Meet SERENA FROM GRASMERE.
Serena successfully identified, planned and funded how she was going to reduce the carbon footprint of her hotel.
What’s this about?
Serena runs the Victorian House Hotel, a boutique hotel in Grasmere and wanted to know how she could achieve the same levels of comfort and luxury while consuming significantly less resources.
The building is a traditional, stone building in the heart of the Lake District with typical levels of consumption associated with high-end guest accommodation.
What did Serena do?
Using the carbon footprint calculator on the Cumbria Action for Sustainability website, Serena discovered how many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions her business was responsible for. She engaged with Green Small Business who conducted an environmental audit for the hotel and helped to produce an action plan to tackle the excess emissions.
This led to an energy audit and Serena received recommendations for a variety of measures to manage her energy use. These include things like the installation of solar PV, lighting upgrades and water flow restrictors. She made a successful application to the Low Carbon Lake District Grant Fund to cover 60% of the costs for this first round of measures.
She is also implementing a My Green Butler system, which is an intelligent hospitality management system that nudges guests into more sustainable behaviour.
What difference has it made to Serena?
Once the work is complete, the energy and resource consumption of the hotel will be much lower. This will mean lower running costs and the ability to attract more customers on the basis of being a greener, more sustainable hotel.
He says that having the flexibility to decide how to use your energy is great, too. Making significant journeys in an electric vehicle that’s been powered by solar energy captured by your roof is particularly enjoyable, as is the ability to turn it into hot water. These help to translate the power you generate into something more tangible.
What difference has it made to the climate?
The onsite generation of 100% renewable electricity and increased efficiency means much less use of higher carbon grid electricity. The solar PV will top up the power to the hot water tank, which will also reduce the need for electricity from the grid. Alongside the water flow restrictors, this will mean huge carbon savings and much lower consumption of resources.
Feeling inspired?
To hear from Serena herself, you can read her case study and watch an interview with her on the CAfS website.
