BEST PRACTICES OF TOURIST ACCOMODATIONS IN
CRETE AND IN GREECE USING RENEWABLE ENERGY
SOURCES
 Solar Energy
 Solid Biomass
 Geothermal Energy
Incubator of New Enterprises of Chania
Vourdoubas John
Papanikolaou Joanna
Email: incubator@cha.forthnet.gr
DATE 17-02-2009
SUMMARY
Renewable energy sources find various applications in buildings for power generation and for heat
and cool production. Currently in Greece solar energy is used for power generation and for heat and
cool production.
Solid biomass is used for heat production and geothermal energy for heat production.
The present work concerns various good examples of hotels and tourist accommodations in Crete and
in Greece which are using the abovementioned RES for covering part of their energy needs. The most
of them are in Crete and low enthalpy geothermal energy is used from a hotel in the region of thrace
for heat production.
The following hotels are presented
1. ATRION [SOLID BIOMASS FOR HEATING]
2. ELOYNDA [PHOTOVOLTAICS]
3. MILIA [SOLID BIOMASS AND PHOTOVOLTAICS]
4. LOUTRA TRAIANOUPOLIS [GEOTHERMAL ENERGY FOR HEATING]
5. LENTZAKI [SOLAR COOLING]
6. RETHYMNO VILLAGE [SOLAR COOLING]
7. CANDIA MARIS [SOLAR THERMAL HEATING]
Apart from that, the fried vegetable oils from the restaurants of various hotels in Crete are collected
and used as raw materials for the production of biodiesel. The collected used vegetable oils are sent
from Crete to Continental Greece, where the processing plants are operating.
LOUTRA TRAIANOUPOLIS HOTEL
HOTELS LENTZAKIS,
RETHIMNON VILLAGE
HOTELS ATRION,CANDIA
MARIS
HOTEL MILIA
HOTEL ELOYNDA
Picture 1: Locations of the hotels (best practices) in Greece
HOTEL ATRION IN HERAKLION-CRETE
1. Hotel details
Name of Hotel : ATRION
Location : HERAKLION-CRETE
Class : C
Client Activity : Tourism
Geopraphy : Urban Area
Operational Season : All Year
Occupied area : 2000m2
Number of beds : 117
Staff numbers : 30
2. Description of technology
Atrion Hotel uses two hot water boilers, which are burning olive husks. The boilers produce hot water
at 95oC. The two boilers are connected in series and the hot water that is produced, is heating,
through a serpetine, the water, which in contained into two water tanks of 3000 lt each. The hot
water from these tanks caters all the needs of the hotel, from space heating during the winter to hot
water for the showers or the kitchen and the laundry. During the winter, both the boilers are working
in order to cater the needs for space heating, as it is mentioned before. At summer time one boiler is
enough to serve the needs of the hotel for hot water.
Each boiler consists of the heeding hoper, the biomass hearth, the piping section, and the chimney
with the cyclone for the collection of the particulates from the flue gases. The feeding hoper holds a
load of olive husks capable to feed the boiler for at least three hours of continuous operation. A screw
conveyor brings the biomass into the bottom of the hearth. A blower supplies the combustion air at
the bottom of the heart where the combustion takes place on a fixed bed. The combustion air, as
well, assists the entrance of biomass into the hearth. The flue gases produced from the biomass
combustion are passing through the piping section and they heat the water up to 95oC. Then they are
released to the atmosphere though the chimney and the cyclone. The hearth has to be cleaned from
the ashes once a day since there is no system for automatic ash removal. The feeding hoper has to be
refilled two or three times per day from the main storage bin of the olive husks depending on the
boiler’s operating time. Particulates are collected at the bottom of the cyclone in a special bin. The
piping section and the chimney are cleaned from shoot and ashes annually, during the maintenance
period. The two boilers have 150 and 120 Gcal/h nominal thermal power.
The produced hot water circulates by a circulating pump into a closed circuit and through the
serpentines of the two water tanks and keeps the water temperature in the tanks over 60 oC. If the
temperature of the water in the tanks drops below 60oC then the circulating pump starts and if the
closed circuit water temperature drops below 75oC starts the biomass feeding screw and the
combustion begins in the boiler’s hearth.
3. Photos
Picture 2: Hotel ATRION- Combustion of biomass (Heraklion-Crete)
TOURIST ACCOMODATION IN ELOUNDA
1. Hotels details
Name of Hotel : Elounda- Crete
Location : CRETE
Class : C
Client Activity : Tourism
Geography : Rural Area
Operational Season : All year
Number of beds : 60
2. Description of technology
The photovoltaic system at Elounda, at the north coast of Crete, was the first autonomous PV
installation in Greece for the electrification of a tourist resort. The tourist facility was established in
1978 in Crete and the bungalow complex consists of 12 individual villas and one restaurant.
Bioclimatic design of the buildings was undertaken and, in the way, summer interior comfort and
energy saving were achieved.
The PV system was installed in June 1996 and operates satisfactorily since then. Until then, the
electrical demand was covered by two diesel generators, which consumed approximately 18tn of
light diesel fuel between May and September in a typical tourist season. The expenses for fuel and
regular engine maintenance exceeded 13Kecu in the 1995 tourist season. The environment was also
burdened from emissions and noise pollution. Grid connection was not economically feasible due to
the archaeological character of the site and the associated expenses required for underground
cabling. Therefore, the installation of a stand-alone PV system was considered.
3. Photos
Picture 2: Hotel at Elounda–South Crete. Photovoltaic system
MILIA ACCOMODATION IN CHANIA
1. Hotel details
Name : Milia
Location : Chania Prefecture
Activity : Agrotourism
Geography : Rural Area
Operation : All Year
Capacity : 13 houses-studios
2. Description
Milia is consisted of an isolated renovated village neighborhood which was abandoned approximately
100 years ago. The old houses were refabricated and the visitors live in an old way of village life.
