15 July 2013. Seychelles is getting serious about sustainability and its hotels are starting to take measures to protect the earth. Hotel L’Archipel on Praslin, after two years of research and planning, has confirmed that they have taken the initiative to “go green” at their property by implementing numerous renewable energy solutions with a positive impact to the environment and in so doing improving guest comfort.
The project has been driven by Louis D’Offay, managing director of the property, with support from his team.
Mr.Louis D'OffayMinister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, has welcomed the initiative undertaken by Hotel L'Archipel to go green. “You have always believed in sustainable tourism, because you conceived a tourism establishment that blended in with the environment of our beautiful islands. Now you have taken the step to join the caring partners in the world of tourism to be listed as a hotel meeting the norms so much sought after by conscientious traveler," Minister St.Ange said as he congratulated Louis D'Offay and his team at Hotel L'Archipel.
Environmental consultants Pace Seychelles has worked closely with the team at L’Archipel in auditing the energy consumption at the property to prepare a short-, medium- and long-term strategy for implementing the following green initiatives:
ENERGY MANGEMENT SYSTEMS (EMS)
All refurbished rooms have been installed with Inncom’s EMS Systems with intelligent occupancy detection to control the rooms’ energy consumption in rented and unrented states.
Guest comfort has been improved, condensation and humidity dramatically reduced, while achieving a 30% saving of the in-room air-conditioning energy consumption.
ENERGY MANGEMENT SYSTEMS PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS
The property is currently installing 244 solar PV panels in Phase One with an annual production of over 108,000 kwh, which saves about 28,850 liters of diesel fuel annually. Not burning this fuel saves 76.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is the equivalent pollution of removing 16 cars from the road permanently.
LED LIGHTING
All refurbished rooms have been installed with efficient LED lighting, reducing the rooms’ lighting demand by 80%. Phase two of converting the property to LED lighting will be the installation of the entire garden with Exlite solar LED lights.
INNU-SCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY CLEANING – GREEN CLEANING
The property has successfully implemented phase one of biotechnology cleaning with the short-term goal to reduce chemicals usage to 10% within the next 6 months.
This initiative will have another positive impact to the environment and the health of their guests and staff.
OZONE WASHING CLEANING
Hotel L’Archipel is using various Ozone technologies for safe bacterial cleaning of food, cutlery, and crockery to provide a bacteria-free environment in the kitchens, while dramatically reducing chemical and energy usage in the kitchen by over 50 percent.
To promote the awareness of the efforts and commitments from Hotel L’Archipel to the environment and the hospitality industry, Pace Seychelles and Hotel L’Archipel has launched an awareness campaign with advertising at Mahe and Praslin Airport’s International Arrivals Terminal and Domestic Departures Terminal.
For more information visit