greendoor ethos.
We are striving for ahead of its time accommodation, working towards a cleaner environment, reducing packaging, recycling where possible, and ultimately lowering the carbon footprint.
Greendoor has reduced CO2 by 25 tonnes per annum at Stanley House, and we are aiming to treble that in the next two years.
Simple things have been changed, and yes there is a fiscal cost involved, but this is relatively minor in the scheme of helping to reduce the footprint we leave behind us.
A sample of what we have done to date includes the more common and obvious ideas - changing light bulbs for low wattage fast start equivalents, increasing the insulation in an old building that is 15 metres tall, replacing an aging oil fired boiler with an ultra efficient system – but we have gone a little further, we have reduced to almost nil the packaging that is so associated with the hotel and catering industry – no pre-wrapped butter portions, no individual jam portions, no variety-type-sized cereal packets – instead we have home produced produce, and where that is not possible, we have sourced the larger sized packets that you help yourself from.
Even the dishwasher is efficient, taking just 29 minutes to complete its’ cycle, using only 10 litres of water, and 0.8 kWh of energy. Being one of the only AAA rated appliances with a Quick Wash that genuinely works from an environment and Health & Hygiene point of view.
In our first twelve months of operation, running 12 bedrooms on a bed & breakfast basis, and with an occupancy pushing the 75% marker, we have been able to reduce our energy consumption to just 35kWh of electricity per day. The capital cost in implementing the changes to reduce the energy consumption has already been paid for by the savings. The reductions we have achieved with only benefit to the comfort of our guests. They still enjoy endless hot water, HD flat screen TV and DVD player in every room, individual tea & coffee making facilities, free WIFI, and comfortable furniture.
How do we know this to be accurate? We have a monitor – visible to the guests – showing how much electricity is being used at anyone time, plus the kilograms of CO2 that the energy is creating in its production.
- energy efficiency
- recycling
- reducing travel emissions
- less waste
Greendoor, as a concept, was dreamt up whilst Harry & Paddington were running the Boot Inn and self-catering accommodation. Forever being asked for serviced and/or self-catering for 1-3 days – the costs & waste involved could not justify this option. However, with a little thought, some time off with children at home and time spent away - greendoor developed.
What we aim to provide is
- a relaxed home from home environment in which you can stay
- all the facilities and luxuries without the work and extra bills.
When working on furnishing the rooms – bedrooms and sitting rooms – a little lateral thinking came up with the resultant question: where does all the furniture go to when a four or five star hotel refurbishes? Well the answer is easy: to us! All our furniture is either FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council – sustainable forestry, maintained to a very high standard without causing undue detriment to the ecology of an area) sourced, or has come from some of Europe’s classic hotels – the Palace at Biarritz, Badrutts Palace in St Moritz, Claridges in London – to name a few.
Our environmental policy states:
Stanley House is committed to being as environmentally friendly as possible, within its means, and to try to promote this ethos with other like-minded individuals and the guests of the business. Part of greendoor - a company intent on bringing green tourism to areas of outstanding natural beauty in the British Isles - our aim is to try to reduce pollution and enhance the stunning area that we are fortunate enough to be based in. Regular assessments by both us and outside agencies will help to maintain this policy by working closely with our employees raising their awareness in order that they develop a sense of responsibility for the environment.
On an ongoing basis we will:
- Revue our working practices, to make sure they are still as energy and environmentally efficient as possible.
- Comply with current legislation and try to keep one step ahead, but strive to be better than the minimum.
- Minimise wastage, re-cycle and re-use where possible.
- Work with our guests in helping to achieve our ambition.
- Monitor our practices, energy consumption and material usage.
- Inform, educate and train in the best practices for this business in keeping the pollutants at as low a level as possible.
- Continue to strive towards improved environmental performance
Aside from the work to date, other ongoing work is the installation of a wood-burning boiler to heat the building, and provide hot water to the taps. We have opted for the purest form of biomass – logs. These are the least CO2 heavy in their production and the fact that we are fortunate – as an area – to have 150 acres of managed mixed-wood plantation just the other side of our river, meaning that tree-to-burn is less than 1 mile. If we were not purchasing the wood, then the tree-to-burn mileage increases approximately 50-fold. Based on this, the Department of Energy & Climate Change has awarded greendoor a grant to fund the project up to a maximum of 33%.
We will be burning in the region of 75 tonnes of wood a year to replace the already replaced fossil fuelled boiler, saving another 15,000 litres of heavy oil, and more importantly another 40 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Greendoor by the nature of its concept is a constantly developing product. Each one that we start will have the latest eco-enhancements attached.
If you know of a building that would suit our means, please let us know. Maybe you could help us to develop a greendoor in your area, or maybe you have a product to help clean-up the environment that needs to be tested and brought to market.
We are constantly being assessed on our “green-ness” by Cumbria Business Environment Network, and the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency – and with their help and knowledge we hope to go as far as we can, but always in the knowledge that the guests’ comfort is of paramount importance.
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