Comparative study of carbon footprint of energy and water in hotels of Canary Islands regarding mainland Spain

In this study, we estimate the emissions in terms of category of hotel, with the data of a sample of 12 hotels of 5, 4 and 3 stars in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the most arid eastern islands of the archipelago, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, where there are a total of 122 hotels and this sampling represents 10% of the hotels of these islands where water for consumption comes from desalination plants using seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), which was chosen. Water consumption was measured not considering consumption due to irrigation and swimming pools and comparing the generation of water by means of desalination plants of the hotels or external plant centralized with public distribution. Considering the energy and water consumption of the hotels in the study, their carbon footprints, scope 1 and 2 and obtaining average values of emissions between 14.23 kg CO2/person night (CO2/p) for hotels with own SWRO and 15.16 CO2/p for hotels with external water distribution. These data were compared to hotels with the same characteristics and consumptions in mainland Spain, proving that average emissions from the islands for the energy are 1.27 higher and for water production are 3.89 higher for own SWRO and 7.87 superior for distribution by centralized external SWRO. The Canary Islands, as a sensitive and vulnerable tourist destination, with their external energy dependence, their great ecological value, and their need for water desalination, make for a good laboratory to test the application of measures and improvements in the systems of industrial water generation, and in the conservation of energy in buildings, to try to turn these establishments into nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB).