Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa November/December 2013 | Página 28

placed to play a key role in the future of green
building and sustainability in South Africa.
At a recent award cermony, Hotel Verde
won the prestigious Eco-Logic Award for Water
Conservation, highlighting the many initiatives
they have instituted to save water.
Electricity Saving Measures
One of the primary causes for greenhouse
gas emissions is the production of energy
in the form of electricity. Electricity usage
can be reduced by using more efficient
equipment, using equipment wisely as well
as by utilising renewable resources such and
wind and solar power. Hotel Verde has taken
all of the above measures to reduce the use
of municipal electricity and hence greenhouse
gas emissions. Water use can also be indirectly
linked to greenhouse gas emissions due to the
processing and transport of the water. Similarly,
by reducing the amount of new materials used in
construction the negative effects of the process
of manufacturing products from virgin materials,
including mining, manufacturing and transport,
are avoided. The following are several ways in
which the hotel has improved efficiency and
found alternate sources of necessary resources,
and hence reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

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The hotel uses energy saving mini
bar fridges, energy efficient LED lighting
throughout the building as well as Energy Star
rated office equipment and dishwashers. Each
guestroom has a main power cut-off switch
which is activated whenever the room key card
is removed from its slot, preventing unnecessary
electricity use when the room is unoccupied.
Furthermore, the hotel will use energy efficient
Kone elevators fitted with regenerative braking
that recover 30% of the input energy. The
heating and cooling for Hotel Verde’s HVAC
system and domestic hot water makes use of
a state of the art system utilising geothermal
ground loops coupled to highly efficient heat
pumps to achieve large energy savings.
As a means of reducing municipal electricity
u