Why Eco
Below you’ll find more information about our try to create the ”greenest” guesthouses. If there’s something more you’d like to know or you have any suggestion, which will help us to improve our eco guesthouses, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by sending an e-mail to this address:
Beds Some one year in the making, our sumptuous beds are unique to the Pleiades eco houses. Made by Coco-Mat, one of the Greeks leading bed manufacturers, they are made of entirely natural materials. Coco-Mat beds consist of multiple layers of natural materials, from renewable sources, such as coco fibre, natural rubber, wool, cotton, sea grass, horsehair, silk, linen, wood and goose down, providing optimal, elastic and orthosomatic support to the human body. All the matresses are suitable for all body types, particularly persons of heavier weight. The quilted mattress cover is made from cotton and wool and is Eco-Tex certified (standard 100). It can be removed and cleaned. A top-mattress is the perfect complement to a bed-mattress. Our top matresses are made of solid natural rubber foam. It is highly elastic, providing perfect support for all body types. Thousands of small holes permit ventilation, ensuring steady body temperature throughout the night. The luxurious outer cover is made from thick high-quality cotton. Using a special knitting technique, the cover provides additional padding to the top-mattress and is extremely soft to the touch.
Bedding Our orthocervical pillows and duvets are made in Greece from 100% organic feather and down, natural rubber and cotton. Natural rubber, before being processed into a more stable form, occurs as a milky juice extracted from the caoutchouc tree growing in tropical climates. Once it arrives at the factory in Greece, it is cleaned and stabilised using the Talalay method, which ensures that its natural properties are safeguarded to a degree of 96%. Once stabilised, it is cut into very small pieces of rubber. Natural rubber breathes perfectly and has a long lifespan. The sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases are organic fair trade cotton. Our bedding is all hypo-allergenic.
Heat and air cooling system We heat the building through a combination of the solar thermal panels on our roof (water heated by the sun) with heat pump. We use airconditiner inverters that ensure superior performance including the optimum control of operation frequency. As a result, optimum power is applied in all cooling ranges and maximum comfort is achieved while consuming minimal energy. All the pipework throughout the building is insulated and there is also a super condensing boiler to make up any shortfall.
ASTEROPE
Villa by Pleiades Eco Houses
Food Our philosophy is to promote the local bio-products directly from our neighboring suppliers such us vegetables, cheese, eggs, yogurt, honey and fruits. The ingredients are fresh, seasonal, and organic. We buy all bio-products from small local producers from Santorini and the near islands.
Paint The paints which are used for all the surfaces, have been produced by the Greek company ”Vivechrom”. This company is located in Piraeus, has ecolabel certification and their environmental friendly paints ”eco-neopal” are available all around the world. Unlike other manufacturers, they keep using natural ingredients such as Linseed Oil and China Clay instead of ammonia and formaldehyde.
Wardrobes,desks & bedside tables All the furnitures are handmade by Coco-Mat. Coco-Mat mainly uses hardwood coming from oak and beech.The wood’s natural beauty adds a warm and friendly design note and it makes the products extremely durable. They are treated with ecologically friendly stain and varnish.
Improvements to thermal performance The thickness of the walls is between 40cm to 55cm in which we have inserted cavity wall insulation between the outer and inner skin of the external walls of the building. Additional thermal insulation, volcanic pumice, has been added on the roof. All the windows are with insect screens and double glazed.
Grounds and garden We undertook a full ecological survey before we started the development in order to assess current ecological value of the site, and identify improvements we could make. As a result, our planting scheme incorporates native plant species and provides a habitat for indigenous wildlife. Rain water, that falls during the winter period, is collected and used for the automatic watering of the plants and surrounding gardens. We have installed bird boxes around the grounds to create a safe environment for breeding. We do not use any pesticides or chemical fertilisers in the grounds.
Water Rain water, that falls during the winter period, is collected and used for the swimming pool and the automatic watering of the plants and surrounding gardens.
Floors The main material is natural marble from the Greek areas, Naxos and Kozani, whereas some parts of the houses are covered with porcelain tiles. The tiles are made by Johnson Tiles. They are produced by using 35% recycled content and the energy which is used through the manufacturing process is the half of the usual. (single instead of twice-fire firing process)
Roman blinds & curtains Are made in the suburbs of Αthens by a small family run company. All the fabrics are 100% cotton.
Televisions Our televisions are the lowest energy models on the market. Using around 60watts (less than most traditional light bulbs). The picture output automatically adjusts according to the light levels in the room, reducing further the energy they use. Unlike most televisions, you can actually switch them off (using the button on the left hand side) and even when in standby they use minimal power.
Toilets, showers and taps The toilets in our bathrooms are dual flush and ultra-low water consumption. Our taps are aerated, as are the showers, giving the performance you would expect from a great shower but using a fraction of the water.
Toiletries The Pleiades Eco Houses are proud to offer the exclusive Korres toiletries range. Made in Greece, without the use of Parabens or Phosphates, these luxurious products have a distinctiven organic extracts of dittany, marjoram & mountain tea from the island of Crete.
Lighting The lighting in the guesthouses is, as you would expect, all low energy. For the ceiling downlights and the bedside lamps we use 7 watts bulbs (a traditional halogen downlight would typically use 50 watts).
Crockery Our crockery is made by Ionia. Our wine glasses were selected because of their almost unbreakable quality, yet they do not compromise on style.
Light The external lighting is controlled by a mix of presence detection, light level sensors and time clocks ensuring it is only on when it’s needed. Low energy CFL lighting has been used throughout the accommodation. These also have a much longer life span than traditional lighting, resulting in less waste as well as considerable energy savings.
Recycle Our guest houses guides are made from recycled paper. We use only environmental friendly cleaning products and all our waste is separated and the vast majority recycled. Our food waste is all composted.
