Sustainability

Bohinj ECO Hotel - Created with nature

From the day it was designed, during months of construction and years in operation, Bohinj ECO Hotel and its management remain dedicated to further improve sustainability. Thus ECO hotel remains the most awarded and most energy efficient hotel in the region to date.

Water well

Next to the hotel 430 meters deep energy well was drilled. The whole area has high quantities of crystal clear water. Water - together with heat pump, is used for warming sanitary water and heating for the hotel. When geothermal water is exploited, it is not sent back into the ground, but is partially used for flushing sanitation. Only then - fully exploited - it can be directed to the sewage. We spend water wisely.

Warm sanitary water from showers and washbowls is also fully exploited. Instead of sending the warm water to the sewage, as it is usually done, it is collected in special containers, where heat pumps take away the rest of the warmth and then the water is fully exploited and at 9°C sent back into the sewage. After the warmth was taken away from the water, it is sent over the heat exchangers, back to the system.

Energy geothermal well and water that comes from it, is also used for cooling in summer. The water is sent to the cooling grids which then cool rooms and other areas in the hotel.

Aquapark as a gigantic heat collector

Beside energy well, hotel has its own energy station. At the same time electric energy and heat are produced. This is called cogeneration. Two engines produce 240 kW of electricity and 400 kW of heat. Electricity is then used to drive heat exchanger and pumps and provide electricity for the whole hotel and aquapark. Heat which comes from the running engines is a by-product when producing electricity, and is as such used for warming the pools. In comparison with regular widely used systems, such a system saves up to 30% of energy.

The hotel is heated with a of low-temperature regime - with floor heating and cooling-heating grids. Floor heating ensures a comfortable feeling, while special cool-heat grids with its inaudible and energy effective work, strongly exceed mainly used classic systems of air-condition.

Less energy for more light

Majority of hotel lightning is based on Power LED technology. LED (lamps) use as much as 40 times less electric energy as normal or halogen light bulbs. Besides, the lifetime of the Power LED lamp is up to 1000 times longer. Because of a large area, that needs to be lightened, a lot of lights are needed.

For better understanding we can take an example for lights in the corridor and above the room doors in a comparably large hotel with 100 rooms and same lighting conditions.

The chart above clearly shows the consumption of electrical energy in Bohinj ECO Hotel for lightning is 2500% smaller than in a comparable hotel elsewhere. Considering other parts of the hotel such as bathrooms and other lamps, the difference in consumption of electric energy is even larger. Moreover so, if we take into account that usage of halogen light bulbs also produces heat emissions.

Cooling down the brain

The whole system for energy use and regulation of the consumption is guided from a central computer system called CNS. Servers, databases and data servers, system for UPS and all active equipment such as routers and switches must be faultless and is therefore energy demanding. But more than electric energy, which the hotel produces with its own power station, the heat as a by-product of this computer center that has to be taken into account. These rooms must be cooled down. With energy savings in mind, Bohinj ECO Hotel has an air-to-water heat pump. The hot air produced by computers is therefore used to help heat the water.

Save the environment, do not put clean towels in for washing

This kind of notices are always present in hotels around the world. Tons of linen, which is washed daily in hotels and external cleaner's, use vast quantities of electric and heat energy, washing powder and other chemicals. Despite the fact, that most washing liquids are biologically degradable, it does not mean that they are also ecologically safe. Only negative effect on the environment is smaller.

Nevertheless, majority of hotel guests don't take these notices too seriously. That is why Bohinj ECO Hotel assured effective use of energy for laundry services as well. The most modern, computer guided high technology supported devices and machines used in laundry are energy efficient and environment friendly. During industrial washing and ironing a lot of heat is produced. That is why an efficient 100 kW heat pump is placed in laundry. Its task is to transform produced heat into warm water which is used for sanitary purposes.

Building as a warm coat

The walls of Bohinj ECO Hotel are very well isolated. Together with additional isolation materials, the whole building also has windows with a factor Ug=0.9. With both of the above, we do try our best for minimal heat losses through the walls.

Object is covered by a roof, which is in our country the first of its kind. In full it is made by wood and other natural materials in special closed compact sandwich construction from finished plates. Isolation in the inside of finished plates ends with special wooden fibers, which assure the finest isolation and are also made from natural materials.

Other efficient environmental solutions

Among Bohinj ECO Hotel's efficient energy-saving solutions is also the card-operated wireless switch, which enables us to reduce energy waste in unoccupied rooms. When a guest enters a room, they insert the key card into a docking station. After the key card is inserted, a radio signal is transmitted to a controller that subsequently “energizes” the hotel room. When the key card is removed from its dock, another signal is sent that activates a time delay before disabling or setting back power-consuming amenities.

To optimize the use of nature's precious water sources, hotel bathrooms have been equipped with dual-flush system toilet seats. The dual flush toilet system is a toilet with two buttons to operate the flush. One button gives a short flush and the other button operates the full flush. The system has the added benefit of using significantly less water, even on the full flush.

Our guests appreciate a healthy environment and are very much interested in protecting natural beauty that surrounds us. Bohinj ECO Hotel encourages such disposition and awareness. Hotel guests may contribute to this aim themselves by deciding about the frequency of changing sheets and towels (thus they can contribute directly to lesser use of water and washing chemicals). Hotel staff also promote a healthy life-style by renting quality mountain bikes or street bicycles with accompanying gear (protective helmets, cycling guides and routes ...)

Forgetful guests and their comfort

Every hotel, when fully booked, has a few guests, who forget to close room windows. If a guest leaves an opened window and the air-conditioning or ventilation is on, the energy is wasted without effect. The air-condition cannot heat or cool down the room, the air from outside is bursting into the room through the opened window. In Bohinj Eco Hotel we have an answer for such a problem. On every window we placed a sensor, which shuts down the air-conditioning after a certain amount of time. Computer system regulates climate conditions in the room; it adapts to the outdoor climate as well (temperature, moisture, sun, part of the day ...) and makes optimal living conditions. The guest can still adjust the temperature in the room at his or her liking.

Comfortable staying in a hotel is not based only on climate conditions but also on the ambient. All rooms and majority of common areas in the hotel are furnished with selected natural materials. There are a lot of wood, natural stone, glass and other decorative elements.

Let's take care of our environment. It is the only one we have.

World is beautiful. In our hotel we did everything currently technologically feasible for efficient energy use and made sure it leaves as little effect on the environment as possible.