Energy costs and world energy consumption continue to increase. Now is the time for hotel management to work with facility engineers, maintenance staff and others to explore innovative solutions and green practices to help improve guest comfort and manage operating costs, says Luc Onockx, regional head of controls contracting and turnkey solutions business, Trane.
Onockx, who has more than 15 years of HVAC industry experience with specific focus on energy performance contracting, says that a smart approach is to implement green practices incrementally by exploring what can be done in the short-term (zero to three years), near-term (three to eight years) and long-term (more than eight years).
By implementing some of these tips, hotels can easily save between 10% and 25% annually on their energy bills, according to Onockx.
| Advertisement |
Even small changes can result in significant budget savings that are directly reflected in the bottom line. These savings may be used to fund more significant investments in energy and related systems.
Here are 50 ways – near-term, mid-term and longer-term ─ to green your hotel, improve guest comfort and reduce operating costs:
Short-term payback plan: (zero-to-three years)
Building envelope
1. Find and fix leaks (doors and windows)
Lighting
2. Install occupancy sensors
3. Retrofit existing lighting fixtures (T12 – T8 to T5)
Motors
4. Properly size to the load for optimum efficiency
5. Check alignment
6. Check for under/over voltage conditions
Pumps
7. Operate pumping near best efficiency point
8. Modify pumping to minimise throttling
9. Adopt to wide load variation with variable speed drives
10. Use booster pumps for small loads requiring higher pressures
11. Repair seals and packing to minimise flows and reduce pump power requirements
Controls/Automation
12. Check schedules, set-point, and setbacks
13. Confirm heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC)/refrigeration control strategies are correct /operational
14. Check/inspect/repair systems for proper operation (fans, dampers, belts, filters, variable air volume boxes, etc.)
15. Use free-cooling when using chilled water system in cold weather or night time
Steam
16. Fix steam and condensate leaks
17. Inspect steam traps regularly and repair malfunctioning traps promptly
Boilers
18. Preheat combustion air with waste heat
19. Use variable speed drives on larger boiler combustion air fans with variable flows
20. Inspect and clean burners and nozzles
21. Close burner air and/or stack dampers when off
22. Automate boiler blow-down and recover blow-down heat
23. Use boiler blow-down to help warm the back-up boiler
24. Inspect door gaskets
25. Optimise boiler water treatment
26. Add an economizer to preheat boiler feed-water using exhaust heat; recycle steam condensate and isolate boilers when not in operation
Water and sewer
27. Recycle water, especially if sewer costs are based on water consumption
28. Use the lowest possible hot water temperature
29. Fix water leaks
30. Use water restrictions on faucets, showers, and/or install self-closing type faucets in restrooms
31. Verify water meter readings
Click through to next page for near-term payback tips...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
