Green Giants

Hotel engineering experts met at The Palace — The Old Town in Dubai to discuss not just how to save costs or energy in hotels, but how to save the world

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: HOTELIER’S EXPERT PANEL

Sameh Zaki
Director of Engineering
Hilton Dubai Jumeirah & Hilton Dubai Creek

Currently cluster director of engineering for Hilton’s properties in Dubai, Sameh Zaki has worked with Hilton for 25 years. He has been in Dubai for 10 years and previously worked at Hilton Abu Dhabi for four years. Prior to his hospitality career, Zaki was in the army for 12 years.

Abdul-Quddus Sheikh
Director of engineering
The Palace — The Old Town

Abdul Quddus Sheikh began his hotel career with Bahrain Holiday Inn in 1978, when he was the handover engineer from the contractor. Since then he has worked with Holiday Inn in Muscat, Janbu, Abu Dhabi and Salalah. Remaining with InterContinental Hotels Group, he came to Crowne Plaza Dubai for the pre-opening and worked there for nine and a half years. Sheikh moved to Rotana, working with Al Bustan Rotana in 2001 and opening also Fujairah Rotana and Al Murooj Rotana in Dubai. He took up his current role at The Palace — The Old Town during the pre-opening in October 2007.

Tito D’Costa
Chief engineer
Al Diar Siji Hotel

Tito D’Costa started his career in Dubai with The Metropolitan Hotel Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road. He worked there for five years before moving to Fujairah, where he heads up the engineering department at Al Diar Siji Hotel and also the sister apartments, which opened last year. In total, D’Costa has been with Al Diar for 11 years.

Madan Kulkarni
Director of engineering
The Address Downtown

A mechanical engineer, Madan Kulkarni entered the hotel industry in 1978 with Taj hotels in Mumbai. He worked with Taj and Oberoi in India and moved to Dubai 10 years ago to join Ritz-Carlton. Kulkarni took up his current role with The Address Hotels and Resorts in mid-2008. He could not imagine doing any other job, saying he was “struck like a magnet with this industry”.

Wael Ahmed Farouk
Director of engineering
Courtyard by Marriott & Marriott Executive Apartments Green Community, Dubai

A civil engineer and graduate from Alexandria University, Wael Farouk worked in maintenance until 1997 but not in the hotel field. He entered the industry in 1997 when he joined Marriott as assistant chief engineer at Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Alexandria in Egypt. Then he moved to Dubai for the opening of Courtyard Marriott in 2004 as director of engineering. He is currently cluster director of engineering for the Courtyard Marriott, Marriott Executive Apartments Green Community and Marriott Executive Apartments Creek, and cant see himself working in any other field.

How has the economic crisis impacted your engineering department?

Abdul-Quddus Sheikh: I think we saved a handsome amount last year in the Palace hotel and we did very well as compared to the previous year’s utilities’ consumption. We did not spend much on buying specified energy saving devices other than energy saving bulbs, timers and motion detectors — we found other ways and means to fulfill our needs. Plus the slow period forced us to look into alternatives to control our property operation, maintenance and energy costs (POMEC). It’s my second complete year in this hotel and as a result of team effort we saved a good amount of money against our budget of 2009.

In 2008, the total energy cost was AED 7.9 million (US $2.2 million), which reduced to AED 6.9 million ($1.9 million) in 2009. So the total energy savings compared to last year’s consumption was more than AED 1 million less, or 17.8% less.

Sameh Zaki: The main issue with engineering is that we are a spending department. We are actually the expenditure department, most of the other departments are revenue generating, so we are on the spot for any saving. We are the main expenditure and at the same time the main saver — any dirham that you are saving is a complete dirham.

The pressure was there but we proved that engineering can come up with the solution. We saved something like 20% on electricity and with water something like 12%. Everyone I think has done his best and we have survived the tough time.

Madan Kulkarni: With the participation of our colleagues we became more innovative. It’s not that when everything is good we don’t implement energy conservation projects, but it gets you more in depth. We opened a hotel in 2008 and accepted the challenge — there were many advisors who said is that right, but we proved the other way. From day one we knew we were opening in a crisis so had to be more innovative.

The consultant was very clear that you have to allow the building to run for two years before you establish an energy conservation programme but we did not wait — we said that’s a theory, let’s think practically, how we can save? So my F&B, engineering and housekeeping teams surveyed every nook and corner to see how we could bring down the energy bills. I do not have the figure to compare to my previous one because it did not exist, but I can confidently say that we must have saved 30-35%.

Tito D’Costa: We opened our apartments last year and during this crisis we had to come up with new ideas. The contractors were trying to do it cheaply and put in normal bulbs, but we pushed them to go for CFL bulbs and we succeeded. The entire apartments are fitted with CFL bulbs. And with the chillers we adjusted the temperatures; the workers wanted them to be very cool but we were on their back not allowing them to play with the temperatures.

Wael Farouk: I will take it from there and I will really challenge myself and the engineering teams, because I have been asking myself if we can do it this year, then why have these things not been implemented for the previous year, why did we not focus on this in previous years? This is a question; I do not have an answer, this is a question for the group.

That is a good point. Everyone has been talking about energy saving without any prompting; is this your main priority going forward?

SZ: We had a very big challenge in Jumeirah last year. We did have our own sewage treatment plant but we got the opportunity to connect to the municipality. So in doing that we lost the irrigation water that was coming from the sewage treatment plant, so we had to use the fresh water. One of our guys came up with an idea — we backwash the swimming pool, waste water is thrown to the drainage — why don’t we collect it and treat it and use it for irrigation? And actually we did that and this minimised the usage of fresh water by around 75%.Now we are collecting all the waste water from the different systems in the hotel and using it for that.

