Dimmer lights, and more watt for saving the earth
MONTECASINO - With just under a 100 hotels, and 14 entertainment destinations, Tsogo Sun is taking a stand against unjust electricity consumption.
On 21 August the group signed its pledge toward the Eskom 49M campaign at Montecasino.
“It’s a privilege for Tsogo Sun to demonstrate our commitment to the environment, we continually revisit our environmental strategy that is in operation across all our properties – over 90 hotels and 14 casinos – to ensure that ongoing progress is made in protecting the environment and preserving it for future generations,” said Rob Collins, Chief Marketing Officer of Tsogo Sun.
The group’s environmental objectives are wide-ranging and include complying with relevant environmental laws and regulations, managing environmental risks, minimising pollution, emissions and effluents from operations, adopting zero-waste policies, reducing consumption of natural resources with the responsible use of energy, gas and water, managing biodiversity among a list of goals.
Under the pledge, the group hopes to cut their electricity consumption by 10 percent.
Just one of the means to achieve this goal has been the implementation of mechanised laundry services in hotels. When consumption is high, the machines simply do not switch on.
There is also a dashboard system in place, which gives live feeds of electricity consumption at the group’s properties.
Anton Potgieter, in charge of the operation said that with this they were able to pinpoint problem areas.
“We can see if electricity is wasted from rooms, from lighting or water heaters,” Potgieter said.
The data is fed into monthly reports, allowing different hotels or casinos to work on the goal of electricity reduction of 10 percent.
Andrew Etzinger, spokesperson for Eskom said it was a relationship that was vital. He said the decrease in load shedding was due to companies taking an active role in reducing consumption.
“Sustainability projects and energy efficiency is the less costly option than constructing new power stations.”
A nationwide research on the prevalence of the 49M energy-saving campaign among South Africans has revealed that 73 percent of consumers are aware of the campaign and have been inspired to change their behaviour.
