Going green gets five-star treatment
HOTEL owner Mario Delicio has discovered an unusual supply of free electricity to power his business — his hotel guests.
Delicio uses “human power generators” on exercise bicycles in the hotel gym to assist in providing electricity to his award-winning Cape Town business, now internationally recognised as the “greenest” hotel in Africa.
A sign inside the Hotel Verde gym reminds guests that half an hour’s cycling generates enough power to make a slice of toast. Fitter guests can keep a bigscreen TV going for an hour and a half.
The pedals are connected to portable batteries that feed into the hotel’s power circuit.
The guests can drink a relaxing cup of hotel tea knowing they have helped to boil the water.
Open for less than a year, the hotel has already scooped several honours, including Eskom’s Energy Efficient Forum Award for commercial buildings and the Enviropaedia Ecological Award for water conservation. Last week, it won the Internorga Trendsetter Award at a ceremony in Hamburg.
“Our resources on this planet are limited and we have to find smart solutions to challenges we will be facing in the years to come,” said Delicio.
The gym is only one of several surprising features of the energyefficient hotel, which looks strangely out of place in an industrial park adjoining Cape Town International Airport.
Unlike the drab warehouses next door, Verde’s front entrance boasts a line of whirling wind turbines, and the roof is covered with gardens and energygenerating solar panels.
About 40% of its electricity is selfgenerated.
There is also an “ecopool” the colour of Cape mountain water, complete with water lilies and tadpoles. A neglected pocket of wetland has been restored and turned into a small jogging trail, and the hotel grows its own herbs and vegetables in an aquaponic garden.
Things get even more interesting inside. A “living wall” made of indigenous plants adjoins the hotel bar, and restaurant menus are made partly of indigenous vegetation.
Meals feature local produce all sourced from within 160km — to reduce the “carbon footprint” associated with transport — and the entire building is plugged into a “geothermal” installation that regulates the temperature. The hotel even filters its own water and no plastic bottles are required.
“They’ve thought of everything right down to the tiniest detail,” said hotel marketer Sarah Farrell.
The hotel also boasts an impressive collection of art. The underground parking garage and some of the hotel walls are decorated with art produced by Grade 11 pupils from the surrounding area.
“We wanted to show that it is possible to go green and still be comfortable. Going green doesn’t mean you have to sleep in huts,” said Delicio.
Other innovations include “spectrally selective glass” to filter out hot rays and reduce the need for airconditioning, and weekly “earth hours”, when guests are encouraged to turn off electrical appliances.
Andre Harms, the hotel’s technical manager, said it had set a benchmark for sustainability.
It also features a sophisticated water recycling plant that has reduced the hotel’s potable use by 37%.