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Construction of ‘green’ hotel completed in Toronto

Published: 07-Nov-2010

Construction on Planet Traveler, claimed to be North America’s greenest hotel with a goal of 75% carbon emission reductions, has been completed.

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A derelict building on College Street and Bellevue Avenue was refurbished into a ‘green’ hotel. The refurbishment was completed in four years at an expense of $2 million, out of which $200,000 was spent on green-retrofitting. The building was refurbished by Anthony Aarts, a traveller hostel owner and Tom Rand, a green-tech venture capitalist.

The building has several green features that contribute toward lowering the carbon emissions. The hotel has geothermal heat pumps installed on the premises that draw heat from 115 metres below the earth through a series of pipes that are described as the ‘heartbeat of the building’. The developers faced several hurdles as they did not own the land required to bury the pipes and had to obtain special permission to use an adjacent city-owned laneway. Nearly two kilometres of piping is installed under the laneway.

The hotel also features two kinds of solar panels – regular photovoltaic cells for powering the building and solar thermal cells for heating water. The panels are installed on the roof of the building that also serves as a bar for patrons.

The hotel also packs several low-carbon features including copper coils encircling the drainage pipes that recover heat lost down the drain that is used to cool incoming water. The copper coils have been designed by Canada-based RenewABILITY. Planet Traveler uses only LED bulbs for lighting, all of which combined, use less energy than a toaster. Many of the LED light fixtures are custom-made and rooms are equipped with motion sensors that switch off lights when the rooms are unoccupied.

The hotel currently has 114 beds that are offered at $30 per dorm-style bunk or $75 per private room. It is slated to open in three weeks. The developers expect that the investment in the green retrofit will start paying for itself in about eight years. The hotel is mostly off the grid as it generates most of the energy it needs.

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