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The Orchid, an eco-hotel in Mumbai
Where The Orchid treads, it treads lightly leaving limited footprints on the environment in its wake. Billing itself as "the Hallmark of Environmentally Sensitive Hotels", The Orchid is a 245-room "ecotel" or Eco-Hotel located in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's first certified eco-friendly, five-star hotel and the world's only Ecotel to be certified as ISO 14001. Guests are encouraged to participate in the hotel's environmental crusades and they reportedly do so with much enthusiasm and zeal.
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Primary Sources
Eco Hotel -written by Janet Roberts
The Orchid boasts a solid "enviroconstruction" designed toward energy conservation efforts. All the cement used throughout the building of the eco-hotel is made of PPC (Portland Pozzalana Cement) and contains 15-20% fly ash. The external walls and wet wall structure of the hotel consist of a material known as AAC which is eco-friendly and manufactured with about 60% fly ash. Using coal fly ask conserves energy by reducing the dfemand for typical pavement materials such as lime, cement and crushed stone, which take energy to produce. Each ton of fly ash used to replace a ton of cement, for example, saves the equivalent of nearly one barrel of imported oil. Additionally, less greenhouse gases are produced that would otherwise contribut to global warming. Every ton of ash reused in cement products equates to nearly a ton of CO2 savings. Coal fly ask can also replace clay, sand, limestone and gravel, and save the energy costs of mining such materials. Considered the brick substitute building material of the future it has excellent thermal insulation properties and better sound absorption coefficient than ordinary bricks. The many depressions and protrusions in the hotel's fa�ade play an important role because the majority of the dead walls remain under shadow resulting in reduced surface radiation. 72 rooms face the Atrium, lowering their direct exposure to the external elements and reducing the heat load. The Atrium itself receives an abundance of natural lighting through its skylight which is created with doubly layered domes to reduce heat load and noise levels without diminishing the maximum level of natural light available to the atrium space.
The Orchid has demonstrated the highest level of environment sensitivity by using paints that are eco-friendly. The exterior of the hotel is a water-based paint with negligible VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) content of only 0.0125% and the paint used for interiors has 0% VOC.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle:
At the Orchid they believe in the three "R's": reduce, reuse and recycle. The hotel's rooftop has a swimming pool with 4-feet of water which acts as an insulator from the heat. KoolDeck has been applied around the swimming pool deck to reduce the glare and the surface temperature. The hotel takes special care to conserve water, one of the earth's most precious resources and vital to life. All taps contain special aerators which increase the water's force and reduce outflow, saving up to 50% on water usage and, in the Ecoteria, taps operate on timers for additional savings. Bathrooms have been designed to ensure only 6 liters of water are used per flush as opposed to the normal 15-20 liters used in conventional flushes. The Orchid even recycles its wastewater reusing it after treatment for air conditioning and gardening. The Hotel's site landscaping uses drip irrigation to round out the water conservation efforts.
Guests at The Orchid drink water treated with Aquazone rather than chlorine. Unlike chlorine, a highly carcinogenic chemical, Aquazone employs ozone which destroys all micro organisms including bacteria, virus, spores, and mold fungi. Drinking water treated in this manner is absolutely safe, pure, fresh and healthy. When water is treated with chlorine the residual chlorine in the water is consumed along with the water. Unreacted ozone reduces to oxygen leaving no trace of toxicity in water and functioning as the ultimate disinfection by destroying almost all the micro-organisms. This makes it the most ideal and environment friendly system ever conceived.
Despite its natural timber look, the window frames, master control panel in the guestrooms and shutters are made from Rubber wood. After producing rubber sap the tree is cut down and cannot be used for any constructive purpose, as the wood acquired from the rubber tree is soft. The rubber wood then derived is processed and the upgraded wood, which has been impregnated using an unleachable type of timber preservative chemicals is kiln-seasoned to ensure dimensional stability. If you are the superstitious kind then there is no place at The Orchid where you will be able to "touch wood"! The interior works of the Hotel are made from MDF, which is manufactured using cotton stalks. The cotton tree, which grows to a height of 5-6 feet, is cut down after yield then deemed useless. With the help of advanced technology, the waste stalks of the cotton tree then go through a manufacturing process which includes chipping, sieving, washing and cooking the fiber chips. After this lengthy procedure Medium Density Fiber Wood is produced having all the features of natural wood. The interior of the Orchid's specialty restaurant, "Vindhyas", is made entirely of woodwork made from wood recycled from old buildings!
The triple glazed windows in the hotel, made of a hermetically sealed double glazed unit and an added reflective glass, block the heat of the sun from entering the room and help in conserving the air-conditioning energy. They also prevent fabric and furniture colors from fading by preventing the infra red light from the sun from entering the room. These windows also help in effectively cutting out the noise pollution from India's busiest airport. Efficient PL lamps add to energy savings and efficiency. Lights and air conditioners do not remain on once a guest leaves the room. Even the mini bars use 40% less energy because each is equipped with "fuzzy logic" which senses the load inside the refrigerator and cools it accordingly. Attached to the air-conditioning system is the STL tank to store cold energy during off-peak hours. This stored energy is then used during the peak hours reducing compressor overloading and cutting power consumption. The heat generated from the air conditioners provides hot water to the guestrooms, laundry, toilets and kitchen. At The Orchid, ozone depletion levels have been reduced to 99.55% with the use of more eco-friendly alternatives like R22 instead of CFC refrigerants. The mono screw chillers which have the least number of moving parts operate on an efficiency range of 10% to 100%.
