The UK’s largest holiday park operator, Parkdean Resorts, has started trialling initiatives across its parks to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions. It has committed to a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2025.
It has installed over 1,200 solar panels at Warmwell and Sandford Holiday Parks in Dorset, so they can start generating electricity. Charging points for electric cars have been introduced at eight Parkdean sites and are replacing 25 of the diesel vans used by maintenance teams with electric vehicles.
Another key initiative is switching a large proportion of its liquid petroleum gas to Calor Futuria Liquid Gas, a more sustainable co-product of biodiesel production. Many of the operator’s 66 parks have now switched to LED lighting, and Sandford and Warmwell also have swimming pool efficiency covers. Parkdean is also looking at smart thermostats, smart plug sockets and smart metres to reduce energy use further.
Jane Bates, Parkdean’s director of procurement and sustainability, said: “Reducing our carbon emissions is one of our central goals, and we’re delighted with the progress we’ve made so far. We’ve introduced a number of initiatives across our parks that are clearly having a real impact, and we’ll continue to monitor our progress to ensure we meet our target of reducing our emissions by 25% by 2025.”
