Our Green Policy ambition is to reduce our environmental impact and to become a more sustainable, greener and efficient hotel; through looking at our buildings, laundry, staff behaviour and our supply chain. By doing this, we believe that our guests will have an overall more pleasurable and memorable experience. Below are the green policy measures that we have taken to date. We aspire to develop more measures in the coming years.
ENERGY
The source of energy used in our buildings is mains electricity, which has a tracking system provided by the local utility provider to help track our energy consumption.
TOWEL REUSE
Our towel reuse policy changes guest towels only upon request, rather than every day. This saves significant amounts of energy and water, uses fewer chemicals, and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Guests are made aware of this policy upon check-in and via signage in each house bathroom. Our housekeeping staff receive training to ensure that they follow the policy.
LINEN REUSE
Our linen reuse policy changes guest linens every three days, rather than every day. This saves significant amounts of energy and water, uses fewer chemicals, and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Guests are made aware of this policy upon check-in and via signage in each house. Our housekeeping staff receive training to ensure that they follow the policy.
RECYCLING
Our Kitchen has a recycling plan in place which collects plastics, paper, cardboard to be recycled, according to the collection policy of our municipality. Recycling reduces the amount of waste entering landfills or being incinerated, and reduces the amount of resources being used to produce new materials.
Plans are in place to extend this policy to each house, including staff training. Guest rooms will have recycling bins available, allowing guests to sort their trash directly. Back of house recycling will be sorted by staff before being brought to a municipal recycling bin.
GUEST INFORMATION & EDUCATION
Educational materials via printed pamphlets and our website help our guests understand the green practices that Petra Holiday Village has in place. We educate guests on environmental issues related to our geographic area (local animal habitats, native plant species, land preservation) to help to deepen our guests’ understanding of their surroundings and encourage them to reduce their personal footprint. We ask for feedback from guests on our green practices to continually improve services and make sure practices are being put in place.
LAUNDRY WASHERS & DRYING
Our laundry washers are ENERGY STAR qualified. We line dry and do not use tumble dryers.
THERMOSTATS
Our houses have individually controllable air conditioning units, so guests can adjust the house temperature to their own comfort level. Temperature control is set at or above 22°C for the duration of the summer season to save energy while still providing individual control to each house.
PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE
We carry out preventative maintenance to check before and after the summer season that building energy and water equipment (e.g. air conditioning, lighting, plumbing fixtures, irrigation systems, etc.) are functioning properly. This includes checking each house for optimal efficiency (e.g. refrigeration leaks, filters) and ensuring staff are following operational policies (e.g. towel & linen reuse, recycling).
OUTDOOR LIGHTING
We use automatic lighting controls to saves energy by turning off exterior lights when they are not needed. Timers, which are programmed to turn on and off at a certain time of the day, are used in public spaces and building exterior spaces including walkways and parking areas.
SMART DESIGN
Our houses use traditional ‘smart’ design strategies which reduce energy use for cooling. Smart design strategies (also known as passive design features) are building characteristics that take advantage of the sun and other natural elements to heat, cool, and ventilate the building without the use of energy. This reduces the building’s overall energy usage and lowers carbon emissions.
South facing pergolas & tree shading blocks the sun’s heat from the building during the summer months (keeping the building cool). The layout of windows and doors are designed specifically for ventilation and protection from the sun. As the windows let the daylight in, they provide for coolness during summer nights. The thickness of the walls also help maintain room temperature. More information on our the traditional architecture of our house can be found here.
ROOFS
Traditional roofing materials are dark and absorb the sun’s energy rather than reflecting it like undeveloped, vegetated land normally would. This absorption of heat leads to the “heat island effect”. The higher temperature increases summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, water and air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. We reduce the “heat island effect” by using an acyrlic white paint which reflects much of the sun’s energy, reducing the temperature of the building, and the ‘heat island effect.’
RENEWABLE HEATING TECHNOLOGIES
Solar Hot Water systems, found at the rear of the premises, also known as solar thermal systems, use the heat from the sun to provide 100% of the hot water requirements for each building. The sun heats up water which passes through these tubes creating warm water and reduces the need for electric hot water heaters.
IRRIGATION
Irrigation is required in Ios as our island does not receive adequate rainfall to maintain landscaping features. We use irrigation timer controls designed to water vegetation at specific quantities in the evenings.
FOOD
We purchase regionally (Cyclades) or locally produced food on the island as much as is possible.
FURNITURE
Purchasing environmentally preferable furniture helps to reduce the amount of water and energy in the manufacturing process, the amount of waste going to landfills, and the use of potentially hazardous chemicals during production. Much of the furniture in our houses is salvaged, historic furniture sourced from a market in Monastiraki (Athens) while our doors & windows frames were locally produced on the island of Ios.
FLOORING
The traditional flooring in our houses is made of stone that was locally produced either in Ios or the nearby island of Naxos.
TOILETRIES
Our bathrooms have refillable dispensers for liquid toiletries (soap & shampoo). Refillable dispensers create less waste than disposable amenities, as they can be refilled when necessary rather than being replaced for every guest visit.
FOOD SERVICE ITEMS
At our Café Bar we use reusable food service items (crockery, cutlery, glassware) that are washed and reused for serving food.
WASTE
We divert organic kitchen waste (fruit and vegetables) away from landfills by disposing it in our on-site compost. Composting turns organic matter such as food and yard waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer and re-purposes waste to be used to improve soil and garden quality. We also compost our grass clippings, dead plants and old flowers.
LANDSCAPING
Native landscaping involves using plants that occur naturally in a local environment. Our garden includes olive trees, eucalyptus, myoporum, vines, fig, rosemary, bougainvillea, cedar, prickly pear, geranium, acacia and pistacia plants. We minimise chemical use during landscaping.
MOBILITY
We provide a bicycle for guests to access the local supermarket and to explore the surrounding area. We also provide a shuttle mini-bus service to the local port.
BEACH CLEAN
We participate in the World Wide Fund For Nature’s (WWF) Adopt A Beach initiative. This initiative reports data on pollution, helps preserve the healthy ecosystem of Gialos Beach while maintaining the beach as a tourist destination.
We would value any feedback that you have on our green policy to continually improve services and make sure practices are being put in place. Please send us an email with your thoughts!