas where the lighting is on for 8 hours or more per day. Our solution has been to look towards LED lighting solutions. We have replaced a large number of 12v 50Watt halogen lights with 48 LED and 60LED lights, these lights use 1.5 and 2.5 watts for the equivalent light output and last on average 20000 hours, though they do cost around £3.5 to £5.00 per bulb. These bulbs pay for themselves with running costs in 4 months; the only main problem encountered is that choosing a light with a direct warmth and light output replacement takes a lot of research, but research that is worth it.
We have also noted that when the Halogen lights are replaced less heat is produced meaning that the air conditioning does not need to be on anywhere near as much.
The above graph on first view does not show much difference but overall the biggest single gain is the room power master switches fitted in June 2007, along with the behavioural changes from the hotel team.
LED Lighting GU10 and BC22 the future?
21st June 2008
Today I received £250 of LED lights from China for home, they are in various forms GU10 60 LED, BC22 (uk bulb Fitting 48 LED). I have done a calculation on the energy consumption below for my kitchen.
I have 20 50 watt GU10 bulbs in my kitchen on for around 6 hours a day which costs £220 per annum; I have changed these for 20 48LED 2.5 watt bulbs at a total cost of £120 these and they would cost £10.95 per year to run; pay back is 7 months!
No brainier; the bulbs on a bench test seem to use between 2.5W to 3W depending on which bulb, is this the future of lighting; changing them is a doodle as LED's run cold though you need to let the fitting which had the halogen bulb in cool down first or they will not light up immediately! UPDATED November 2008; I was in B&Q today and they have also started selling LED lights not as bright as the ones from China but it is a start.
Effergy Meters?
24th April 2008
I Bought 5 more effergy meters today for the lead management team £36 each. Basically it is a meter that measures the amount of electricity consumed in either Kw hr's, Co2, Max Power usage etc... The best bit is the power alarm, basically the alarm goes off at 5KW's. 
UPDATED September 2008; the team have really benefited from these meters, my own electric bill recently landed on the door step and it has reduced from £185 for August quarter 2007 to £89 August 2008 quarter end. The alarm works the best as we learnt early on the you either had the choice of the dishwasher or tumble dryer on at the same time as boiling the kettle. We regularly run at less than 500 watts now I have fitted the LED lights in the house. The really interesting thing is that the management team wail not give me back the meters either; as they have had similar results to myself.
UPDATED August 2009 Over the last year I have bought around £350 of these excellent devices for the crew.
We joined the Green Tourism Business Today?
15th March 2008
What is it I hear you say, it is well I highly recommend it.
THE GREEN TOURISM BUSINESS SCHEME
The Green Tourism Business Scheme, has been running since 1997 and with over 1400 members across the whole of the UK, it is the largest and most established scheme of its type in the World. In Scotland the GTBS was developed in partnership with Visit Scotland and it is recognized by UK national and regional government as a crucial part of its drive towards sustainability. Our aim is to build on this strong position and ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of sustainable tourism in the future.
Levels of Success?
There are three levels of award Bronze, Silver and Gold; needless to say we are aiming for Gold. UPDATED August 2009, just got gold!
Second Carbon Trust Report?
12th February 2008
I received our second Carbon Trust report today, the consultant Paul Redding of Redding Associates was very good he definitely knew his stuff. We now have a good action plan for reducing our carbon emissions.
1. We need to implement a recurring staff training, reminding and enforcing policy for environmental awareness on a roll out plan. DONE March 2008, we have improved on what we already had.
2. We will be switching off the 25 computers at night which used to consume 80 watts or produce 5 tonnes of CO2 per year, we have now fitted a central master switch for each set of computers. DONE March 2008, I bought some town extension unist and this has worked well. UPDATED September 2008, I am now putting these on other low draw electrical items.
3. Install high frequency lighting retrofits for the fluorescent lighting; in fact we are getting rid of then for LED lights! UPDATED September 2008, I have done this where possible, but also looking for a longer term LED solution.
4. Have a good look at what is left on powered up for 11 hours plus a day, it turns out most of the lighting is left on so we will be changing to LED and turning them off. UPDATED June 2008 Just started fitting them!
4. Fit variable speed controls for the pool pumps, this we have done as just a week after the report the 1st pump failed then 3 weeks later the back up pump failed. Such is fate. DONE March 2009, just fitted the first ones as the old ones failed.
Is Charcoal the answer?
5th December 2007
I attended a Charcoal talk last night by David Hutchinson of the Yorkshire Charcoal Company at the University of Hull (Scarborough Campus)
on 4th December 2007
Apparently Charcoal has enormous historic significance.
- Until it was discovered how to make coke, it was the only fuel suitable for smelting metals from their ores.
