Research on energy conservation in the hotel industry under Macau’s dependence on external energy

Abstract

The Macau Special Administrative Region has a special urban form. It is located on the coast of the Pearl River Delta, with a land area of only 33.6 square kilometers. The population living here is close to 700,000. It is the region with the highest population density in the world, and its energy mainly depends on imports. With the new coronavirus epidemic, Macau’s tourism industry has been hit hard, and energy expenditures have risen with changes in the international situation. As an important economic support industry in Macau, the energy conservation development of the hotel industry is extremely important. Since 2007, Macau has launched “The Macau Energy Conservation Week, in conjunction with many departments and tourism companies in Macau, and the establishment of the Macau Green Hotel Award in the same year, have had a profound impact on Macau’s energy consumption savings and improved the efficiency of Macau’s hotel industry in terms of energy use. In pursuit of the goal of carbon peaking, the hotel industry in Macau has generally passed the ISO 50001:2018 Energy Management System (EnMS) certification, and most hotels have exceeded the Energy Use Intensity standard assessed by the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index. Under the concept of green energy and other concepts, the hotel industry in Macau has now begun to use renewable energy for hotel use. Top hotels in Macau decreased by an average of 23.6% in 2021. After the return of Macau’s sovereignty, Macau’s unique political attributes and urban characteristics have different standards for the energy use of the entire industry and the characteristics of laws and regulations, which make it have different standards from mainland China. Based on preliminary research on the energy saving and environmental protection of the hotel industry in Macau, this research collects statistics on the energy saving data of the hotel industry and finally proposes improvements based on the energy utilization and environmental protection of the Macau Special Administrative Region and similar coastal peninsula cities.