A preliminary assessment of the energy related carbon emissions associated with hotels in Enugu Metropolis Nigeria

Abstract

This study assesses the environmental impacts of energy consumption of 24 hotel buildings in Enugu Metropolis. Structured questionnaire was administered to the hotel managers in order to collect energy consumption pattern. Measurements were carried out to reproduce the floor plans of the hotels in-order to determine the floor areas. The breakdown of energy consumption showed that diesel and petrol generator sets dominated for regular and 24hours electricity supply. The average Building Energy Index (BEI) of 405.73Kwh/m² /yr was derived based on unit floor area. The result further showed that average CO₂ emissions from consumption of grid electricity to be 2936.06KgCO₂e/Kwh/yr, and 294817.44KgCO₂e/litre/yr and 1546.69KgCO₂e/litre/yr, respectively for diesel and petrol. The study concluded that there is need to reduce dependence on fossil fuel consumption of the hotels and therefore recommends the encouragement of low energy and energy efficient hotel building designs in the study area.

Key Words: fossil fuel, carbon emission, hotel buildings, building energy Index (BEI), energy efficiency