Ancient Hindu scriptures talk about the oneness of the cosmos as a reverberating energy field, the Old Testament's recognition of GOD who said "Let there be light”; through the quantified, verified and intellectual assertion of great minds such as Einstein - energy has been recognized as the cause of everything we see around us, including the act of seeing itself.

For an organisation that is intent on making its hospitality project self-sustaining and energy efficient, the process begins at the drawing board. The building plan is all important and it takes into account minimising use of electricity by attempting to use as much of natural resources as possible. Bio-climatic architecture takes into consideration shape, orientation of the building and also learns from vernacular design that optimises design as per geography and climatic conditions. Large windows, cross ventilation, thick, natural and breathable walls Harnessing wind and solar energies are often taken as an expensive investment which pay in the long run but only after a reasonable study of the available infrastructure. Besides defining their seasons so that use of air-conditioners and generators are minimal, keeping off-seasons shut ensures long term measures strategy towards achieving energy efficiency.

A more common sense approach to energy efficiency is a simple thumb rule that dictates that more rooms, more travellers, more electricity. At the basic design stage one needs to determine the number of keys to operate a sustainable and efficient hotel, retreat or lodge. Our magic numbers continue to be in the mid-sized category with keys ranging between 20-40. Smaller hotels, largely passion projects make viable business sense in its multiples. The last bit is ofcourse energy efficient lighting, cooling and heating, solar back-ups, one switch shut down, insulation and a high degree of manual operations. The good thing about energy is that it creates followers and hence urges travellers to participate and may be carry back ideas to live with.