Bright Ideas - Saving Energy Improves Guest Comfort and Bottom Line
By Marge O'Connor
The $113.7 billion lodging industry offers comfort and ambience to travelers but consumes a major amount of energy in the process. This is changing, however, as hotels get involved in government programs and industry initiatives to conserve resources.
Industry Initiatives
According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), the hospitality industry spends $3.7 billion per year on energy but much of it goes to waste. So in 2004, AHLA created the Good Earthkeeping Alliance. This partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR program helps hoteliers assess energy performance, make changes and track savings on existing properties and in planning new -ones.
Houston-based Green Hotels Association (GHA), founded in 1993, offers education and promotion to its 300 members. Patty Griffin, founder and president, says: “We show members how to conserve in operations, refurbishing and new construction. We require management commitment, and we lean hard on money savings, good care of the environment, and good health for those who work and stay in hotels.”
In Florida, 4,700 busy hotels and motels annually contribute $10 billion to the state's economy, but they generate 4 percent of the state’s solid waste, use 625 million kilowatt hours of electricity and consume billions of gallons of water. In 2004, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection created a voluntary Green Lodging Program. To be certified, a property must meet criteria to reduce waste, conserve water and energy, improve IAQ, recycle and use environmentally preferable purchasing. Ten hotels now are certified, and 12 more are in the process, including Orlando, Fla.-based Disney Hotels and Resorts; Chicago-based Hyatt Corp.; and Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hilton Hotels Corp. properties.
Hotels’ Responses
Making existing properties more efficient is a long-term plan for White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., whose brands include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton and W Hotels. In January, Westin became the first smoke-free upper upscale hotel brand. Last June, Starwood installed an independent fuel-cell plant on its largest and flagship property, the 1,750-room Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in midtown Manhattan.
The power plant, which reduces harmful emissions by generating electricity without combustion, provides 10 percent of the hotel's electricity and hot water needs, as well as supplies back-up electricity for part of the hotel. This is the first fuel-cell plant in a Manhattan hotel and the third in three years to go into a Sheraton hotel. Others are the Sheraton Edison Hotel and Sheraton Parsippany, both in New Jersey. A fourth is planned for the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina.
In Texas, the new W Dallas Hotel conserved energy before it opened by using wind-farm energy during construction. This reduced costs and carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution by more than 674,000 pounds (305721 kg). The 33-story property with 251 guest rooms and 144 luxury residences is the first major Dallas building to use wind-farm electricity during construction.
A smaller existing property, the 96-suite Habitat Suites Hotel in Austin, Texas, installed numerous energy-saving measures as part of a long-term renovation. Built in 1985, the hotel began to look at all operating aspects from an environmental standpoint in 1991. The result was a major retrofit program involving IAQ, energy efficiency, waste reduction, recycling, and water quality and conservation. The program continues to evolve, but most major changes were completed in 1995.
The property now is smoke free and all chemical pesticides and toxic/aerosol cleaning products have been eliminated. Shade trees lower air-conditioning needs, and energy use is further reduced with operable tinted windows, high-efficiency air-conditioning units, compact-fluorescent lighting fixtures and programmable thermostats in all suites.
Native vegetation and water-saving sprinklers reduce exterior water consumption. And work now is underway on a cistern system to catch rainwater for use in the property’s 2.5-acre (1-hectare) gardens. In each room, water-saving faucets and showerheads, low-flow toilets and optional linen and towel reuse conserve operational energy and water. The total savings is 6,410 gallons (24265 L) of water per day.
The changes also improved the bottom line. “We started tracking expenses in 1995, and operating expenses dropped by almost 14 percent compared to previous usage,” says Natalie Marquis, the property’s general manager. “Compared to standard hotels, our operating costs are about 17 to 18 percent less.”
The property’s latest improvement, a rooftop solar system of 108 panels capable of producing 25,000 kilowatts per year and saving about 38,000 pounds (17237 kg) of CO2 per year, was installed in March 2005. According to Marquis, the system is the largest installed on a U.S. hotel.
Start Small for Big Savings
Small steps can save a lot, as well. Data from Philadelphia-based GreenTreks Network Inc., which provides environmental education through television, radio, video, print and Web-based programs, shows that not replacing towels and linens each day saves 13.5 gallons (51 L) of water daily, and a compact fluorescent bulb lasts 10 times longer and uses 75 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb for a savings of $25 during its lifetime.
That should turn on some bright ideas for all who visit, operate and design today’s high-style hotels and resorts.
Green Hotel Sources
American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA)
AHLA Good Earthkeeping Alliance
Florida Green Lodging Program, a program of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Green Hotel Association
GreenTreks Network Inc.
Habitat Suites Hotel, Austin, Texas
Hilton Hotels Corp. , Beverly Hills, California
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. , White Plains, New York
Energy Savers
Wind energy provider for the Dallas W Hotel - Green Mountain Energy Co. , Austin, Texas
Fuel cell for the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, Manhattan - manufacturer, FuelCell Energy Inc. , Danbury, Connecticut, and installer, PPL Corp. , Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Photovoltaic system at Habitat Suites Hotel, Austin, Texas - solar panels, BP Solar, London; inverters, Sunny Boy from SMA America Inc. , Grass Valley, California; and installer, Meridian Energy Systems, Austin, Texas.
Reprinted with permission from eco-structure's March 2006 issue. Visit www.eco-structure.com for your free subscription to eco-structure.