Sustainability & Environment
The beauty of the mountains and landscapes of the Pitztal are a true gift of nature, which we want to protect for us and for future generations. Therefore, sustainability is an ingetral part of our philosophy. We have been using solar energy for 20 years, which makes us pioneers when it comes to sustainable use of natural resources. But we do much more to live up to our responsibility towards the environment.
“We don’t inherit the earth, we borrow it from our children.” – Indian proverb
We run every part of Andy Hotel Apartment with a basic idea: We want to exhaust all our possibilities to operate our hotel in a resource-saving and environmentally conscious way. We reduce our energy consumption through modern insulation and heat recovery. In addition, we obtain part of our electricity from photovoltaics.
To save energy, we use any available heat and therefore we need less electricity and fossil fuels. In many areas we use the technology of heat recovery, for example from our ventilation system, from cooling and from the clothes dryers. The heat pumps extract heat from the engine room and the ventilation. With this heat we can heat a fourfold amount of water and simultaneously cool the dining room. We also use the waste heat from the refrigeration unit to charge the storage heater. The brine pump can produce the fivefold amount of hot water.
With the aid of a heat pump, the heat from the swimming pool is pumped back into the heating circuit. The water for the whirlpool is collected in a tank where it is purified and reused. This process saves a lot of water, energy and chemicals. Andy Hotel Apartment also has its own combined heat and power plant, the waste heat also flows into the heating system. Already in 1988 we have applied natural insulation material to our building to avoid the loss of heat to the environment.
Of course a hotel that offers its guests every comfort uses a lot of energy in the form of electricity. Therefore we generate a portion of the required electricity ourselves. Already 20 years ago we have invested in solar energy. The photovoltaic system on the roof provides us with clean electricity, and the rest is purchased from a green energy provider. Our energy budget is fully electronically controlled. That means that the system recognizes where energy is produced (e. g. in the solar system and the heat pump) and distributes it where it is needed, for example, in the heating or hot water storage. As a result, we are able to save about 25 to 30% energy.
Where there is sun, there is rain. Apart from the fact that the photovoltaic system even works in rainy weather, we take advantage of every rainy day to save resources. Rainwater is collected on the hotel garage and is used on hot, sunny days for watering flowers. This shows how versatile sustainability at Andy Hotel Apartment is applied to save as much energy as possible and preserve our natural resources.