Space heating is provided with fire places feeded with local wood. Electricity is produced from
photovoltaics and a small diesel engine. For cooking and for hot water production LPG is used. The
accommodation is isolated and it is not interconnected with the electricity grid. The electricity
consumption in the accommodation is very low and candles are also used for lighting, so the visitors
have a sense of the old way of life, in a traditional Cretan village.
3. Photos
Picture 3: Rural Lodgings in Milia (Chania-Crete)
LOUTRA TRAIANOUPOLIS HOTEL
1. Hotel details
Name of hotel : Intermunicipal company of Loutra Traianoupolis – Alexandroupolis (D.E.L.T.A.)
Location : Loutra Trainoupolis, Alexandroupolis [Region of Thrace]
Class : C
Client Activity : Tourism, Spa bathing
Geography : Rural area, plains near the delta of Evros river
Operational Season : All year
Occupied Area : 4,5 ha
Number of beds : 120 in 44 rooms in 4 buildings
Staff numbers : 30
2. Description of technology
This hotel uses the heat energy of a low enthalpy geothermal field to produce heat covering its own
needs. An under floor heating system utilizes the warm water to heat the various rooms of the hotel.
Heating/cooling needs
: 1.050KW
Description of technology : Geothermal circuit : production of 520C mineral water from a geothermal
well, heats a closed loop water through a heat exchanger and reinjection at 370C, plate heat
exchanger (estimated capacity of 450KW), PP piping.
Closed loop circuit
: buried transmission lines to the buildings.
Heating system
: under floor pipes at 40/300C
Accumulation apparatus : water boiler, coil to coil, geothermaly fed & electric heating for peaks.
3. Photos
Picture 4: Loutra Traianoupolis Hotel
HOTEL LENTGAKI IN RETHYMNON
1. Hotel details
Name : Lentzakis
Location : Rethymno
Activity : Apartments
Geography : Urban area
Operation : All year
Capacity : 23 appartments
2. Description
Lentzakis hotel has a capacity of 150 beds and it is occupied 100% in the summer and 45% in the
winter. The solar cooling system has a power of 105 KW and hot water is produced with 450m2 flat
plate collectors placed on the roof of the building. During the summer, cool is produced with an
absorbtion cooling system and during the winter heat for space heating and for hot water production.
The system was installed during 2002 and it was subsidized by the Greek Government in a rate of
50%. This solar cooling system is one of the few existed solar cooling systems in Crete at the moment.
3. Photos
Picture 5: Establishments of solar cooling system
RETHYMNON VILLAGE
1. Hotel details
Name : Rethymnon Village
Location : Rethymno
Activity : Apartments
Geography : Urban area
2. Description of technology
The hotel has a capacity of 260 beds. The solar cooling system has a power of 105 KW(water’s
temperature 70-75 oC) and hot water is produced with 450m2 flat plate collectors placed on the roof
of the building. The solar cooler uses the hot water like a source of energy and the water (instead of
Freon or Ammonia) like coolant resource to produce cold water (water’s temperature 8-10oC). The
technology is simple and it is based on the process of condensation and vaporization of the coolant resource
(the water) under vacuity. During the winter the collectors warm the water to 550C that is used for the heating
of the rooms. The cold water (during summer) and the hot (during winter) leads to the local fan-coils in the
rooms. With the same technology the natatorium is warmed (surface of natatorium 250m2- surface of
collectors 200m2).The system was installed during 2000 and it was subsidized by the Greek
Government in a rate of 50%.The positive consequences of the environment are the avoidance of the
followings:
CO2
SO2
CO
NOX
HC
PARTS
871.182Kg/year
15.175 Kg/year
183 Kg/year
34.207 Kg/year
53 Kg/year
783 Kg/year
3. Photos
Picture 6: Establishments of solar cooling system
HOTEL CANDIA MARIS IN HERAKLION-CRETE
1. Hotel details
Name of the hotel : CANDIA MARIS
Location : Heraklion Crete
Class : A
Activity : Tourism
Geography : Urban Area
Operation : All Year
Number of beds : 257 rooms
2. Description of technology
This large hotel complex has installed a very large solar thermal field with flat collectors, producing
heat all over the year and covering the most of the heating needs of the resort. Apart from that, the
hotel is using EMS to optimize its energy utilization.
The characteristics of the solar heating system are presented below:
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Water temperature in the swimming pools : 32-35oC
Warm water temperature requirements in the Jacuzzi : 53 M3/day in temperatures 35-40oC
Shower with consumption of 5M3/day at 48oC
Consumption in the rooms and the kitchen of 30 M3/day at 48 oC
Total heating requirements : 2166 MWh
The solar system covers the heating needs at 70,26% producing 1522 MWh
Inclination of flat collectors :27 0
Total surface of the solar collectors : 2.397 M2
Before the installation of the solar heating system, the hotel consumed 47.630 lt of oil per year
and 449.651 lt of gas per year
Most of the oil and the gas are now substituted by solar energy after the installation of the
solar heating system
State subsidies of the investment cost : 50%
Manufacturing company : SOLE SA, GREECE
3. Photos
Picture 6: Hotel Candia Maris- View of Solar heating system and general view of the hotel
USE OF FRIED VEGETABLE OILS AS RAW MATERIALS FOR
BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
The fried vegetable oils from restaurants of various hotels in Crete are picked up, stored and sent to
various plants in Continental Greece where they are co-processed with various vegetable oils for
biodiesel production. Currently there are few biodiesel producing plants in Greece but non of them is
located in Crete.