Villa Costa Rose – How a Small Guest House can Drive Significant Change
How a small guest house can change the world – one bed night at a time.
Villa Costa Rose decided that the eco-friendly path was the only way to go being situated in Cape Town, South Africa a country with limited resources plagued with energy cuts and water shortages.
Villa Costa Rose has more than halved it’s carbon footprint since opening it’s doors in 2008 through a number of measures. Water collection tanks for garden watering and water wise landscaping have helped save over 10,000 litres of water per annum. By placing filled re-used plastic water bottles into toilet cisterns and retro-fitting showers & taps with water saving alternatives around 15,000 litres of water per annum have been saved.
Energy saving investments include a domestic wind turbine that powers all the low energy LED lights. 3 Solar panels have reduced geyser energy consumption by 70% and communal lighting is managed through timer circuits. Energy Star equipment have been installed further reducing energy hungry appliances. Within the 3 year Sustainability management plan, Villa Costa Rose plans photo-voltaic and water heating on demand systems.
High on the priority list for day to day sustainability management is procurement. Procurement policy has the ability to drastically reduce your indirect carbon footprint. Villa Costa Rose does not use any imported products on it’s Food and Beverage menu. Local, seasonal produce is sourced and products such as Fair Trade, Sustainable Seafood Initiative, Sustainable Wine Initiative and Proudly South African products are supported.
Villa Costa Rose also donates to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and St Lukes Hospice on a regular basis. Villa Costa Rose staff are always smiling, they earn salaries more than double the industry average and their skill and working environment are well managed.
Guests at Villa Costa Rose have proven to appreciate the many measures in place and being well informed on their arrival on the “need for green” are only too happy to travel more lightly.
Sustainable travel and responsible tourism has never felt so good……