WF: For my side I will say that focusing on people gives the best result. So what we have done is inspired by Earth Hour; in our associate housing we have a weekly earth hour and every Saturday from 8-9pm we are encouraging our people to reduce the light to the minimum. We have created Marriott Business Council Green Committee –— every hotel is represented by two people — so what we are doing in the seven hotels we are doing at the same time.

We started only with reducing the lights; I’m planning to add more activities to that day. When you build these things into the people, you are sure they will do it in life.I don’t have solid figures because I have implemented this only six months ago, but for sure these thing count to their attitude and their awareness.

They know now that I’m not saying this because I want to be seen as a good engineering department — but because we really have a responsibility and a role to play.

This was highlighted at the UN Climate Change Conference a few weeks ago — the ice is melting at 5km per hour so we have to start doing something. So we are putting our focus on energy not because we are saving it, but because it is a matter of saving our world and we are lucky that the challenge is coming to us because they rely on us as engineers — we have the tools to help.

Can you give some practical examples of the other steps you have taken to save energy that might inspire others to do the same?

TC: We have ‘hotel talk’ every month — a meeting with the staff. The staff comes up with great ideas on energy saving. For example, on the emergency staircase someone said it should have motion sensors so a light should go on only when someone goes out there and we have already implemented it.

AQS: We introduced a ‘good idea box’, not only about energy saving but also guest experience, back of house improvement etc. That ignited the idea of forming a green committee. We have done about 10/11 sessions of that. That has guided us a lot as everyone here has said — people on the floor come up with ideas. A junior chef said to use very dry wood to burn the charcoal, not the high tech fuel we had been using and we implemented that. An IT guy programmed the system so everyone’s computer goes to sleep when not used and they did the same thing on the common printers.

MK: The cooks came up with an idea — we have a cold cuts section on the buffet where you take a large ice tray, fill it with ice and then put your cold cuts on that. That’s a standard process. But I asked him how much of that ice melts? He said the ice they need is only 15% of the total content they fill it up with, but that they want the effect. It’s show business! So we came up with the idea that the lower base should still give the ice effect by putting plastic bubbles in it — it has reduced the quantity of ice by 80%. In today’s climate we are required to question everything.

What role do you think the government should play in helping you achieve your energy saving goals? Do you think Dubai government’s aim of reducing carbon emissions in hotels by 20% by 2011 is achievable?

AQS: That will not work as only the responsibility of the hotels. What happens in the city is they build a building and put four chillers on top and say ‘make it work’. But these are figures everyone knows — 60-65% of energy consumption in this country is air conditioning (AC). To have that air conditioning coming from a chilled water plant would save — just as the whole of Europe is on central heating.

So we should really emphasise that the government should come up with a compulsion that every single building should have chilled water from central plants. The chiller’s life varies from 10-12 years.
Crowne Plaza Dubai is 15 years old now…they should set up a pipeline for them [to a central plant rather than replacing it again]. The law should be adding something into that.

MK: The new buildings have to take into consideration all these aspects. In my new building, I cannot say whether we have achieved 20% carbon emission saving because every litre of oil, whether diesel or petrol, produces nearly 2.5kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

If I save three units that means I am saving one litre of petrol oil. The moment you have saved 3000 units you have already saved 10,000 units of petrol oil. That’s how the figures work. So if he has saved AED 50,000 ($13.617) in a year, he has only achieved the figure that I required to save the energy or carbon emission by one third of the source.

WF: I have something to say also and maybe my colleagues will agree with me. You know there is a new rule for cameras / CCTV — you are not allowed to renew your annual licence unless you bring a certificate from Dubai police. I strongly believe that a big focus will not be achieved with regard to energy-saving unless similar requirements are put on the renewal of the licence.

The problem is it is expensive to implement ideas. Solar panels, for example, are very expensive but the impact is great. In some properties, especially the old properties, you need to make ROI projects, you need to spend some money just to have the saving and unless you [make this law], yes awareness will change and some light bulbs will change, but this massive change will not come through small projects.

SZ: I don’t understand why this country is not using solar energy

That’s another good point! Why doesn’t the UAE use solar energy?

AQS: Al-Bustan Rotana is the only hotel where I could implement a solar energy system. In summer we used to achieve hot water at almost 90ºC. The hot water energy costs in any hotel is around 10 to 12% of total energy cost. Out of this 10 to 12% we saved 75% of the hot water energy cost (or 9.75% of total hotel energy cost) It is ongoing and saving a huge amount in that hotel. It’s fantastic — people have to think like this.

SZ: From the drawing board phase you have to think like this. You need the space for the solar panels — I don’t have this space. You can have all your water, all your AC run by solar but you need something like the whole roof to be covered with the solar panels. There is a big investment, but there is a very big saving.

MK: It brings down your operating costs too.

TC: We have already put solar heaters in the staff accommodation.

AQS: If a law can be implemented for the CCTV, why can law not be implemented for a building with solar technology?

MK: Some countries have started making this mandatory. In parts of Europe they have made it mandatory to use only CFL energy saving bulbs and stopped producing domestic demand on high energy consumption incandescent bulbs.

In our building, almost 75% of the public area is LED and cold cathodes — if you take 40w of normal bulbs versus 4w of LED, it has the same effect for the desired public areas and has a life span of 50,000 (LED) hours versus 1000 (incandescent) hours. So not only do we we save 36w per spot, we achieve the cooling effect in the building and the longevity of the bulbs is 50 times more.

WF: The short answer for your question of why is this not implemented now is because it is optional now. It is not mandatory.