A news release from Sept. 29 suggests that by decreasing
energy and water consumption, many hospitality businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could save up to one-fifth of the money they spend to keep their hotels running.
A study compiled by the Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) looked at 46 hotels in the Emirates from 2013
to 2015.
For indicators, the study found that the age of the hotel
was an important factor; however, study spokespersons claimed that the hotel
quality or number of awarded stars did not have a consistent impact.
Speaking to the Gulf News Journal Thursday, EmiratesGBC Chairman Saeed Al
Abbar revealed more about what’s happening in the regional hospitality industry.
“The hoteliers have responded positively
to the study, as the findings will serve as a reliable indicator for the
industry to reduce its carbon footprint by improving water and energy
performances,” he said. “We are thankful to the participating hotels for
their commitment and resolve to enhance their energy and water use efficiency
standards. The study will inspire and enable them to observe best practices in
energy and water efficiency.”
Al Abbar also spoke about the report methodology, which he
said was founded on statistical observations on data from the participating hotels. Moreover, he said research teams also “normalized” data to make it more accurate.
“For example, to ensure accurate energy
benchmarking, the annual energy consumption values were adjusted to normalize
the difference between the climates of each Emirate within the UAE,” Al Abbar
said. “Generally, the climate of the UAE is very hot and humid, thus the energy
required for air conditioning is considered as the major contributor to a
building’s total energy consumption.”
Al Abbar said with the data in hand,
teams compared the consumption of best practice hotels to poorly performing ones
according to very specific metrics such as correlation factors and confidence
intervals of means.
“Across the board, we used scientific
practices in benchmarking the performance of the hotels,” he said.
In addition, Al Abbar discussed ways
that the study will help hotel businesses become “active partners” in national sustainability
objectives.
The first, he said, involves resources for individual
hotels.
“All participating hotels have been
provided with individually tailored benchmarking scorecards that will help them
to make enhancements to their energy and water use protocols, and will help
support them in their strategic initiatives — both technical (involving
retrofits or audits) and behavioral (education and training),” Al Abbar said.
Outside analysts can use
the data, as well, he pointed out.
“The findings of this report can be used
by government entities, tourism authorities and hotel decision makers to better
understand the current performance of the local hospitality sector and to
assist them in developing and implementing innovative policies that advance the
efficiency of the sector,” Al Abbar said.
In terms of the national economy, Al Abbar hopes that with
hotels making enhancements to their energy and water use policies, the country
can “position itself strategically on the global stage of sustainable tourism.”
“These modules cover key sustainability
and hospitality-specific topics that will assist staff, hoteliers and tourism
professionals in understanding and implementing best operational practices to
reduce environmental impact,” he said.
