People attending the Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Russell this month will benefit by slashing their energy bills, as have the winners of the recently announced EnergyWise Awards.

In announcing the awards, Heather Staley, Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) said that energy efficiency made good business sense.

“I hope that this year’s examples of sustainable business practice will inspire other organisations to look at energy efficiency as a cost savings opportunity,” she said.

One of the award winners, a Nelson motel, had invested an extra $20,000 in construction which resulted in energy savings of around $39,000 a year. The owner-operators are benefiting from investing up-front in sound energy practices to reap the rewards of lower operating costs.

Donna Goodwin, the EECA’s Senior Advisor, Local Government and Transport will lead two workshops on energy efficient at the Conference. One is for fleet-owners (marine as well as land-based vehicles) and will take them through steps of being energy efficient, while the other will work with indoor energy efficiency.

According to Tourism Minister Mark Burton, forecasts showed that international visitor nights would increase by 56% by 2008.

“With total visitor arrivals forecast to increase to 2,862 thousand by 2008 it is time that we addressed the huge impact this will have on our infrastructure in Northland, and ways we can reduce the effects,” said Jacqui Knight representing the organisers of the conference. “We have received warnings this year with the Norwalk-like virus, and everyone needs to address the impact that we are having on our environment.”

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