Rising energy costs, combined with the current economic challenges and increased environmental awareness, have a significant impact on the lodging industry. Energy expenses have escalated upwards to 10 percent of gross revenue in typical full-service properties, with an even higher impact expected with reduced occupancy. Meanwhile, both consumers and law makers seek reduction in energy use worldwide, and the lodging industry is recognized as one of the most intensive users of energy in the commercial sector.
Reducing energy costs while continuing to meet the comforts and convenience of guests can be challenging. Guests need the ability to control their room temperature, take a hot shower 24 hours a day, and have instant access to room service, restaurants, business centers, conference rooms and recreation facilities. These challenges are being addressed by the rapid acceptance of “green” buildings, and one of its key components, building commissioning.
Building commissioning is a systematic process of ensuring that a building performs in accordance with its design intent, contract documents, and the owner’s operational needs. Popular tools like the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system requires fundamental building commissioning, and provides incentives, or “credits,” for enhanced and ongoing commissioning. Commissioning addresses the best opportunities for improved energy efficiency in lodging facilities: lighting, heating and cooling systems, refrigeration, motors, elevators, and laundry.
Something Worth Investing In
The savings realized through the commissioning process increases net operating income, as well as the value of the building asset. Studies show that building commissioning saves $4 in operations costs for every $1 spent over the initial five-year lifecycle. Conversely, the cost of not commissioning can result in negative cost implications due to deficiencies caused by straying from the original design intent, resulting in higher operational costs. By focusing on efficiency, hotels can benefit from 15 to 20 percent savings on energy use, saving thousands of dollars each year.
In 2004, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a report* analyzing 224 building commissioning projects across the United States over the past two decades. This report established “the largest available collection of standardized information on commissioning experience.” The report summary defines building commissioning as one of the most cost-effective means of improving energy efficiency in commercial buildings.
The report’s conclusions are conservative, as ongoing non-energy benefits are rarely quantified and not all recommendations are implemented. Examples include reduced change-orders based on early detection of problems during design and construction, and correcting premature equipment breakdown.
New-Building Commissioning
Studies like these consistently concur that approximately 50 percent of new building owners will experience HVAC and control problems, 15 percent or more have missing equipment, and about 25 percent have energy management systems that do not function properly. The commissioning process focuses on alleviating these issues up front.
Without commissioning, new-building owners rely on independent contractors to start up systems and provide operational training, without the necessary expertise on design intent or the interrelationship to other building systems. As a result, building systems frequently do not meet the expectations of the owner, architect, and engineer from day one. Once occupied, in-house maintenance and engineering staff are provided little additional time and resources to decipher and remedy these situations. Time consuming warranty calls and internal “fixes” typically do not take into account their effect on interrelated systems, and most buildings drift, often inevitably, to even lower performance levels over time.
Existing-Building Commissioning
Existing buildings are found to have six-fold greater energy savings, yet four-fold lower commissioning costs. The median payback on commissioning existing buildings was a mere 0.7 years, where as in new construction it was 4.8 years, still an excellent rate of return, and excluding non-energy impacts and benefits. Continuous commissioning has emerged as an economical way to address the need for ongoing performance monitoring and fault detection and diagnosis during routine operation. In short, commissioning addresses the quality assurance needed for a building to work as intended throughout its operating life.
In the lodging sector, employees may be the most important aspect of an energy management program. When employees believe that management is genuinely concerned with environmental initiatives in addition to saving costs, they work more readily to control costs in all areas, including those guest amenities which cannot feasibly be regulated by technology systems. Combine this with the external recognition for being an environmental steward and the net result is a distinct competitive advantage, with higher profitability.
*Mills E et al, 2004, “The Cost-Effectiveness of Commercial Buildings Commissioning,” Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “A Meta-Analysis of Energy and Non-Energy Impacts in Existing Buildings and New Construction.”
Denise van den Bossche is a LEED Accredited Professional and Vice-Chair of the Central Arizona Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Denise provides business development for the Sustainable Solutions Group of SSRCx, the commissioning subsidiary of Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., providing sustainability consulting, LEED facilitation, energy modeling and commissioning for commercial buildings nationwide.
