Every April 22nd, the International Mother Earth Day, a date proclaimed by the United Nations with the objective of making humanity aware of the problems generated by extreme heat, forest fires, floods and other weather issues affecting humanity.

Being aware of the resources that the earth provides us becomes more necessary to avoid wasting natural resources, adopting sustainable practices in our daily activities and minimizing our environmental footprint.

Therefore, today's article focuses on understanding what we can do to preserve our environment in the tourism industry, promote sustainability and help mitigate climate change.

First, we answer what the carbon footprint is and its importance, as well as ways to calculate what we produce in relation to a vacation rental and how to reduce it.

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‍The carbon footprint in vacation rentals‍

The carbon footprint is a crucial measure in evaluating the environmental impact of any human activity, and the vacation rental sector is no exception.

The United Nations Organization warns that the gases that cause global warming are multiplying and proposes reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases at 7.6 percent a year between 2020 and 2030. Since, of the many gases that people, cars, animals or companies emit, one of those that is related to the carbon footprint is CO2; a greenhouse gas that occurs naturally in the atmosphere and also as a result of human activities.

By measuring and reducing the carbon footprint of a vacation rental apartment, not only does the environment benefit, but it can also improve the reputation and image of a real estate asset. In this regard, as a manager or owner, you can attract conscious and environmentally conscious guests, whose reservations will be aimed at people with similar values. In addition, long-term operating costs can potentially be reduced.

But how can you calculate and reduce the carbon footprint of a vacation rental apartment to promote more sustainable practices in the tourism industry?

When talking about the carbon footprint of a vacation rental apartment, the study focuses on making a detailed analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operation and use. The analysis covers aspects such as:

• The energy used in heating.
• Refrigeration.
• The lighting of the space.
• Transportation of guests.
• Waste management.
• The energy efficiency of the facilities.
• The type of fuels used.
• The contracted supply company.

However, to calculate the carbon footprint, we must first know the different types of emissions. Las carbon emissions associated with a vacation rental apartment can be divided into direct and indirect emissions, although the specific nature of these may vary depending on several factors, such as the location, size and operating practices of the establishment.

Direct, or scope 1, emissions may include those from energy consumption in floor installations, such as heating, cooling and lighting. Also in this classification are emissions derived from the combustion of fossil fuels for the generation of electricity or heat within the building.

On the other hand, indirect emissions, of scope 2 and 3, are related to activities outside the facilities of the vacation rental apartment but linked to its operation. This could include the generation of electricity by the provider of energy services or supplies, the transportation of guests to and from the location, as well as the production, the transportation of goods consumed during their stay such as food and cleaning products, and the management of waste.

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‍The green energy of a vacation rental‍

Energy consumption is one of the constants in measuring the carbon footprint of any property dedicated to vacation rentals. One of the changes we can make to reduce the carbon footprint of a flat is to switch to green energy.

Here it is necessary to differentiate green energy from clean and renewable energies, since green energy does not pollute and is renewable, but not all renewable energy sources are green.

Here are some examples of clean, green and renewable energies:

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Green energies that do reduce the carbon footprint of your vacation rental apartment are:

• Solar energy (sun) for electricity and heating, whose advantage is that it makes you practically autonomous if you install photovoltaic panels in the building for vacation rental.
• Hydroelectric energy (water) for electricity.
• Wind energy (wind) for electricity.
• Geothermal energy (heat from inside the Earth) for electricity and heating.
• Bioenergy (biomass) for electricity, heating and transport.

However, there are some keys to keep in mind when it comes to knowing if your energy provider works with green energy. Although some aspects to keep in order are environmental certifications and regulations in the energy sector, ask if there will be cost overruns at any time or if the contract will offer flexibility in terms of duration and capacity.

On the opposite side, we have the sources of electrical energy and natural gas, which are conventional and non-renewable sources and, therefore, cause CO2 emissions. The most polluting main sources of energy generation, and if you use them in your vacation rental apartment, you should consider changing them, are:

• Thermal power plants, which use fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal or oil to generate electricity.
• Nuclear energy, which uses the nuclear fusion of nuclear fuel atoms.

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‍Tools to calculate the carbon footprint of your temporary rental‍

Knowing what pollutes the most in your rental apartment, both stocks and supplies, it's time to calculate your carbon footprint. There are different online tools that will help you do the calculation:

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1) Guide for calculating the carbon footprint

On the one hand, it is the guide for calculating the carbon footprint of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. Una guide aimed especially at small and medium-sized businesses that they have no previous knowledge about the carbon footprint and help them to deal with the calculation of their organization.

It should be noted that the guide is developed to calculate the carbon footprint of an organization, excluding that of a product, event or individual. The information provided on the emission sources corresponds to scope 1 and 2. In addition, an improvement plan is added to learn about measures to be implemented and to reduce emissions within a certain period of time.

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2) Carbon footprint calculators

On the other hand, it is The carbon footprint calculator of the UN. In this case, the calculation is made with data on the number of cohabitants (in the case of vacation rentals you can enter the average number of guests), the country, the area of the asset, the type of residence, the consumption of electricity (includes a section to enter the percentage of green energy used in the total amount of electricity provided) and the energy source for heating.

In addition, there are other calculators such as carbon footprint calculator for Carbon Foot Print; an English company dedicated to helping other organizations reduce carbon emissions, energy and costs for environmental development.

They have developed a tool to calculate the carbon footprint divided into different tabs depending on the type of consumption. In the 'Housing' tab you will find all the data you must provide for the last 12 months to make a realistic calculation. Some of the data you are asking for are the consumption of kWh of natural gas, kWh of electricity, liters of diesel or tons of pellets.

In connection with this point, The Polaroo software tool can help you extract historical consumption data from your asset bills. In this way, you could save time and money by avoiding manual calculations thanks to the centralization of data that will allow you to monitor and control your consumption.‍

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How can I reduce the carbon footprint of my vacation rental apartment?

Adopting sustainable practices in our vacation rental business, such as reducing energy consumption, recycling and consuming local products, can make a big difference.

Then we leave you some recommendations that as a manager or owner of a property you have rented you can follow to offset your carbon footprint and the emission of greenhouse gases:

• Use appliances with energy efficiency certificate.
• Replace house bulbs with LEDs, which reduce energy consumption by up to 90%.
• It encourages the recycling of guests by providing different cubes with clarifying images.
• You can provide a guide to local shops, supermarkets with km0 food.
• Leave reusable bags, baskets or shopping carts visible to prevent them from buying plastic bags in stores.
• It installs reusable soap tanks in the showers and offers biodegradable toilet paper.
• Install water pressure regulators.

Finally, recommendations could be made directly to the tenants of the vacation rental informing them not to set the heating to a very high temperature in winter or the air conditioning to a very low temperature in summer (27 degrees in summer and 19 in winter are the limitations set by the government in 2022).

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‍The Sustónica certificate‍

‍Sustónica It is an initiative that was born in the United States and certifies and recognizes the owners and managers of vacation rental apartments according to their initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint in their assets. In addition, it offers them support so that they continue to improve their good practice manuals.

Among the criteria they analyze are the promotion of a destination and its community, the energy used, the management of waste, the good use of water and the impact of swimming pools and hot tubs.

Finally, if you are interested in knowing more about how to contribute to a more sustainable future and have greener companies, then keep reading and discover alternative electric companies to have renewable energy in your vacation rental asset.