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Latest News
Since 2004 (previous ownership) - and we are busier than then:
Date 14th May 2008
Electricity down 11.9%
Gas down 8.4%
According to hospitality climes we are better than best practise (whatever that means) on Co2 emissions per bedroom.
Current waste recylcing estimates (no direct recycling under previous ownership):
Overall 50%
Bar glass 95%
Cardboard 95%
General paper 25%
Guest waste 10%
Food scraps 0%
Rain harvesting 0%
Food Miles: No estimate available,although much of our food
comes from Northamptonshire (but some is from overseas at present)
For me the results are not good enough, we have initiatives/capital expenditure planned to make substantial improvements this year across all areas of waste and energy, whilst maintaining the guest experience or improving it.
We built the recycling area in 2007 - after much planning permission grief. We plan to do more waste recycling with guest and staff bins. We hope to find someone to take our food scraps. Nothing is planned on rain harvesting at present, although I am considering it as part of the general redevelopment. We were considering solar hot water but it appears to be uneconomic in the proposed location (at the time of writing). Rome was not built in a day!
Matt W, Proprietor
Any queries email me here: director@limetreeshotel.co.uk
The fifty in five plan
Put simply my objective is to cut energy and waste by 50 percent within five years.
The strategy is simple and achievable (and considerable headway has been made already)
1. Cut gas consumption by 50%, this will be achieved by updating equipment and continuing to improve insulation
2. Cut electricity consumption by 50%, this will be achieved by continuing to rethink our lighting and equipment
3. Cut landfill waste by 50%, this will be achieved by improved recycling and the elimination of wasteful practises
4. Cut water consumption by 50%, this will be achieved by rainwater harvesting and water saving fittings and practises. This will take the hotel far beyond current guidelines provided by the Government for best practise in a hotel of our building type. At the same time we will more than make our contribution to reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants, and help stop the need to embark on more foolish foreign policy escapades on the other side of the world.
Hotels are not particularly environmentally friendly buildings, why:
1. People expect them to be well lit
2. People expect them to be well heated, or cooled
3. People expect various disposable items to be made available
But that doesnt mean that we cant be environmentally friendly, it just takes alot of effort. I am rethinking everything in the hotel,particularly on how it works from an energy point of view. Although I have always been environmentally conscious, I have to admit that until utility prices started rising a few years ago it was a back burner issue. I now have the motivation to save money and to save the world, and as the hotel is on a better financial footing than when I first bought it I have the "luxury" of time to devote to solving the problem.
Being environmentally friendly saves money and for that reason I expect many people and organisations to reevaluate their ways of doing things. We dont need to live in a mud hut and eat only potatoes to do it, it just takes motivation. Most things in our economy have been designed without energy efficiency in mind, and can often be reconfigured or designed to be far more efficient yet give the same effective benefit.
I gain a fantastic amount of pleasure from finding something that can be improved,maybe you could too.
MW - Jan 2008
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