The sustainable tourist
Portable cabins for isolated tourist destinations may introduce both sustainable tourism and new energy solutions.
NATURE. People visit Greenland to experience the wilderness. Technical solutions are being developed in these years to supply tourists with a comfortable and sustainable accommodation in the harsh Arctic environment. (Photo: Stine Rybråten)
Danish DTU Byg and Arctic Technology Centre have introduced a whole new concept of tourist accommodation. Transportable self sufficient cabins might be of use in isolated areas all over the world, even though they are in the first place meant for the harsh Arctic environment.
Transportable
These cabins may look like tents. But they are made from glass fibre and are equipped with sustainable technology such as sun catchers and solar cells supplying both light and heat. A sustainable management of waste water and solid waste is also part of the cabin solution. And the toilet facilities make sure no waste damage the nature. The construction is based on triangular modules, and they are meant to be put up in the wilderness with no connection to larger societies or to the electricity grid. The new cottages are meant to be transported by dog sleds in the Arctic. In that way, tourists will not have to look for accommodation, they will bring it around.
Kristoffer Negendahl and colleagues have designed a sustainable tourist cottage. (Illustration: Kristoffer Negendahl)
Flexible
Danish DTU Byg and Arctic Technology Centre presented the sustainable cottages at an international conference in Sisimiut, Greenland 11-13 August 2009 where participants were invited to share their knowledge and dreams for the future sustainable tourist.
- Tourists visiting Greenland come there to enjoy walks. Today the accommodation is primitive cottages, and the tourist business in Greenland have been longing for modern, up to date accommodation, says Arne Villumsen at ARTEK, DTU Byg.
In a changing climate
Laust Løgstrup, responsible for economy, technology and the environment in the municipality of Qeqqata in Greenland is very enthusiastic about how flexible the suggested accommodation solution is.
- Mobile cabins can be put up temporarily close to the edge of the The Greenland Ice Sheet or near lakes and they can be moved as the ice retreats or as the lakes are changed into mud pits in a changing climate, says Laust Løgstrup. He points out that the cabins may also be moved to spare the fragile Arctic environment.
Student project
Four students at DTU Byg are responsible for designing the suggested tourist accommodation cottages. In cooperation with Arctic Technology Centre Jonas Vendel Jensen, Thomas Mondrup, Kristoffer Negendahl and Brian Hurup-Feldby have developed the sustainable Arctic tourist cottage.
Main objective: Production for Greenland
Kristoffer Negendahl who is in charge of the project design the sustainable, transportable tourist cottage says many of the participants at the conference Touris tcottages and Climate ChangeThere were interested people in the idea of the mobile cabins.
Negendahl and his colleagues will later this autumn strive to set their cottage in test production.
- My hope is to gather enough economical support to produce three cottages within the next months, says Mr Negendahl. - One will be tested as a separate unit and the two others as attached together in Greenland with the help and aid from Arktec, DTU. The main objective is to get the production to Greenland but I will not deny the possibility of other types of cottages desigened to other regions and climates.
Increasing amount of people enjoying the wilderness
More than 30.000 tourists visit Greenland every year. This is a large increase in visitors since 1993 - when only about 5000 tourists traveled to Greenland. A survey among people traveling to Greenland shows that tourists find scenery and natural surroundings to be fascinating.
Dog sledding, kayaking, whale safari and hiking are among activities enjoyed by tourist visiting this large island. On longer hikes tourists are advised to bring all the needed equipment and they must inform the tourist office or others of how long you are planning to be away and the route you are planning to take due to Greenland's extensive and wild nature.
