Greenest Hotel in Africa: EARTH Token visit to Hotel Verde
Hotel Verde, situated at Cape Town International Airport, is widely known as being Africa’s Greenest hotel. Being a guest of the hotel, you get to truly appreciate something beyond environmental sustainability — at Verde, they call it ‘Thrivability’ and it encompasses their three core values, people, profit and the planet. I was so overwhelmed by my recent stay that I just had to make the time to share my photos and impressions.
The first thing you see when you arrive at the hotel is the three towering wind turbines that generate power for the hotel and set the scene for what else is in store.
When you check in you can begin earning ‘Verdinos’, the hotel’s very own in-house currency which the guests can use to offset against their account or to use within the hotel. Guests earn Verdinos by performing simple green activities during their stay, such as using the gym (which generates electricity), reusing their towels and separating their waste for recycling. The Verdino’s for Bambinos program is particularly popular for the younger guests who go on an educational tour of the hotel’s wetland where they learn how the ecosystem works as well as green best practices.
The fully equipped hotel gym has power generating exercise machines that feed power back into the hotel as the guests work out, an Africa first! For those that prefer to exercise outdoors, a walk and bike trail goes around the grounds of the hotel and winds up in a section which has outdoor gym equipment.
The hotel also accommodates some wetlands which are filled with native plants, with a particular emphasis on those that capture more carbon.
One of the most impressive features that gives this hotel green credential is its use of geothermal energy for the heating and cooling of the hotel. The system comprises of over 13km of piping and equipment that spans over 100 boreholes that each extend 76 meters into the ground and works by running water through the pipes.
The water is heated by the earth’s higher temperatures at these depths. Some of the pipes run shallow and can be used as a heat sink in the summer. The result is a dramatic reduction in heating and cooling costs.
The hotel itself is designed in a way to allow maximum natural light into the building and all areas. No eco-friendly feature has been spared during construction and fitting out of the hotel, from double glazed windows throughout, extensive use of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels which are cleverly positioned to not only provide power but to also provide shade over windows.
Stormwater capture, filtering, and harvesting system captures rainwater for use in outdoor rinsing, the carwash and general outdoor irrigation. Water from showers and bathroom sinks is treated through an on-site grey-water processing plant and is reused as potable water leading to a 37% reduction in potable water use.
Even the elevators run on a regenerative drive, meaning that guests that walk up the stairs and take the elevator downstairs actually generate electricity!
Commitment to the Environment
It is clear for any visitor to see the lengths that Hotel Verde have gone to in making their hospitality experience carbon neutral for their guests. Every effort has been made to reduce the hotel’s reliance on fossil fuels, to recycle, and to generally choose environmentally friendly solutions wherever possible. The results are next to incredible. Having made every effort to reduce their impact on the environment.
Hotel Verde implemented impactChoice’s Carbon Mitigation Solution in 2014 to achieve yet another major milestone in their quest for Climate Neutrality. The impactChoice solution enabled Hotel Verde to apportion carbon emissions associated with services related to a guest’s stay or conference and then allowed them to mitigate these through the purchase of a certified Carbon Credit. All guests received an individual carbon reduction certificate related to the emissions footprint associated with their stay.
In their undying quest for unparalleled customer service, Hotel Verde committed to offsetting each guest’s stay or conference at no additional cost to the guest, taking straight from their bottom line, thereby further differentiating themselves by adding value to their guests without compromising on guests’ comfort.
The financial benefits of the Carbon Credit purchases are received by The Sofala Community Carbon Project in Mozambique, which works with communities to rehabilitate the forests on their land and introduce new, sustainable farming practices.
Inaugural NAE Launch Partner
Being a longtime user of impactChoice’s solution, Hotel Verde is looking forward to being a demand-side launch partner on the NAE (Natural Asset Exchange). The EARTH Token project will allow the carbon mitigation solution to be used publicly. For the first time ever, hotels and hospitality providers around the globe will have permissionless access to this carbon mitigation solution as it becomes available on the NAE.
Hotel Verde leads the way when it comes to showing how profitable ventures can exist in harmony with our environment. It is our belief that the EARTH Token project and the NAE will encourage more businesses to become increasingly aware of environmental solutions that are available to them.
