11 Zero-Cost Ways to Energy Efficiency in Hotels
Energy use consumes 6-10% of your business's revenues. It may not be your biggest operating cost – but it is the fastest growing operating cost! And if you consider a small hotel business, significant money can be saved through energy management. The key here is to save energy while not losing any customer satisfaction.
Overall, energy consumption accounts for 10% of hotels' total operating costs and 60% of the business's carbon footprint.
11 Steps to Optimizing Hotel Energy Management
Of course, not all hotels are created equal, and luxury properties or large all-inclusive hotels require more energy than smaller hotels. While there is no way to ensure energy efficiency for every hotel, certain actions can be taken depending on the characteristics of your property.
1.Find out if you are paying too much for your energy.
Most small hotel operators generally do not spend time and budget on energy audits, energy efficiency measures. In fact, there are free and fast virtual energy audit tools for this, from which you can regularly calculate your energy payments, as well as the hotel's energy saving potential. By anonymously comparing your hotel's electricity consumption with data from similar hotels in your area, you can see how much more electricity and money you can save than other hotel properties.
2.Walk around your hotel at different times of your day and note which lights can be turned off without any impact. Where you see natural light, try to reduce artificial light by 30%.
3.During winter months, make an effort to keep more rooms on the sun-facing side to reduce the need for room heating.
4.Try not to run heating and cooling systems at the same time – a common mistake in hotels. When the outside temperature reaches 21°C, turn off the heating. Do not use the AC until the external temperature exceeds 23-24°C.
5.Make sure all pools and hot tubs are covered during late hours to minimize heat loss. Covering a heated pool saves 5 to 70 percent of energy use. 30 to 50 percent for water heating and 35 to 60 percent for chemicals.
6.In addition to lowering the ambient room temperature, reduce the temperature of water used for laundry services. 60° is an adequate temperature to kill bacteria.
7.Computer monitors consume 2/3 of the energy consumed by a desktop system, so make sure monitors are turned off when not in use.
8.Turn off saunas and steam rooms when not in use – best done with an automatic timer.
9.If your corridors have skylights, they receive light during the day, and your lights are connected to a system that can be dimmed, you have saved 30 percent energy during the day.
10. In some hotels, daily linen change is recommended to customers. Do not do this. Some guests are also not very happy with daily linen change, towel change, turning off the televisions and lights in their rooms when they are not there. Take advantage of this.
11.Avoid old-style light bulbs, use compact fluorescent lamps. These lamps last four times longer and consume 60 percent less energy.