Plan for Promoting Energy Rehabilitation of Hotel Sector

The Plan to Promote the Environment in the hotel sector, PIMA SOL, approved in Cabinet Meeting on 2 August 2013, was an initiative devoted to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the Spanish tourism sector through the energy renovation of hotel installations. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment purchased the greenhouse gas emission reductions that were generated in hotels through renovation projects, with a financial aid package allocation of M€5.21. The Plan will also counted on the financing of the European Investment Bank (EIB), which approved on 29 July 2013 a line worth M€ 200 through Spanish banks. The latter would in turn, contribute another M€ 200 with very advantageous interest rates and repayment periods. The beneficiaries of PIMA SOL were hotel facilities with energy renovation projects meeting the minimum conditions set out in the Plan. Renovation projects were to reach a minimum energy improvement rate that would translate in, at least, two letters higher on the energy rating or else, reach letter B. Some of the measures included in the Plan are the insulation improvement actions for façades, windows and roofs; the inclusion of control systems for heating & cooling, and lighting; plate water-heating systems; passive heating and cooling systems attained with smarter architecture; more efficient heat-cool equipment; geothermal energy and biomass in heating & cooling; and water-efficient management systems. Royal Decree 635/2013, of 2 August, developing the “Plan to Promote the Environment in the hotel sector PIMA SOL", for the energy renovation of its installations, and regulating the further acquisition of carbon credits by the Carbon Fund for a sustainable economy.