Rooms in a Blackpool hotel are set to be serviced by solar after its new green owners turned to renewable energy.
Eco conscious hoteliers Neil and Silvia took over Auntie's Coliseum on Hopton Road late last year - and environmentally friendly updates were top of their list when it came to putting their stamp on the place.
Owner Neil Palin explains: "There's so much wastage involved in running a hotel - we're trying to minimise this by introducing as many eco-friendly changes as we can.
"Small things like giving guests the option to keep the same towels rather than washing them daily and cooking food to order instead of regimented mealtimes have been brought in straight away and do make a noticeable difference, but we're keen to gradually incorporate larger scale changes to our energy consumption and expenditure too.
He added: "Electricity bills are enormous - up to £600 a month - unsurprisingly when you factor in guests leaving lights on and TVs running, so any help we could find to bring them down had to be a good move."
Neil and Silvia turned to renewables firm Solarlec, which has offices in Burnley, Carlisle and Exeter, to explore their options - and the couple quickly decided solar PV panels would be a great fit for the 26-room hotel.
Neil said: "We are looking at various ideas, including wind turbines, water heating tubes, low voltage televisions and LED lighting, but solar was a nice place to start.
"We're in the fortunate position of having a flat roof where solar panels could be tilted to maximise efficiency during daylight hours."
The couple, who plan to keep the hotel open year-round and run fitness and nutrition boot camps during the off-season, took advantage of one of the finance packages offered to business customers by Solarlec.
Solarlec energy advisor Neville Costello said: "We've put in a 10KW system but there's room on the roof for more panels so this is something Neil and Silvia are looking into for the future. The current system will save and generate payments of over £2,200 each year and the savings will continue to increase as energy prices keep on going up. Even better, the nature of the business means they're in a fantastic position to utilise all of the energy produced rather than selling unused units back to the grid."
