Currently dependent on 9,000 barrels of diesel fuel a year—which produces 3,732 tons of carbon emissions annually—Soneva Fushi plans to decarbonize by 2020.
A.) Solar Panels: The heart of the resort's decarbonizing effort is the solar-powered electrical and air-conditioning systems. (Diesel generators account for 77 percent of the resort's on-site CO2 emissions.) The first phase of the project produces 2.8 percent of electrical needs. At a cost of $3.5 million, additional systems are predicted to cut oil use and carbon emissions by another 63 percent.
B.) Pipe Dreams: A $1.2 million deep-sea pipeline was intended to use water from the ocean's depths for the AC system, but the waters weren't cold enough here. (The system works at the InterContinental Resort in Bora Bora, among other places.) It is being replaced by a solarpowered system.
C.) The Transport Trap: Airline travel for guests accounts for 16,524 tons of carbon emissions, or 75.7 percent of the resort's on-site and off-site total. Because it can't control this, it charges guests a 2 percent Carbon Sense Fund fee that supports emissionsoffset projects around the world. The fund financed a $1.7 million wind turbine in India, which offsets approximately 3,500 tons of CO2 a year. It also finances energy-efficient cooking stoves in Darfur.
D.) Recycling: By recycling the considerable amount of paper it uses—mostly cardboard that arrives as packaging—Soneva Fushi reduced CO2 emissions by 19 tons in one year. The resort has reduced the trash it hauls to Thilafushi—the "garbage island"—from 194 tons a year to 140 tons. Soneva Fushi no longer imports bottled water, eliminating 45,000 plastic and 10,000 glass bottles a year. It converts 40,000 gallons of seawater into freshwater every day, bottles some, and sells some of that. Half the water revenues go to charities that help people access clean water. Food scraps are composted and used as fertilizer in the gardens, one of which they are able to maintain as organic. The gardens grow 35 percent of the resort's vegetables and 90 percent of its salad greens.
E.) Green Design: The resort is working on improving energy efficiency in the villas. One challenge: Louvers let cool air escape when the air-conditioning is on, but eliminating them would encourage guests to run the AC constantly. Improvements in place or planned include LEDs, which cut energy use for lighting by 80 percent; and better insulation, which will reduce the energy needed to cool the villas.
Community Give-Back: The resort funds nature trips that bring Male schoolchildren to the island, where they learn about climate change. It is also building a local school's science lab, and has financed a mobile medical team.