When our accommodation was planned in 2011, we established the need for long-term sustainability and the minimization of the environmental footprint, the rationalization of energy use, despite the higher initial cost.

 

Operational experience proved, that the solutions that were considered innovative in 2012 are becoming widespread best practices today.  Our first house is a building with a traditional appearance, but with modern mechanical solutions and thermal insulation, exceeding the energy requirements of the construction regulations. The walls were built in a Thermo-Block system with triple glazed windows. Humidity control and fresh, pollen-free air are provided by Hoval's heat-recovery, remote-controlled ventilation system.

 

From the beginning, solar collectors produce domestic hot water, which is produced from renewable energy for a significant part of the year. In 2016, we installed our first solar power generation system with 12 panels, then in the summer of 2020 we added 14 extra panels. In addition to our electricity meter, we have installed a remotely monitored FRONIUS SMART meter, so continuous online monitoring of our electricity production and consumption has been ensured, we can monitor electricity consumption not only at the moment, but also on a daily, monthly and annual basis. By this there is a possibility for revealing potential over-consumption and further rationalizing energy use as a whole.

Before 2012, our area was an empty meadow, with a severely degraded road leading here, without sewage drainage and drinking water network. Adequate quality internet was not available either. Our development was not only self-serving, the so-called “multiplier effect” is now spectacularly measurable. The dynamic development of Örvényeshegy can be observed year by year. The road was renewed to its full width for 2 km, high-speed internet was introduced, individual small wastewater treatment plants were installed, a new restaurant and new accommodations were started.

In 2012, although we arrived from Budapest as newcomers, the local municipality welcomed our initiative for the developments, and we were also able to formulate long-term sustainability goals at the village level.

Thus, in 2019, we jointly created the Sustainable Climate and Energy Action Plan (SECAP) of the municipality, in which we identified the main intervention points and developments by 2030, and the municipality committed itself to reducing CO2 emissions by 40%. As a result, by September 2020, the electricity supply of all local public institutions became 100% covered by solar energy: including the buildings of the primary school, kindergarten, youth club, municipal office and doctor's office. In the doctor's office, a SMART meter was installed on the model of our system at Pálos Resort.

We expanded our services from 2020, and we acquired an e-bike MTB (pedelec) “fleet” in adult and child sizes. The hills of Zala are not a challenge even with these bikes in the field, we can show the infrequent hikers a new opportunity for healthy exercise and recreation.

In order to support electromobility, we started planning e-chargers in our car parks. Unfortunately, the regulation of the establishment of public chargers was significantly tightened in 2020, so this caused a halt in this area.  Currently we do not offer neither free, nor paid electric charging, but there are several public chargers 5-10 minutes range from us.

A significant part of our breakfast offer comes from our immediate 30 km environment. We use refillable liquid soap dispensers and shower gel dispensers in our bathrooms. At the beginning of our operation, we tried disposable soaps, shampoos in small bottles,  but a large amount of waste and waste was generated by this, so from 2015 we switched to the dosing solution. At our events, from 2019, we introduced “re-cups” with deposit fees, our own logo, so we could completely eliminate disposable plastic cup waste.