Climate protection overnight

The event’s size befits its importance: the Bonn climate change conference (COP 23) is the largest international gathering ever held in Germany (officially, the event is actually presided over by the Fiji Islands, with Germany providing the necessary infrastructure). As many as 25,000 participants are expected. They’re in Bonn to discuss, negotiate, and share ideas. But they also need to eat and sleep. Not surprisingly, rooms are scarce, at small inns as well as at big five-star hotels (despite the potential contradiction between luxury accommodations and environmental awareness).

Germany’s hotel industry is estimated to emit around five million metric tons of carbon each year. Yet guests increasingly want their accommodations to be sustainable. Fuel cells could not only reduce a hotel’s energy costs but could also significantly increase its environmental friendliness and even make its energy use climate-neutral.

E.ON has already demonstrated this in a pilot project: this year we partnered with Radisson SAS to install the first industrial-scale fuel cell in a hotel in Germany. Fuel cells generate electricity and heat in a combustion-free process resulting in virtually no pollutants such as nitrogen oxide or particulate matter. A fuel cell now enables the Radisson Blu Hotel in Frankfurt to produce the vast majority of the energy required for its operation without emitting any harmful substances.

We’re certain that this would be a good solution for hotels in other cities. Like Bonn.

Find more information on the Climate Summit here.