MINNEAPOLIS—Honeywell announced it has been awarded a $4.5 million contract extension for Cool Control Plus, an energy-efficiency program that has reduced electricity consumption in more than 150 small hotels and motels throughout the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) service area in northern and central California.
Designed and managed by Honeywell Utility Solutions, Cool Control Plus provides lodging owners with free, energy-saving retrofits designed to eliminate wasteful use of air-conditioning and heating. The program was launched in 2006 and met the initial conservation target set by the utility—a 12-million-kilowatt-hour (kWh) savings in annual electricity use—a year ahead of schedule.
Given the success of the program and sustained customer demand, PG&E extended funding for Cool Control Plus through 2008. Honeywell expects to save an additional 11 million kWh of electricity and retrofit approximately 12,000 hotel and motel rooms with the extension. Combined with the first phase of work, the program is expected to save enough power annually to light the Golden Gate Bridge for nearly 50 years.
“Reducing energy consumption through programs like Cool Control Plus minimizes the need for additional power plants and reduces greenhouse gas emissions,” said Roland Risser, Director of Customer Energy Efficiency at PG&E. “This helps stabilize energy costs for our customers and has a positive impact on the environment.”
Why Heat, Cool Empty Rooms?
Hotel and motel rooms are often vacant for a significant part of the day. Because most rooms are not equipped with sophisticated energy management equipment, air-conditioning and heating units operate all day long—whether rooms are occupied or not. This wastes energy and drives up electricity bills, especially during peak summer months when air-conditioning use is at its highest.
Under Cool Control Plus, Honeywell works with participating hotels and motels to install occupancy sensors in each room to reduce the use of air-conditioning and heating equipment when the rooms are not occupied. The occupancy sensors help cut consumption by 1,100 kWh per room per year on average. As a result, motel owners can save up to $140 per room annually.
Installation and hardware costs are free of charge to lodging operators. In addition, Honeywell replaces outdated interior and exterior lighting fixtures with high-efficiency lamps, and installs energy-saving technology on cold drink vending machines to curb the energy consumption of refrigeration equipment.
“Cool Control Plus makes both fiscal and environmental sense, which is why the response from lodging owners has been so remarkable,” said Kent Anson, vice president of Global Energy for Honeywell Building Solutions. “We are excited to raise the initial target and bring this free program to many more hotels and motels this year.”
The program is available to hotel and motel operators in most of the PG&E service territory (Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties excluded). Participants receive periodic reports detailing cost savings and conservation benefits. For more information about Cool Control Plus, lodging owners can call (866) 918-7822 or visit www.coolcontrolplus.com. For more information about Honeywell Utility Solutions, part of Honeywell Building Solutions, visit www.honeywell.com/utility.
