At the end of the day, the most important focus for a hotel manager and/or owner is overall ROI and profitability. A profitable hotel is not only a secure investment at the time, but it also means the hotel is more valuable and desirable at the time of resale. There are many ways to increase your ROI, which can be discussed in full length, but a great way to do this is by reducing your energy costs. Simply put, reducing your energy costs will increase your profits, lower your expenses, and can significantly impact your CAP rate.
"As technology becomes more prevalent and cost-effective, we can, for as little as $90 employ a complete guest room stand-alone energy management system which will literally save between 25-35% of the wasted HVAC energy," says Belson of his company's Energex management system. It takes 30 to 40 minutes to install their system in a typical guest room, up to an hour for suites. Installing an occupancy-based energy management system should be a top priority when approaching energy management, says Belson. It could be as simple as adding an occupancy sensor and a controller.
For hoteliers looking for the latest trends, Jeremy Baker, a lighting specialist at Lightology, recommends Edge Lighting'sLED Soft Strip, a strip of 1 watt or 3 watts per foot LED lighting application with a 40,000 hour lifespan. Switching to products that use less energy may make your business eligible for incentives or rebates. In Ontario, Canada, for example, hoteliers can contactsaveOnEnergy through their business stream to see what incentives they can received, which is based on the amount of energy saved. In the United States, tax incentives are available through the U.S. Department of Energy.
Quick Energy Saving Tips:
- Make sure leaks are sealed and insulation is up-to -date.
- Explore opportunities to use motion sensor applications in the parking garage, stairwells, vacant rooms, or anywhere there is not consistent traffic.
- Gain more control of the heating and cooling of guest rooms, these account for 75 percent of the total energy used in a room. Nearly 50 percent of a hotel's overall energy budget would benefit from HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) controls such as an occupancy sensors, says Rami Belson, CEO of Energex Inc, Maximize the use of occupancy sensors and controls; they should be placed in meeting spaces, laundry rooms or any room with inconsistent comings and goings of people.·
- Look for low wattage products because they use less electricity, whereas low voltage products are good for covering long distances but do not save on electricity. Two energy efficient options for lighting are fluorescent and LED lighting. "[LED] bulbs are designed to last 30,000 to 50,000 hours. So if they were on eight hours a day that would be 10 or 11 years that you are not replacing LEDs and they don't burn out," says Jeremy Baker, a lighting specialist at Lightology.· Educate the staff, personnel, and guests on how much energy is used when a shower is taken, when a TV is left on or when lights are left on. Perhaps make up a sign in each room to remind guests and staff to turn the lights off before leaving the hotel room.
- Cluster room bookings so energy can be concentrated in certain areas
- Install low-flow shower heads
- Keep pools and hot tubs covered to preserve heat.
"It's difficult to reduce staff costs and you can't do anything with taxes but you have all sorts of opportunities to reduce energy consumption," says Andrew Pride, VP of Conservation at Ontario Power Authority.
Focusing on ways to easily reduce your long term energy expenses will save you money and increase the profitability of your hotel. Investing a few thousand dollars today can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars….doesn’t that sound like a good investment?
Hospitality Designs
www.hospitalitydesigns.com
No comments:
Post a Comment