It is amazing what a rain storm and some innovative thinking can do. As detailed in my article this week about the Grand Hyatt Atlanta, Wes Shirley, the hotel’s director of engineering, was standing one day watching the rain fall on the third floor terrace of the 439-room hotel. He wondered how the hotel could best capture and recycle the rainwater falling on the terrace. He got together with a couple of friends—a plumber and another engineer—to figure out a plan. What the three came up with, with the assistance of some students at Southern Polytechnic University, is an extensive rainwater harvesting system that, during a normal 50-inch rainfall year, has the potential to capture almost one million gallons of rainwater.
Rainwater falling on the 32,000 square feet of terrace previously drained directly into Atlanta’s sewer system. Now that rain is held in seven tanks ranging in size from 2,500 gallons to 5,000 gallons. The tanks are located in the hotel’s parking garage. Wes told me it was a challenge to get the tanks into the garage but 50 dollies later they were in place. The rainwater that is captured is used for the cooling tower which requires 15,000 gallons of water daily during the summer. When the rainwater is consumed, the cooling tower switches over to city water. Given the cost of city water is about $.025 per gallon, Wes expects an ROI of 3.84 years on the rain harvesting system.
Wes and his team at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta are also working to capture condensate from the hotel’s HVAC system and water from ice machines for reuse. These efforts, along with practices such as laundry water recycling, are just some of the steps the hotel’s owners are taking to optimize water consumption. (Wes is also investigating grey water recycling.)
Numerous Examples of Rainwater Recycling
If you do a search on the Green Lodging News website on “cistern,” you will find quite a few other hotels that are successfully recycling rainwater for use inside or outside of the building. It is certainly the type of system that is easier to install if planned in advance of construction.
The Hampton Inn & Suites Miami Brickell-Downtown has a 35,000-gallon cistern that holds rainwater for irrigation purposes. At the NYLO Dallas South Side hotel, all of the site and roof vegetation is irrigated with rainwater collected in a cistern adjacent to the building. The Omni Dallas Hotel has a 25,000-gallon cistern to capture water as a means of irrigation in lieu of city water. The Jekyll Island Convention Center, Jekyll Island, Ga., also has a cistern for collecting and dispensing rainwater. The Holiday Inn & Suites Columbia-Airport (S.C.) has three 2,500-gallon cisterns to capture rainwater, and the h2hotel, Healdsburg, Calif., features an underground cistern that is replenished by natural rainfall captured from the green roof.
If your property is currently capturing rainwater in a cistern, tanks, or barrels for irrigation or other purposes, I would love to learn about it. What have been your challenges? Your successes? Your time period for a return on your investment? I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com, or by phone at (216) 848-1406.
Green Lodging News Welcomes Verdafero as Directory Partner
Green Lodging News welcomes Verdafero Inc. as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. MyVerdafero—Utility Optimization Software Suite is an easy-to-use cloud-based software platform to help hotels/motels save money. Specifically designed for the hospitality industry, the software suite helps identify saving opportunities and alerts one to problem areas within a single property or across multiple properties and multiple utilities (electric, gas, water usage, waste streams and CO2) within a portfolio. As part of the software, Verdafero now offers the new Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) carbon calculator for easy, real-time and accurate reporting. Call (650) 206-2441, e-mail info@verdafero.com, or go to www.verdafero.com for more information.
Who is Your Sustainability Champion?
Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
Looking for Guest Columnists
Every two weeks Green Lodging News posts a new guest column on its website. (Click here for examples.) The guest column also appears in the weekly e-newsletter. Green Lodging News is currently in need of industry experts to contribute occasional guest columns. Experts may include consultants, architects, designers, suppliers and those who own or operate green lodging establishments. Columns may be articles that take a stance on a particular subject or be strictly educational in nature. Columnists benefit by having their photo included along with a one paragraph description of their company. Interested in writing a column? Contact Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor, at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
Planning Advertising for the Remainder of 2013?
Green Lodging News is accepting reservations for advertising spots for the remainder of 2013. Many excellent spots are available on the website and in the weekly e-mail newsletter. Many Green Supplier Spotlight dates are also available. Interested in receiving a 2013 media kit? Be sure to contact me as soon as possible at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com. A media kit can also be accessed by clicking here. Thank you to all of those companies that consistently support Green Lodging News.
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As always, I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
