Solar-Powered Hotels for Summer Vacation

Solar panels on a hotel rooftop

We loved this post on Peachy Green about solar-powered hotels. With summer here and people considering vacation, its the perfect time to write about these eco-friendly hotels and resorts.

Green travel is one of the hottest trends these days. Today’s travelers look for eco-friendly properties for both business and leisure travel. While there are companies that engage in “green washing,” or overstating some of the environmental benefits of their practices, you cannot fake this energy-efficient installation: solar panels.

If you want to stay at a solar powered hotel, consider these options.

1. Matava Fiji’s Premier Eco Resort on Kadavu Island in Fiji. The minimal electricity needs at the resort are 100% solar powered, but there is a back-up generator to continue to provide power in case of storms or low sunlight days.

2. Hyatt Regency New Brunswick in New Jersey. This green hotel installed a 32,000 square foot, 421 kilowatt SunPower system on the top of the hotel’s garage. The rooftop solar panels will reduce CO2 emissions by 10,000 tons over 30 years, which will cut equivalent oil demand by at least 749 barrels each year, per conversion formulas of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

You can now find solar powered hotels on every continent, except Antarctica!

3. Hidden Valley Cabins resort in Australia offers Solar Eco Cabins and an Interpretive Centre. The property is the country’s first fully carbon neutral resort and tour business and is 100% powered by solar energy. Hidden Valley has achieved the Ecotourism Australia’s Advanced Ecotourism Certification, as reported by Green Lodging News.

Instead of staying in large hotels (even with solar panels), green travelers may prefer modest accommodations that are green in every sense of the word. Norwegian distributor Power Controls AS creates and sells “Smart Energy Station” turnkey vacation cabins with ICP Solar Technologies’ GreenMeter for remote applications. Wooden log houses, about 6 square meters and sold as outdoor cabins, are currently available in Europe, Canada and Russia. Solar panels generate electricity for lighting these eco-friendly accommodations.

Overall, hotels are realizing that they need to offer eco-friendly options for travelers that have an eye on their carbon footprint. With solar panels on their rooftops, travel properties not only cater to that niche, but also end up saving significant money on their own utility bills.

Ratings: