As any facility manager will tell you, energy costs have become a major budget concern for those in the lodging industry, and as energy prices continue to climb, the future doesn’t appear to offer much relief. And while energy-wise green building principles are quickly catching on for new construction, many managers are unaware of the basic opportunities for saving energy in their existing facilities.
How does one go about finding such opportunities? Often, the solutions begin with an audit of your facility’s existing energy and water use. While such audits can come in many levels of detail, even a simple half-day walkthrough by a qualified engineer, along with an analysis of your utility bills can reveal significant opportunities for savings.
The City of Boulder, Colo., offers its utility customers, including motels and hotels, free onsite audits to help identify ways to reduce energy and water use. Willing participants receive a site visit from a licensed engineer, a report detailing recommended energy and water savings opportunities, rebates to reduce implementation costs, and customized technical assistance for implementation of audit recommendations.
The objectives of the program are twofold—to increase energy and water efficiency, and to reduce utility costs for the city’s businesses and residents. The program is also a key component of Boulder’s Climate Action Plan, which details the city’s efforts to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.
The city provides a consultant to perform a facility walkthrough to document primary energy and water uses. The report focuses on the financial benefits of energy and water efficiency retrofits and provides a return on investment calculation for efficiency improvements. The report also contains options for renewable energy solutions such as wind and solar.
If your community doesn’t offer such free technical assistance, is an energy and water audit worth it? If your facility is older and has not been remodeled, the potential savings could be great, but as the examples below show, even audits of newer or retrofitted facilities can uncover significant savings opportunities.
Boulder University Inn
The Boulder University Inn provides a good example of how even newer and retrofitted facilities can benefit from an energy and water audit. The 40-room facility, totaling approximately 15,000 square feet, had already been retrofitted with compact fluorescent light bulbs in all room fixtures, recessed cans, and most exterior fixtures.
Yet even with these improvements, an energy and water audit revealed significant potential new savings adding up to annual cost savings of $10,000 to $12,000, with an average payback period of only three to four years. As one example, guestrooms were found to be one of the primary points of water use, and the audit found that with upgrades to water fixtures, the Inn could save an estimated 590,000 gallons of water annually, along with the energy costs of heating hot water. For heating and cooling, the audit revealed that occupancy-based thermostats in guestrooms would result in significant savings on electricity use and costs—an estimated $4,000 a year, factoring in available city rebates.
Significant potential savings were also discovered in switching the facility to an ozone laundry system. Ozone laundry systems can reduce operating costs by saving on energy, water, cleaning chemicals, and other costs. Cold water can be used for nearly all loads, and rinsing requirements can be cut in half. Detergent, fabric softener and bleach can also be reduced by as much as 50 percent, and linen replacement costs can be cut by as much as 20 percent by creating less wear and tear on fabrics.
Quality Inn in Boulder
Boulder’s Quality Inn provides yet another story of the benefits of energy and water audits. With buildings averaging 75 to 100 years old, annual energy bills for the 24,000-square-foot facility averaged approximately $38,000. Yet facility managers had already installed thermostats with occupancy-based controls for all in-room air conditioners, replaced incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs where permitted by company policy, and installed lighting controls throughout the facility.
Even with these lighting upgrades, an onsite audit found significant savings potential, particularly in upgrading water fixtures. Suggested changes called for replacement of hand faucet aerators, toilets, showerheads, and tub faucets, resulting in total cost savings from energy and water of $5,000 to 6,000 a year with a payback of six to seven years.
While energy savings for lighting were lower due to the recent upgrades, recommendations included newer generation fluorescent fixtures, and exterior lighting management. A liquid pool blanket, which cuts down on evaporative and convective heat loss, was also found to be a cost-effective solution, with implementation costs of only $240 and annual cost savings of more than $2,600. Even replacement of the Inn’s old ice maker with an air-cooled unit added up to savings of $600 to $700 a year with a payback of only two to three years.
The takeaway lesson for facility managers? Explore the potentially significant opportunities to save; you’ll not only cut costs, but do your part to help the planet, too.
David Wortman is a Program Manager with The Brendle Group, a Colorado-based consulting firm that works with clients on sustainable design and organizational change for sustainability. He can be reached by e-mail at dwortman@brendlegroup.com, or by phone at (970) 207-0058.