- It’s long been used in medicine as a way of soaking up toxins.
- Because it absorbs water, was used by the ancient Chinese as a hygrometer.
- It’s role in agriculture helped solve the riddle of El Dorado.
Charcoal can be made from any organic material. Just heat it up in a restricted supply of oxygen and just about everything will be driven off except the material’s basic carbon skeleton. What you’re left with is almost pure carbon arranged in an open lattice work with an enormous surface area.
Because carbon atoms like to stick together, it’s really good at absorbing organic compounds (which by definition contain carbon). So, it’s a really good filter and is used in numerous applications from water treatment to the NBC suits worn by our troops in Iraq.
Tropical rain forest soils are very thin and the high rainfall tends to flush out any nutrients. The lost city of El Dorado, in the Amazonian rainforest, was a huge puzzle for archaeologists who, once they’d accepted that a major civilization had existed (with the one time residents killed off by diseases unwittingly introduced by European explorers) remained puzzled by how large populations could be supported on such poor soils. The clue lay in the so called dark earth “terra praeta”.
This soil was dark because it contained large quantities of charcoal. Simple experiments, by the archaeologist Bruno Glazer, showed that this dramatically improved the soil’s fertility.
It turns out that 8000 years ago charcoal was also being used as a soil improver in East Anglia.
In the present day we are faced with the challenge of climate change. Leave a bit of wood on the ground and it will slowly decay releasing all it’s carbon as carbon dioxide or methane. Turn the piece of wood into charcoal and the carbon that remains is fixed forever. The only way you can release it as carbon dioxide is to set fire to it. So, charcoal could play an important role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
For example, an essential part of woodland management is to thin the trees so that those that remain don’t grow too leggy. Some of these thinning's are used, e.g. to make chipboard, but about half the world’s timber harvest ends up as waste. If this waste were converted to charcoal and used as a soil improver it would reduce dependency on fertilizers, improve water retention and provide a permanent carbon sink.
There are a number of current technological developments that are aimed at making charcoal production cleaner as well as more efficient. Kilns now exist that have very low emissions of pollutants and recover the energy from the gases that are given off. Further development, and widespread adoption, of these technologies could play an important role in
- Improving soil fertility and quality without artificial fertilizers
- Sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere, permanently
- Cleaning up pollution from organic compounds (e.g. oil spills)
- Providing rural employment as part of sustainable woodland management.
Surprisingly perhaps, these simple facts about charcoal are not well known; either among the general population or among decision makers in Government and elsewhere.
David proposes the establishment of a Charcoal Foundation that would help bring charcoal’s virtues to wider public attention, would bring together existing research and would help practitioners find markets for their products.
How Much Carbon Used in Electricity and Gas?
5th December 2007
I forgot to mention the figures for electricity and gas.
Gas is sold in M3; the Kg's Co2 per M3 is 2.2kg.
Electricity is sold in KW hr's; the Co2 per KW hr is 0.43 KG. UPDATED October 2008 some Green Organisations are suggesting using 0.57KG to reflect the change in the materials used to produce electricity in the UK.
How Much Carbon Used in Making Drinking Water?
29th November 2007
I am building a spread sheet to analysis the carbon footprint for the power and energy usage of the hotel, an I finally got the carbon footprint for water from the kind people at Yorkshire water, every megalitre of water
(1000m3) produces 71kg of carbon and 261kg of Co2.
Hope this helps. If you need anybody out there is attempting to calculate the same.
The Future's Bright, The Future's Green!
19th July 2007
I received a warning from our electricity suppliers in late June 2007 saying that on more than one occasion our Maximum Demand (The maximum take of electrical power during one half hour period) has consistently exceeding our Authorised Supply Capacity (The amount of power available to your supply at any one time), for the Crown Spa Hotel. What does that mean, well apparently this is the max KVA of which ours is 195, this is effectively the registered amount of electricity that we are allowed to take from the grid. In view of the impending 4th Floor roof development I have increase this from 195 KVA to 290 KVA, this should be more than enough. Though the down side is that we have had to pay £10,000 for a new electrical supply. This can not be helped but it just shows the hidden costs of not reducing your power usage. The rate charged for each KVA is £1.14, this means if you over estimate your KVA then your electricity bill can be unnecessarily high, though if you underestimate it the supply company can refuse to supply any more electric until you change your habits, or build them a new substation! UPDATED October 2009 I am now thinking of reducing the Max KVA value down as we are effectivly paying for something we do not need. The max power at any one time was 207 KVA Feb 2009, since then max Power demand has been consistenly below 190 KVA, even with the builders and the hotel being fully occupied over Christmas.
The Future's Bright, The Fut
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