Topic 3 Sustainable tourism as a way to promote the climate transition
Case study: Sustainability at Camp Glenorchy
Name the Protagonist:
Camp Glenorchy
What is their Story?
Camp Glenorchy is an accommodation place in New Zealand which shows sustainability in practice.
Camp Glenorchys full range of accommodation options include the following:
- individual eco-cabins,
- premium eco-cabins,
- multi-bed bunkhuts
- powered RV/campervan spots.
This place is New Zealand’s first Net Positive energy visitor destination. The profit obtained by the camp is turned back to the local community through Glenorchy Community Trust, directed by local community members.
Camp Glenorchy was opened in 2018 and is designed according to the Living Building Challenge standards. The base of LBC consists of seven sustainability components: Health & Happiness, Energy, Water, Materials, Place, Beauty and Equity.
The sustainability of the camp is assured amongst other things by using: solar power, composting toilets, water treatment, entirely recycled building materials.
We have to mentions that building Camp Glenorchy also included local artists, craftspeople, and energy management specialists.
The campsite offers a wide range of resource-efficient guest accommodations.
Link to the Case Study:
Why is this a Good Example to Follow?
The mission is to increase the vibrancy and resilience of the community of Glenorchy.
The Living building challenge consists amongst other things of water and waste conservation, energy production. Camp Glenorchy focuses on creating a unique experience that “educates, inspires and delights visitors.”
Creating Camp Glenorchy focused not only on the materials used, but also on the human resources involved in the project. Thus local artists, craftspeople, and energy management specialists were also included.
They are commited to:
- Create a place where people feel comfortable, healthy and inspired.
- Use 50% less energy than similar facilities.
- Generate more electric power then they use onsite over the course of a year.
- Use 50% less water than similar facilities.
- Collect and chemically-free treat drinking-rain-water.
- Treating their own waste water.
- Minimizing and managing waste.
Following these principles we can adjust our own living standards and can learn some of the used methods to try it at home. These solutions can help our everyday life to make our life a sustainable life for our children too.
If other tourism service providers could use these solutions, it could contribute to the reduction of global energy usage and risks of climate change.
How can you use this Case Study to Adapt to Climate Change?
This a good example of how you can involve the local community into a tourism project development, using recycled materials in the process of construction and applying sustainability solutions through implementing and operating.
These solutions can be adapted with some changes not only in other accommodation facilities, but in our homes too. Taking for example a big hotel with more hundreds of rooms the obtained result (energy saving, water saving) would be much more outstanding.
Applying the principles of Living Building Challenge has two major outcomes: energy saving and decreasing environmental footprint.
What impact has this case study example achieved?
The whole project showed us that with paying attention to the materials used in construction we can decrease the waste footprint of the project even from the phase of the construction, furthermore we can operate our facilities with almost zero energy supply from outside. The project brings benefits for the local community through it’s entire lifecycle. This case study showed us that we can do more with less.
Questions
Set of reflection questions:
- Question 1 – How can local projects contribute to local wellbeing, while making money for the investors?
- Question 2 – What other adaptation solutions could be used to reduce energy consumption from outside the facility?
- Question 3 – What are the advantages of the adapted solutions and could they be used on a larger scale too?
Case study: Video
Debriefing Questions (after the video)
| Q No. | Questions |
|---|---|
| Question 1: | How can sustainable tourism affected by climate change? |
| Question 2: | How can be reduced the effects of climate change on tourism? |
| Question 3: | What are the advantages of using recycled solutions in developing tourism projects? |
| Question 4: | How can we adapt touristic facilities to be more resilient to weather conditions? |