Has the role of the hotel engineer been affected by the focus on being environmentally friendly?
AS: We have a green team and have manuals we are all trained from, so over the years we have seen a drop in the energy used by our properties. We used to use freshwater cooling and now we use a treated water plant, so this is something we are doing differently.

We have also had to look at the lamps we use — which are now LED — and there is a huge saving there, so that brings a lot of benefit to our field; we are now able to provide our properties with huge savings and be environmentally friendly, which I really enjoy.

NF: As the chief engineer you can make such a difference — you can really get involved, and not a lot of other department heads could do what you are allowed to do with your expertise.

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Everybody is now talking about CO² emissions and for me that is actually what we are doing — I have the freedom to lower the hotel’s carbon footprint, to change the bulbs, to be more environmentally friendly.

I can make that happen; an F&B manager can’t. So being part of the environmentally-friendly team in a global sense is great.

Sakher Al Karmi: Eco-awareness also helps us because everybody wants to save energy and money, so if we need this item or we need that item it is now easy for me to convince accounts and purchasing, because I give them a saving in front of it.

So when I say I want to change the light bulbs to LED, it is something I will be able to do because there is a cost and energy saving. So this is something that I am very passionate about.

GD: The beauty of becoming eco-friendly is that this new challenge has propelled us to the forefront of the property. People now ask if your hotel has a green plan, or if you have won an award for being green; that is now the most important question for the customer and this is something we really control because we have the answer.

The engineering department is seen as more of a partner than we were before, because people want to be joined with somebody who wants to save the world.

SP: To add to this, our green initiatives work as a marketing tool as well, because we are able to have partnerships with different green companies. Eighty percent of our hotels globally will be certified as Green Globe this year so we are working towards that.

These things are becoming mandatory because a lot of other companies demand that you are green before they will do business with you, so it is important for engineers to be up-to-date with that.