Falmouth hotel champions energy efficiency

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A Falmouth hotel is believed to be the first in the county to install unique showerheads, which will save thousands of litres of water from being washed down the drain unnecessarily every year, saving them thousands of pounds in reduced water bills in the process.

While going green can often be an expensive process for businesses, the Greenbank Hotel will save thousands of pounds this year alone, after teaming up with Cornish energy specialists Lightwater Environmental.

After working with Penryn-based Lightwater, The Greenbank has now not only slashed its water usage and bills, but has also drastically reduced the amount of electricity it is using after installing energy efficient lighting, and believes it will save in the region of £13k this year alone.

The hotel is installing unique Lightwater Low Flow showerheads – a system that mixes water with oxygen, reducing the amount needed for showering by 50%, without reducing the water quality or pressure – in 60 of its rooms.

It is also now installing energy efficient down lighting throughout its public areas, which will see it move from burning 42,859 kwh per annum to 6795kwh per annum, saving 12.8tons of Carbon Dioxide, significantly reducing it’s carbon footprint.

According to Head of Housekeeping at the Greenbank Hotel, Trevor Ford, the new lighting and showerheads have not only made instant cost savings but are helping the hotel meet its environmental responsibilities.

He said: “We are absolutely delighted that we are not only using far less water than we have done previously but are also significantly reducing the amount of electricity being used – which is not only beneficial in terms of our environmental impact as a business but is also giving us instant savings that will accumulate throughout the year literally into thousands of pounds – benefits we will see every year from here on in.”

“Most guests will use the shower twice a day, so to be able to cut the average amount of water used by half, is a massive saving,” he added.

According to Mike Tomlinson of Lightwater Environmental, which supplies and fits a range of energy efficiency products including Photonstar lighting and waterless urinals as well as the Low Flow shower heads, hotels, pubs and restaurants across the county are literally pouring money down the drain by using thousands of litres of water and units of electricity every year unnecessarily.

“There has been in the past some negative publicity concerning certain environmentally friendly products – either because they simply do not work efficiently or cost so much to buy and install that it takes years before they start to pay for themselves – which has made businesses think again about the cost benefit of energy efficiency measures,” said Tomlinson.

“The beauty of systems such as the Low Flow shower heads, waterless urinals and our new generation illumination grade LED lighting is that they start saving money from the very moment they are fitted, paying for themselves very quickly and bringing obvious additional environmental benefits,” he added.

Lightwater Environmental is also working with other venues such as Pendennis Castle to fit waterless urinals, and shortly will fulfil an order for Low Flow showerheads for the Ministry of Defence.