A Guide for Hotels: Boosting Profits with Energy Efficiency & Conservation

Planning an Energy Program: Energy Audits

An energy audit first identifies how energy is used in your hotel, and then recommends ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. In practice, there is wide variance among the different levels of energy audits available. Or, as Albert Thumann writes in the Handbook of Energy Audits, "There is a direct relationship to the cost of the audit (amount of data collected and analyzed) and the number of energy conservation opportunities to be found."

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) identifies three levels of energy audits:

  • Walk-through Assessment: energy bills are analyzed and, possibly, a brief visual survey of the hotel is conducted. The subsequent report identifies no-cost and low-cost opportunities. This is the least costly of the three levels.
  • Energy Survey and Analysis: a more detailed analysis is conducted, including a breakdown of how energy is used within the hotel. Recommendations consider an owner's operations and maintenance, constraints, and economic criteria. Potential capital-intensive opportunities are identified in the final report for further research and analysis. This is the typical level of audit.
  • Detailed Analysis of Capital-Intensive Modifications (Investment-grade Audit): this analysis focuses on capital-intensive opportunities and provides a higher degree of monitoring, data collection and engineering analysis. The report includes detailed cost and savings information with a high level of confidence sufficient for major capital investment decisions, and may include a reasonable timeline for implementation of each recommendation.

Remember that certain problems only occur during a particular time or season. Time energy audits accordingly. For example, if you decide to upgrade cooling equipment that underperforms in warm weather, be sure to schedule the energy audit during summer months so that engineers can test it under the appropriate conditions.

Your local utility is a great resource for diagnostic tools, metering equipment and expert help in conducting an audit. Visit www.flexyourpower.org for more information.

A Financial Value Calculatorpresents energy investment opportunities in terms of key financial metrics. A Cash Flow Opportunity Calculator helps decision-makers decide how much equipment can be purchased from the anticipated savings. The Portfolio Manager is an interactive energy management tool that allows hotels to track and assess energy and water consumption across an entire portfolio of buildings.

Leading by Example: The Doubletree Hotel Sacramento

When the Doubletree Sacramento set out to control energy costs in its 680,000-square-ft. hotel and convention center, it turned to a high-tech energy-management system (EMS). This system allows hotel management to monitor energy use in real time and to identify energy use spikes and irregularities. Through this system, enhanced automation and reduced lighting loads the hotel was able to cut electricity use by 11% in the first year. The analysis provided by the EMS has led to the discovery of costly problems. The EMS, for example, revealed that contract night janitors were inadvertently turning on the kitchen's ovens for 3 hours each night.