3. Energy use in non-residential buildings: hotels
It is well known that the main environmental impact takes place during the operational phase of a building and
even more so for a hotel, when compared to the energy used for building or demolishing it. This is one of the main
reasons behind the added attention given to all buildings to reduce their energy consumption during their operational
phase [2].
Furthermore, the efficient use of energy in the hotel sector is driven by other factors such as increased interest in
green hotels, higher operational expenses and energy costs, greater demand for services that require energy for their
operation and higher pressures on profitability and competition.
The actual target for Malta is to reach 22% of energy efficiency by 2020 [3]. In a touristic island like Malta and
Gozo, the hospitality sector is gaining more importance with new hotels being built or new extensions being made to
existing hotels, to cater for the increased influx of tourists to the Islands. In 2014, an all-time record of 1.7 million
52 Javier Polanco González and Charles Yousif / Energy Procedia 83 ( 2015 ) 50 – 59
tourists has been recorded and it is expected that this will increase further, thus prompting hotel owners to invest in
expansion and new projects [4].
Typically, the main energy consuming activities in a hotel are shown in Fig. 1. These are mainly heating and
cooling, lighting, hot water for washing, pleasure activities, preparation of meals and washing, as well as energy for
ventilation [5].