Case Studies
We will be including more case studies in the future. Please contact us at admin@thetravelfoundation.org.uk if you would like us to feature a case study from your resort or business.
CASE STUDY 1- NEW FOR 2010!
Resort: Morzine
Location: France
Project Partner: muchbetteradventures.com
Greening Morzine...
The Travel Foundation is pleased to be working with muchbetteradventures.com towards sustainable tourism in the ski resort of Morzine, France.
We’re hoping to reverse the culture and make a molehill out of a mountain...
Tourism and its impact on the environment is big news, especially when it comes to skiing. But our project is all about accommodation providers making small changes that will have a big impact.
Aimed at resort level, this project aims to reduce water and energy consumption in Morzine. A training programme will be rolled out throughout the 2010-2011 ski season, encouraging and educating accommodations to make small changes in their practises, such as using low flow showerheads and using energy efficient lamps. By making these changes, they’ll be making a positive difference to the environment, as well as making huge savings on utility bills- up to 25%!
Muchbetteradventures.com will be managing the project in the resort, and the Travel Foundation will be backing them every step of the way. If you would like to get involved with this project, please email julie.middleton@thetravelfoundation.org.uk
We’ll be reporting back on the projects progress, so bookmark this page and visit again soon!
CASE STUDY 2
Resort: Grandvalira
Location: Andorra
Web site: www.grandvalira.com
Saving energy by preventing the needless operation of the electric heaters installed in lift operator booths
The opportunity...
Most of the 38 lift operator booths in the Soldeu-El Tarter sector of Grandvalira are equipped with a 4,3 kW electric fan heater as well as a small 1,5 kW electric radiator, which is mainly used for drying the operators’ gloves and boots.
Since these heaters were controlled manually, they were often left running needlessly and wasted lots of energy. Lift operators frequently forgot to turn the heaters off when leaving the booth doors open on sunny days or when shutting down the booths at closing time.
Although Grandvalira’s management repeatedly tried to encourage and coax lift operators to change these wasteful habits, its efforts only met with mixed success.
The solution...
Grandvalira’s maintenance team came up with a simple but effective way to minimize the amount of energy wasted by these heaters.
First, a proximity switch was installed on the booth door to automatically turn off the fan heater when the door is left open. And second, the fan heater and the radiator were connected to the same circuit that supplies power to the lift. In this manner, when the operator removes the key from the lift’s control panel at the end of the day, it immediately turns off the heater and radiator and keeps them off until the following morning.
The results...
It is estimated that these measures can reduce the total run time of the heaters by more than 50% and save €270 worth of electricity per booth per year. Thus, once these measures are applied in all 38 lift operator booths, they could reduce the resort’s electricity consumption by 160.000 kWh and save €10.400 per year.
Given that installing the door switch and connecting the heaters to the lift’s power supply circuit requires approximately €50 in parts and €100 in labor per booth, these energy conservation measures yield a payback of less than a year and a return on investment greater than 100%.
Partners
and Sponsors
The Ski Club of Great Britain's website dedicated to snowsports and the environment. Including the Green Resort Guide, Best Practices guides, links to related research projects, green news, facts and resources.
The Ski Club of Great Britain
The Federation of Tour Operators