Hotels and hospitality industry
Energy consumption in hotel accounts for between 3% and 6% of total running costs, so there is much to gain from measures to save energy.
Source: CHCP
The InterContinental Hotel group saved $4.4 million from simply changing the lights used in their Holiday Inn signs from neon and fluorescent lights to LEDs (Source: InterContinental Hotels Group). In fact read any case-study of a hotel that has reduced its building energy costs and you will find that energy monitoring and management are central to their success, whatever their size.
sMeasure can help you to identify what your energy costs are, where they arise and what savings you can make. If you have more than one hotel/pub/hostel in your group, sMeasure allows you to compare and benchmark energy use between sites while taking account of different outside temperatures. This is critical for realistic and accurate building energy management. sMeasure has been developed with this in mind. The ‘multi-user account for a business’ and ‘multi-user account for a business community’, otherwise known as a ‘federated account’, were developed especially for this purpose. This allows multiple buildings, managed by different individuals, to be included under a single account. If you think this is what you need, have a look at the link at the end of this article on different account types and then contact info@smeasure.com to discuss options.
In hotels the main energy consuming systems are:
- Heating
- Air conditioning and ventilation
- Hot water production
- Lighting
- Electricity (lifts, refrigerators, televisions etc.)
- Cooking
Monitoring the energy consumption of these areas in the hotel is the first-step to becoming more energy aware and ultimately more energy efficient.It will also allow you to spot unusual energy use or problems quickly. Once you have figured out which parts of the hotel use what amount of energy, you can think of what can be done to reduce this.
Examples of how energy use has been reduced in hotels include:
- LEDs in outdoor and indoor signs (such as the emergency exits).
- Microswitches on the window that can disconnect the air conditioning when the window is open.
- Interlocks on the door of the room to disable the room’s power when the guest leaves.
- Covering hot-tubs/Jacuzzis and pools when not in use.
- Servicing boilers and replacing old boilers with more efficient models.
- Reducing the temperature that facility showers use, such as in the pool area.
- Engaging staff to consider their energy use behaviour in the hotel, and benchmarking between hotels to encourage the competitive spirit!
How much are functions costing you?
Hotels incorporate many different facilities like pools, kitchens or laundries and host functions. Sub-metering areas of the hotel or events will allow you to get a better feel for how much energy is used in these areas (and whether you are charging/ budgeting accordingly). Read more about submetering here.
sMeasure is perfectly suited to submetering. New energy meters can easily be added to your account. If you are concerned about having the time to read these new meters and decide to delegate to more than one individual, you can sign more than one user up to each account (a multi-user account). Read more about the account types on offer.
