Cutting the bills, the waste and the impact in a down market
Hotels need to explore every nook and cranny of their buildings to combat wasteful energy consumption and save money, especially during tough times. Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet solution that brings all of the possible energy savings into one easy-to-implement plan. But, those who have taken up the energy-saving gauntlet have found that shaving 10 per cent here and five per cent there can add up, if hoteliers look in the right places.
According to manufacturers, the low-hanging fruit in energy reduction is switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent lighting (CFL), which can bring energy savings of up to 15 per cent, says Paul Torris, director at Powersave Solutions, a provider based in Oakville, Ont. In fact, while replacing 1,000 incandescent lights with CFL will cost about $5,000, it has a payback period of just two years, says Phil Jago, a director at Natural Resources Canada.
In addition, many utility companies offer rebates and incentives for you to switch your bulbs, says Barry Sheen, senior vice-president at Toronto-based Westmount Hospitality Group (WHG), which manages operations for 170 hotels across Canada. “Different jurisdictions offer rebate programs that hotels should take advantage of. In Ontario, we re-lamped 50 hotels last year, and London Hydro helped us with the analysis and coordination.” But Sheen says WHG hasn’t crunched the numbers yet to determine the exact savings reaped thus far. “We know for sure there have been savings, but we also have to factor in a decline in occupancy, a mild winter and other variables to get hard numbers.”
The Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto embarked on an ambitious energy-reduction program in 2002. “We converted to CFL lighting then, and it lasts about four years, so we’re replacing our original installation again,” says Brian Mosher, director of Engineering at the hotel. Mosher says different CFL suppliers such as Philips, GE and Osram were used over the years, depending on the price — but he cautions against taking a similar approach. “If you switch suppliers, you wind up with different colour renditions in lighting. Hotels should stick with one to avoid mismatches.”
As a test, WHG recently retrofitted integrated BA systems in four hotels, says Pedro Lourenco, engineering operations manager. “The capital costs depend on the building requirements. They range from $30,000 to $150,000, and offer a two-year payback and 15 per cent in energy savings.” The four were selected because they had bigger energy needs due to large meeting facilities or higher rates of occupancy, says Sheen. “We want to control all four from our corporate headquarters, but we’re not past the payback period yet, so we’ll decide later at what point we’ll bring more buildings in.”
Witney, director of Sales at Toronto-based Sempa Power Systems.
Most BA systems don’t have that kind of intelligence, so add-on applications are needed, says Hart. “Our Sempa system cost $380,000 with a four-year payback. We’ve saved about $1.78 million in gas costs, and also reduced our carbon footprint by about 5,500 tons.”
Hotels that are shopping for a BA need to consider central control for future needs and new technologies, says Greg Turner, director of Global Offerings Honeywell Building Solutions, an international BA vendor. “They should buy a BA infrastructure that’s an open system and based on BACnet standards, so they know when they’re ready to buy a new hot-water or hotel-management system in a couple of years, their BA system will support the new technology.”
