Evolution Energy Partners (EEP) provides our services to a wide range of commercial, industrial, and institutional customers. One of our customer populations, hotels and other hospitality facilities, benefit from our wide array of energy management options from energy efficiency projects to risk and data management. Considering the unique challenges COVID-19 brings to hotels, EEP would like to share some cost-saving recommendations that can reduce your operating costs without using any capital.
- Guest Room “Smart” Thermostats
Installing occupancy-based thermostats (i.e. Honeywell/InnCom or Verdant) can lead to big savings in energy use when rooms are not in use. If you already have occupancy-based thermostats installed, hotel management can access the thermostat’s online system or contact the respective manufacturer’s tech support to place guest rooms into “out of service” mode for the deepest energy setbacks . - Kitchen Exhaust Hoods
We recommend turning off all kitchen exhaust hoods if your full-service hotel is not able to offer food service at this time. When not cooking, exhaust fans waste energy powering the large horsepower updraft fans. Kitchen exhaust systems also remove conditioned air (heated or cooled) from the building, causing additional energy to be wasted conditioning new outside air brought in to replace the exhausted air. You can turn off your kitchen hoods from the switch or breaker near the hood. If the kitchen hood has demand control, turn it off from the control panel. - Lighting
Did you know, lighting is the second largest user of energy for a hotel? Make sure back of house (BOH) lighting in offices, laundry rooms, break rooms, and mechanical rooms is turned off when no one is occupying the space(s). Turn off decorative lights (i.e. table lamps and wall spots on paintings, etc.) and turn off unnecessary accent and cove lighting in areas such as a bar or restaurant. Be sure to also turn off unnecessary exterior accent lighting such as wall wash floodlighting. - Indoor Pools
In times of low occupancy, you may want to close the pool and turn off the pool heater to avoid energy waste.
Experiencing very low occupancy?
More dramatic measures to decrease energy use can be taken such as shutting down entire floors. In cooler months, such as March and April, place guests in rooms starting from the top floor down since building heat will naturally rise. As the weather warms, reverse the strategy and fill the lower floors first. By leaving entire floors vacant, you can turn off all power from the breaker panels on the empty floor(s) which ensures all lights, guest room HVAC, and plug loads such as TV’s, refrigerators, etc., are all turned off. By following these steps, at 15% occupancy, this measure, in essence, can turn a 200-room hotel into a 30-key hotel from an energy consumption perspective.
Need additional cost savings?
With energy prices at 16-year lows, hotels can look to re-contract their energy supply agreements. This can lead to savings of more than 20% on your annual energy spend. Before restructuring your contract, be sure to contact a procurement specialist to make sure your current contract does not have any hidden terms and conditions
Contact the team at Evolution Energy Partners for more information on energy efficiency projects or information on how to restructure your current energy supply agreement.
P: (877) 280-4655
E: info@evolutionep.com
www.evolutionep.com