‘Good green practices vital for sustainable development’

By Gamini Warushamana

Most of the hotels in Sri Lanka still use energy-inefficient air conditioning systems, a recent study of SWITCH-Asia project revealed. The report said that only 10 percent of the SME hotels surveyed used energy-efficient modern AC systems.

However, air conditioning is relevant only to about 40 percent of the total number of SME hotels in the sample studied.

The most commonly adopted green initiative is energy-efficient lighting and over 80 percent of the hotels partially or completely switched to CFL and LED lighting from incandescent lighting.

Solar water heaters are common in nearly 50 percent of large hotels while it is not considered affordable by small hotels and less than 20 percent of small hotels have installed them.

The report said that water management is somewhat lagging and waste management also needs to be improved. Overall, most Sri Lankan hotels are now becoming aware that adopting good green practices is vital to cut operational cost and that it is a good marketing tool.Presenting the findings of the study, CEO of CCC Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, Prema Cooray said that SWITCH-Asia Greening Sri Lanka Hotels project is ready to develop an economic model for the Sri Lankan hotel sector for resource usage optimisation.

The SWITCH-Asia project launched by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with assistance of the European Union has come to its final year.

“It is a sustainability initiative and our task is educate and help the SME hotels sector on optimal use of energy and water and manage waste. We covered 350 hotels and at the beginning of the fourth and the final year of the project.

We have a huge database related to resource consumption and waste products of hotels and now we can analyse the data and develop a sustainable model for the Sri Lankan hotel sector,” he said.

He stressed that sustainability of the hospitality business is essential because the industry is growing rapidly with increasing tourist arrivals. Sustainability is essential in all aspects of the industry and the project has already supported a large number of hotels to minimise their energy and water usage and better manage waste, he said.

Project director Srilal Mithrapala said that the SWITCH-Asia project supports the hotel sector to adopt good practices in their operations and the project covers the hotels, suppliers and tour operators.

“Under the project we carried out awareness programs, registration of the stakeholders and expected their commitment to adopt good practices, support resource usage and waste audits, improve efficiency, give publicity to success stories, award them and support them to promote their businesses. The project was supported free with a grant from the EU,” he said.