Strategic Initiatives (Asynchronous Session)
Integrated Conceptual Framework for Reducing Hotel Guests Energy Consumption View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hevar Palani
There are 47,000 hotels in the US, spending annually $2,196 per room on energy cost. That is about $6 per hotel room per night. This represents around 6 percent of operating costs for hotels (EnergyStar 2020). Studies summarized that occupants’ behavior has major energy consumption of hotel buildings. In the past decade, there is little or no research studies analyzing behavioral phenomena in hotel buildings energy consumption. Existing research studies are either limited to offices and residential buildings, or lack of analysis showing occupants’ impact on hotel buildings energy consumption. To address this research gap, this study aims to find the effect of occupants’ behavior on reducing energy consumption in hotels. To achieve this, the study investigates energy reduction interventions on occupants’ behavior to reduce energy consumption in hotels. Furthermore, the study analyzes and synthesizes most effective interventions on hotel guests’ energy consumption, and provides suggestions for decision makers (i.e., hotel owners, managers, and guests) with reducing energy consumption strategies in hotels without compromising hotel guests’ comfort. The findings of this study will help: (i) reduce hotel buildings’ energy consumption; (ii) reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions; (iii) increase hotel owners’ profitability; and (iv) improve comfort level of hotel guests.
The Dynamics of Energy Culture in Coyhaique City, Chile: Overcoming Energy Poverty View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alejandra Cortes
This research explores changes in households’ energy cultures associated with residential energy efficiency interventions, and how these interventions may induce overcoming energy poverty in social housing households in Coyhaique City, Chile. This study considers the driving factors that lead to households' energy poverty in the city and the policies and implemented programmes to overcome this situation. Coyhaique City is worthy of focus for its poor air quality and harsh climate. Firstly, the 2019 World Air Quality Report ranked it in 2018 as the most polluted city from particulate matter 2.5 in Latin America. The city's residential sector is the primary source of its pollutant emissions, given the high intensity of firewood combustion used for cooking and heating. Secondly, it is an "extreme-south" city, with particularly cold winters and can be considered geographically isolated. Both characteristics worsen energy poverty conditions. The findings of this research may enable policies and programmes to be more responsive to local energy cultures and more effective in overcoming energy poverty.
Could We Stop Killing?: Exploring a Post-lethal Vegan or Vegetarian Agriculture View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Stefan Mann
This paper explores both the necessities and the options for an agricultural system in which no animals are killed by reviewing existing literature. It first identifies a causal chain which can be labelled as vegan wave and which might generate a consensus that animals should not be killed for human consumption. By raising issues of nutrient supply, grassland management, and beekeeping, the paper shows that vegan-organic agriculture, vegan-conventional agriculture and post-lethal vegetarian agriculture are three options for such a pathway. Yet, many technical and socioeconomic questions still need to be considered and resolved.
