Energy Consumption and Use of Renewable Energy Sources in Hotels: A Case Study in Crete, Greece

The energy analysis of five summer operating hotels in Crete, Greece was implemented and their average annual energy consumption has been estimated at 149 KWh/m2 and 19.4 KWh/p.n.s. Their average annual CO2 emissions due to energy use have also been estimated at 12.1 kg CO2/p.n.s.. Hotels in Crete utilize various renewable energy technologies with solar thermal energy being the most widely used. Apart from solar thermal energy, solar cooling, passive solar, solar-PV, solid biomass burning and low enthalpy geothermal energy with heat pumps have also been used in various cases. Since some of these technologies are currently cost effective having at the same time many environmental benefits , it is expected that in the future renewable energy technologies will have more applications in providing heat , cooling and electricity in hotels in Crete. Use of various renewable energy technologies in hotels could result in zeroing their CO2 emissions due to the energy use in them. The Greek government currently subsidizes the use of energy saving and renewable energy technologies in hotels aiming in reducing their high energy consumption and the use of the polluting fossil fuels in them.