Environmental research

Majority of the current energy supply systems in guest houses and hotels in Vietnam can be said inefficient in terms of energy consumption. The reason why this is the case is that most of the hotels have energy-supply system are designed to have heating facilities as seperate parts or use electricity to provide hot water for individual rooms through the use of water heaters. The heat needed for sauna, massage service, laundry and public steam is usually provided by a coal-fueled steam heater. The converstion of high quality energy source (electricity) to low quality energy source (thermal), which is distributed in a non-integrated manner in hotels has been inefficient since electricity is produced by Vietnamese power plants at generally 40% efficiency excluding energy loss on the connecting cables and wires. Although the use of solar energy as an alternative to electricy and coal to provide hot water has been applied in a few hotels, the percentage of energy provided by such applications has been minor. In unfavourable weather conditions for use of solar water heater, electricity is still used instead of a combination of solar energy and other types of fuels. Besides disadvantages of the use of individual water heaters for different rooms as described above, this type of heating system has further disadvantes such as being easy to break down, difficult to repair, poor capacity to provide high volume of hot water. Cat Hai is an island district located to the Northeast Vietnam, which is surrounded by the East Sea. The district is located at a strategic geographical position with diverse marine resource and scenic tourism landscape, which gives it the advantages for developed fisheries and tourism and trade. In 2004, UNESCO recognized Cat Ba, a commune of Cat Hai district, as a world biosphere reserve. As a result, tourism hotels and restaurants are the main income contributors in the service sector as well as the district GDP. Volume of tourists has substantially over years, reaching 500,000 arrivals in 2008. Revenue from tourism averaged VND 45 billion. There are nowadays more than 90 hotels and guest houses supplying 1,500 rooms and 3,000 rooms, respectively. Due to the island topographic characteristics the power supply system has been underdeveloped compared to the plain districts in Hai Phong City. There are 11/12 communes and towns are using national electricity supply for production and domestic use. The district-level power supply has been deteriorated and overloaded. Rate of loss of electricity is high (11% in 2004). As a result, finding a way to reduce electricity consumption in various district activities will play an important role in the stable development. The project aims to develop several demonstration models on a central hot water and steam supply system in small and medium-sized hotels in Cat Ba via the use of a steam oven to supply both steam and hot water. The steam oven is capable of supplying hot water and steam as required. 20 minutes after starting the oven several types of fuel such as coal, oil or even fuelwood can be used to start the ignite the combustion process. The system can be linked with a solar energy collecor to ensure optimum fuel energy saving. The use of small and medium steam oven is suitable to supply hot water in small and medium hotels with number of rooms ranging from 20-100. A central heating system is new and rarely used in utility premises in Vietnam, as a result, the success of this project will greatly depend on many factors including awareness-raising and technological promotion and replication. As a result, GEF SP funding for workshops and promotion activities will help make the technology become more user-friendly and widely acceptable. Although the models have been proven sucessful in some small hotels, there is a real need for further evidence of the model practicability. Application of a central heating system will help save electricity consumed in hot water supply in hotels and contribute to reducing electricity overload in Cat Ba as well as reducing greenhouse gases emission. Long-term objective To apply a central heating system via use of fuels to contribute to reducing electricity consumption in hotels and greenhouse gases commision. Immediate objectives : Objective 1: To design, intall and operate 04 demonstration models to provide central heating system to contribute to energy savings in 4 selected hotels in Cat Ba. Objective 2: To monitor and document lessons learnt during the deisgn and operation of the central heating system in order to assess possibility and approriate scale for application in specific cases and potential replication in the future Objective 3: To enhance awareness about climate change and energy savings options in hotels and guest houses and the necessary switch to a central model from current decentralized energy supply pattern. Ouput 1.1 : 04 central heating system is designed and accepted for the selected hotels. Output 2.1. Operation of the central heating system is smooth and business owners can manage to run the operation of the system Output 2.2. Lessons learnt in design and operation of the central heating system is documented for future application Output 3.1. Workshops for relevant government officers and business ownhers on system operation are organized Major activities: - Build demonstration models in 4 hotels to be selected - Design, install and operate 4 central heating systems in four selected hotels -

Vietnam