For over 30 years, Hansgrohe, a leading international bathroom specialist, has been at the forefront of developing EcoSmart showers, mixers and thermostatic controls, which ensure that no compromise in design, quality or enjoyment is required in order to save water and energy in the bathroom. The company has reached a milestone as it celebrates a successful 18 months since its EcoSmart Check Package was launched.
In May 2012, Hansgrohe developed its EcoSmart Check Package, which has continued to enjoy success and help the hospitality industry to save water throughout this year.
The package helps businesses to provide indulgent spas and luxurious hotel bathrooms – which are often seen as paramount to an enjoyable guest experience – in the face of rising utility bills and a growing global eco-conscience among consumers.
Hansgrohe’s EcoSmart Check Package allows hotels to calculate individual water and energy consumption and potential savings. Neatly boxed, the kit includes a special measuring cup, two Hansgrohe jet formers, the Crometta 85 Green hand shower and a comprehensive information brochure. The results are fed into Hansgrohe’s online savings calculator to provide an overview for the entire hotel, taking specific factors into account such as room occupancy.
The latest of several successful case studies is The Hotel Collection, which has been working in partnership with SaveMoneyCutCarbon. The project began at the end of last year, when an audit was carried out across the 21 UK hotel properties to establish existing flow rates for showers and at handbasins in guest rooms, leisure clubs and public areas. The resulting data was modelled from which it became clear that savings could be made by retro-fitting EcoSmart water-saving technology from Hansgrohe, adjusting flow rates to optimum levels without affecting guest satisfaction.
With savings both in water, waste and the energy used to heat the water and assured carbon reductions, an investment decision could be made based on clear payback in under 12 months. This was to choose a range of shower heads from Hansgrohe as the new standard for the group’s hotels, which would also give the bathrooms a fresh and modern aesthetic.
Mark Sait, MD at SaveMoneyCutCarbon, says: “We found that some hotel showers in The Hotel Collection guest rooms were running at in excess of 20l per minute. The Hansgrohe EcoSmart shower head ensures a minimum of 50% less water use, with no effect on the shower experience. It is also guaranteed for five years, which gives large groups like The Hotel Collection additional peace of mind. The average tap flow across the Puma estate was 18l per minute and we have reduced this to 5l per minute.”
The Hotel Collection has reported business case projections for savings of £58,000 in the next year on water consumption reductions and £24,000 on energy.
Treating water as a precious resource has been central to the Hansgrohe philosophy for over 30 years, and through an ongoing focus on product development, many bestselling models from the Raindance and Croma shower families are offered in both standard and EcoSmart versions.
The EcoSmart versions have the same design but incorporate industry-leading water-saving technology to reduce consumption by around half from 18 to 9l per minute. This is achieved through a combination of devised flow regulation and air-injection which works irrespective of the water pressure.
Hansgrohe basin mixers are also fitted as standard with aerators which limit water flow to 5l per minute compared with the average 13. This includes mixers from the Axor brand from world-class designers including Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, proving that design, quality and enjoyment do not have to be compromised in order to save water and energy in hotel bathrooms.
