3-star hotel in Esslingen turns water into electricity / The concept could be a model for other businesses
from: AHGZ print edition no. 2014/30 of 26 July 2014
Stefanie Reinhardt
ESSLINGEN. “We have a clean slate,” says Thomas Puchan, director of the Eco Inn hotel in Esslingen. And when Puchan says that, he means it literally. He gets the electricity for his hotel directly from the Rossneckar canal behind the building. There, a water wheel turns in a shed. With this and a pump on the canal, Puchan turns hydropower into electricity and heat. “We produce 260 per cent,” he says. “We sell on the surplus electricity.” The only pollutant emissions at the hotel come from the laundry and the suppliers’ vehicles.
For five years Puchan has been running the 3-star hotel with 59 rooms, three meeting rooms, a breakfast area and a terrace above the Neckar. The main target groups are families with children and environmentally conscious guests. The tables and wardrobes in the rooms are made of bamboo and come from a joinery workshop that employs people with disabilities.
The hotel sees itself not only as a climate hotel but also as a social enterprise. People with disabilities or a difficult background also have the chance of a job with Puchan. “We have trained twelve young people with disabilities in housekeeping,” Puchan says. Employees with and without disabilities work together at reception, and some colleagues, such as housekeeper Fuckar Drazenka (63), have worked their way up from a one-euro job to head of department.
The Mayor of Esslingen, Jürgen Zieger, recently praised the hotel as a good example of how to achieve the Kyoto climate targets. “I hope your hotel finds imitators,” Zieger stressed at a press conference on the hotel’s 5th birthday. And the Vice-President of the State Parliament, Wolfgang Drexler, praised the combination of economy, ecology and social responsibility. “That cannot be taken for granted.” Around 100 metres from the hotel, Puchan plans to open the “Eco Event” with six meeting rooms for 160 people at the end of the year. “Eco-tourism is the opportunity for the industry,” Puchan hopes. Stefanie Reinhardt