Five tips to go GREEN!

As an utterly green hotel it is our mission to act resource-friendly. With passive house design in our building extension, solar panels & co. our Boutiquehotel Stadthalle achieves a zero-energy-balance. However it is also quite simple to implement an eco-friendly lifestyle @home – often with small means. Thus, we present five useful tips to save energy in one’s own four walls.

1. It’s the ventilation that matters
Even if in winter it is uncomfortably cold it is important to ventilate intensively two times a day. Through it one can maintain a pleasant indoor climate without cooling down the apartment or house – that’s also the reason why you shouldn’t leave the windows tilted the whole day. And don’t forget: Turn down the heating while ventilation!

2. The thing with the standby mode – you know…
Yes, the standby mode on notebooks or TVs is quite handy – one touch of a button and everything is fine. But energy savers know that the tiny red-illuminating lamp is pretty much of an energy guzzler. So it would be better to pull the plugs from time to time or to even use plug connectors which can be switched off.

3. Kettles for president
The kettle is ideal to prepare a cup of tea or the compulsory hot-water bottle for relaxing hours on the couch. However, when it comes to the pasta water we tend to heat it on the stove. In fact it would be more environmentally friendly to use the kettle – and that’s even faster.

4. Keep cool!
A working fridge refrigerates. We won’t doubt that. But actually the temperature doesn’t need to be too low. Seven degrees are completely sufficient to keep the food fresh. Extra tip for all non-vegetarians: Store meat products at the very bottom because there it is particularly cold.

5. On your laundry, get set, go!
Doing the Laundry in an eco-friendly way is pretty easy. Just keep in mind to run the machine solely completely loaded. And as long as the garments aren’t heavily soiled 40 °C (104 °F) are absolutely sufficient. Besides that, don’t forget that tumble dryers waste loads of energy. So if possible it’s much more eco-friendly to use a clothesline.

By the way: For all those who want to take care of their ecological foot step in Vienna, take a look at our Green City Map – there we present the best spots from fair trade fashion to organic restaurants!