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How Energy Benchmarking Can Help the Hotel Industry

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Lindsey Shaw

Being comfortable in a hotel is one of the top guest priorities, which can mean a chilled, air-conditioned room, steaming hot shower, or keeping the television on all night. However, guest comfort and satisfaction can sometimes come at a cost, equating to big energy footprints and hefty utility bills. On average, America’s 47,000 hotels spend $2,196 per available room each year on energy. It’s no surprise that energy represents the single fastest-growing operating cost in the lodging industry (according to the EPA). To track and manage that growing energy use number, hotels can benchmark their buildings, which can result in energy savings, lower utility bills, and an all-around more efficient building that guests will want to return to, again and again.

How Can Hotels Save Energy?

The old mantra still holds true: you can’t manage what you don’t measure. That’s where benchmarking comes in. Benchmarking hotel energy use is the first step towards understanding how energy is being used in your hotel and is a guaranteed, low-cost way to develop a strong energy management program. Benchmarking tools can be used to track and manage water use, too.

Once a hotel’s energy use is benchmarked, the building’s performance can be compared to other hotels across the county. Additionally, communicating these energy savings and sustainability initiatives to guests can encourage them to participate in the energy savings, especially if you can tie the energy savings to the room they’re staying in and how they can contribute to the sustainability cause.

How do I Benchmark?

Benchmarking energy and water use involves gathering three categories of data:

•    Building characteristic and operations information (i.e., square footage, number of workers);
•    Energy consumption (i.e., utility bills, fuel logs); and
•    Water consumption (i.e., utility bills, manual meter readings).

With this information, hotel owners and operators can plug the information into EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager, a free, web-based software platform for measuring and tracking energy and water use in commercial and industrial buildings. Other benchmarking platforms exist, but Portfolio Manager has become the standard for commercial buildings, currently holding over 40 percent of the U.S. building square footage. Each hotel building can have a property profile, and you can add utility data, notes, set goals, and track changes in the building over time.

Am I Required to Benchmark?

Possibly. Benchmarking and transparency laws are sweeping the nation, coast to coast. According to The Institute for Market Transformation, these policies now affect more than 5 billion square feet of floor space in major real estate markets. Visit BuildingRating.org for a map of jurisdictions that have some type of benchmarking law in place.

For example, Montgomery County, Maryland—just outside of the Washington, D.C. area—sees 7 million tourists per year and has more than 50 hotels and meeting facilities. Montgomery County has some of the strongest environmental policies in the nation while supporting a thriving business community.

In April 2014, Montgomery County passed a benchmarking and transparency law, requiring hotels (and other commercial buildings) with a square footage of 50,000 square feet or greater to report energy use and building operations data (water usage is not a part of the law). Large hotels 250,000 square feet or greater will need to benchmark and report 2015 energy use by June 2016; mid-size hotels 50,000 square feet and greater (up to 250,000 square feet) will need to benchmark and report 2016 energy use by June 2017.

A summary of Montgomery County’s benchmarking law is available in this recent article by USGBC, and DEP’s website has more information and available resources to help commercial buildings benchmark and comply.

Other major cities across the country have passed similar laws, including Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, and Philadelphia. IMT has a great U.S. map illustrating which cities and states have enacted or have considered building energy benchmarking and transparency policies. Note that the requirements may vary from location to location. Hotels based in these locations may need to benchmark energy use, as well as water use.

I’ve Benchmarked, Now What?

If benchmarking energy and water use in your hotel is old hat, then your organization is ready to move on to Phase 2—reducing energy use—and Phase 3—gaining recognition.

Reducing Energy Use

Time to get started on projects! And with your energy and water data in-hand, you can track your energy savings and progress. Some energy saving measures are no-cost or fairly inexpensive, such as changing temperatures on thermostats and water heaters, performing preventive maintenance on equipment, using power-saving features in business centers, and educating housekeeping staff on efficient practices.

Other measures may cost a bit upfront, but can pay for themselves in a few years. Efforts such as upgrading lighting with LED bulbs, installing motion sensors or timers, using water-efficient bathroom fixtures, and sealing building envelope leaks can improve guest comfort while reducing energy and water waste. Consider reaching out to professional energy contractors for an energy audit to identify all energy conservation measures that are right for your hotel. Local utility companies may even offer commercial incentives and rebates for energy efficiency upgrades.

Gain Recognition

According to EPA, 10,412 hotel properties are using Portfolio Manager to manage their energy use (source). Buildings that rate in the top 25 percent of energy-efficient buildings in the nation may qualify for the Energy Star label. Hotels already benchmarked in Portfolio Manager may be eligible for an Energy Star Score if the hotel provides overnight accommodations on a room/suite and nightly basis.

Get started with EPA’s tools and resources for hotels here. With the Energy Star label, you can challenge your peers in the Battle of the Buildings competition or gain recognition with the Partner of the Year award.

Benchmarking is an easy first step towards being in control of your energy use, whether your jurisdiction requires you to benchmark or not. Not only does it reduce your impact on the environment, but being energy savvy also comes with cost savings and recognition perks.

Lindsey Shaw is the Energy Program Manager for Montgomery County, Maryland’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Contact her at (240) 777-7754 or lindsey.shaw@montgomerycountymd.gov. Learn more about Montgomery County benchmarking efforts on DEP’s website here.

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