Air Scrubbers have been installed in the boiler outlet connected with the chimney to reduce air pollution. The boiler produces high amounts of carbon dioxide fumes which pass through the scrubber and are emitted through the chimney as clear white fumes instead of the dark, black fumes usually seen. When the fumes pass through the scrubber water is sprayed and the carbon dioxide dissolves and settles down in the shower traps emitting clear fumes instead. The consumption of water is 300-600 liters per hour for a 1000-meter cube of gas, reducing the fume gas temperature from 250 degrees C to 50 degrees C. The water utilized in the air scrubber is recycled water from the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Similar types of equipment are installed in the kitchen exhaust system to perform "air washing" which works on the same principles.
The Orchid, in its endeavor to become a "zero garbage" hotel, has taken various measures to reduce the waste being generated. To reinforce this it has undertaken the project of vermiculture on its hotel site. Nine bins have been built on site and all the kitchen garbage is diverted to them for the process. This endeavor has helped the hotel to achieve its "zero garbage" mission; the second benefit of this act is that it is not adding to the waste stream of the city. The Orchid believes it is the first 5 Star Hotel in Mumbai to undertake vermiculture.
In keeping with its environment theme, The Orchid uses herbal products, which are manufactured under an Ayurvedic license; these products are not tested on animals and do not contain any animal fat. Additionally, it strives to reduce waste by dispensing reusable cloth laundry bags instead of the standard paper or plastic bags as in other hotels, in which the guests could send the clothes for laundering and the same will be delivered in reusable cane baskets wrapped in muslin cloth. A laundry button is incorporated in the master control panel, eliminating the use of laundry pick up tent cards. Newspapers at The Orchid are delivered, on request, in reusable cane baskets or cloth bags instead of the usual paper or plastic bags also. Guest who have shopping in mind are provided with a specially designed, cloth shopping bag with the environment messages the hotel believes in.
Separate recycling bins with a sticker for guest use are placed in all rooms. The hotel uses garbage bags made from recycled plastic and milk pouches. There is no use of carbon paper at The Orchid Hotel, as the chemicals used in carbon paper are toxic which kill the micro-organisms that break down solid waste, reducing the volume of waste in the landfill. With forests dwindling and the air under threat, every contribution helps. All paper products at the Orchid contain at least 50% recycled content.
At The Orchid a treatment has been recently introduced to eradicate cockroaches that are the first of its kind in India. A herbal paste, it contains extracts from herbs and the treatment is totally different than the conventional spray treatment. The paste is applied to all nooks and corners in the form of small globules on the premises which is to be treated. This paste can also be applied in refrigerators, ovens, toasters, microwaves mixers, computers as it is non-poisonous. By using this treatment no health hazards are incurred to guests, as there is no use of any poisonous chemicals. No cleaning is required after the treatment is done hence there is no wasting of water, detergents etc.
Customer Involvement:
Guests form an integral part of any hotel in the world. The Orchid has left no stone unturned in its quest for a clean environment, to the extent that it provides opportunities for hotel guests to be a part of its environmental programs. Newspapers are delivered, on request, in a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag and only about 50% of the Orchid's guests prefer a newspaper delivered in their rooms. Out of 231,960 guest check-ins, the hotel has prevented the use of 231,960 plastic bags that might have been used to deliver newspapers to guests. At the time of check-in each guest is informed about the energy saving program in each room available for his or her participation by simply using ECO BUTTON on the Master Control Panel placed alongside the bed. When the guest presses this button, the room's air-conditioned temperature increases by 2 degrees, over a period of 2 hours. The Orchid's Building Management System shows the number of guest's participating in this program averages at around 30% daily. There are specially designed certificates and rewards for these "Eco-guests" which are mailed to their hometown. Guests are also made aware of the linen reuse program designed to prevent water wastage and pollution while washing linen. They are encouraged to use their bed linen again without washing. Within a period of five months since introduction of the linen reuse program, about 750 guests have participated. A database is maintained of all these guests and, through a direct mail link, they are informed about the hotel's ongoing environmental activities
In August 2000, the Evergreen Program came into existence at the hotel as an effort to recognize loyal guests patronizing The Orchid and its environmental endeavors. The Orchid Evergreen Card is a point collection card and guests have the option of donating their points to The Orchid's Green Account. The Green account collected over 60,000 points, which is being used by the hotel to further its environment activities.
A recent environment survey of hotel employees revealed that 37% felt recycling is the most important and visible program in the hotel, 98% have environmental practices in their homes, 65% are willing to volunteer one hour per week, unpaid, to help the hotel become more environmentally friendly, 94% would like to be involved in an environment, nature or conservation organization in their free time, and 99% would like to see the environmental sensitivity of the hotel improve further. Ninety-nine percent of the employees at the Orchid are willing to make changes in the way they work if the changes make the hotel more environmentally sound.
As a result of all the hard work by The Orchid, the hotel has seen a 55.9% return of its 3,500 corporate clients, savings of 33,28,435/rupees per year, or 9119/rupees per day, from the use of PL Lamps alone, and it has been able to pay dividends to its shareholders this year.
Further Reading
http://www.orchidhotel.com/mumbai_hotels/enviroconstruction.htm
Acknowledgements
Writer: Janet Roberts
© 2005 World Benefit Productions, All Rights Reserved
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