Whether pleasantly tempered rooms or hot saunas: where does the Feuerstein get its heating energy from?
We have our own wood chip boiler, which produces heat from wood chips. Wood is an environmentally friendly, renewable raw material and is also CO2-neutral. This means that when wood is burned, only as much carbon dioxide is released as a tree absorbs from the atmosphere during its growth. Even if the fossil fuel oil has the better calorific value and therefore releases more energy when it is burned, we value environmentally conscious heating!
Where do you get the wood chips from?
We obtain the wood chips from regional producers. We also buy round wood from the farmers in the Pflerschtal valley, have it chipped and use it for the heating plant.
What measures also help to save energy and thus operate sustainably?
We use a heat recovery system that makes a significant contribution to saving energy: we use the heat produced by the air conditioning and ventilation systems to heat the swimming pool. This means that no energy is lost! The air conditioning and ventilation systems return around 30°C of heat, which is an ideal temperature for the pool area. We also save electricity by connecting our tumble dryers to the heating system, which reduces their power consumption.
Speaking of electricity: how is it generated?
We obtain our electricity from the Pflerschtal valley electricity co-operative. This is an association of several smaller hydroelectric power stations in the valley that use the Ferner stream to generate energy. One of these hydroelectric power plants is located right next to the hotel. Thanks to hydropower, all the plants generate certified green electricity – in other words, clean energy that does not produce any carbon dioxide.
The Feuerstein has four pools. How do you manage to limit water consumption?
We take care to avoid pointless backwashing to clean the water. We check the quality of the pool water daily with precise controls: on the one hand with a sensor, on the other hand we carry out manual measurements. Only if the water values do not meet the desired standards we carry out a backwash. This allows us to reduce water consumption and still guarantee the best water quality.
