Established in 1849, Hotel Alcide in Poggibonsi, between Firenze and Siena, is a place with great tradition. The current owner, Ms. Roberta Ancillotti, is the sixth generation of the Ancillotti family, and recalls how her ancestors started providing hospitality to the pilgrims who travelled along the “via Francigena”, the ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome.
October 26th, 2017 | PRODUCT, A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Traditional Hospitality with Modern Comfort
From electricity to natural gas
While tradition and warm hospitality are still in place, the hotel has modernized with the times. Nowadays, the hotel has 6,000 square meters of surface and restaurants to host up to 500 people. A next step in modernization was to replace the traditional boiler for heating and hot water and the electrical chiller for cooling by a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative.
Natural gas heat pump for cooling, heating, and hot water
Ms. Ancillotti had already decided in favor of natural gas for heating, cooling, and hot water as a highly efficient alternative to electrical systems, when she consulted Yanmar. Yanmar advised to install gas-driven ECWP710J GHP chillers with heat recovery, the first gas heat pumps in the 71 kW range worldwide ever.
Right: Side view of the gas-driven ECWP710J GHP chillers.
82 rooms smoothly renovated
The whole renovation was completed smoothly within six months, while the hotel remained in business and only needed to close for three weeks. Now, two new chillers provide cooling and heating for 82 rooms as well as domestic hot water with heat recovery. A small boiler is installed to work during winter.
60% energy reduction
Today, the hotel features a flexible heating and cooling system with increased efficiency due to the chiller’s advanced modulation technology. An example? During the summer, the new boiler registered only 15 operating minutes in 8 working days. The entire renovation enabled hotel Alcide to reach a significant reduction in energy consumption adding up to 60%.
Ms. Roberta Ancillotti is happy to see that the Alcide hotel and Yanmar have found each other in displaying the same values of quality, tradition and innovation in order to render the best service.
