Energy management in tourism: development of a comprehensive carbon footprint methodology and toolset: Summary

Abstract:

This document is a summary for the project titled 'Energy management in tourism: development of a comprehensive carbon footprint methodology and toolset.'

The project provides a stepping stone towards the development of a tool that will allow members of an important sector of the NW economy to monitor and manage their energy use. It will also help the NW to be at the forefront of essential environmental auditing and impact assessment methodologies. The project has expanded the NW's research capability in the field of energy consumption monitoring and brought researchers from three disciplines together (economics, environmental science and statistics). The application is being developed for all organisations working in the tourist industry in the NW, but will start with demonstrations in Blackpool and Cumbria. It is intended the application will calculate greenhouse gas footprints, which can be partitioned into their component energy sources and highlight major contributory activities. The tool will allow the user to see how their carbon footprint responds to: increasing their expenditure within certain industry sectors (e.g. food whole sellers, transport, construction); changing the nature of their expenditure within each sector.

This project used an existing prototype footprinting model and managed to demonstrate its economic robustness and realism. From this a tool was developed and then tested. The effectiveness of the tool was demonstrated by working with a hotel in the Lake District where the outputs have changed its purchasing strategy. A further £300,000 funding has been obtained (£200,000 ESRC and £100,000 NWDA) to continue developing the model and to create a system for widespread release.

Publication Year:

2007

Publisher:

Joule Centre

DOI:

No DOI minted

Author(s):

Howard, D.