Finding the Green in Being Green | News | Hospitality Magazine (HT) - 0 views
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water-efficient fixtures can reduce water and sewer bills by up to 30%, while energy-efficient lighting can reduce electricity use up to 75%. Increasingly granular data collection, remote management and analytics are helping hotels exert more nuanced control over energy use, uncovering new pockets of savings without impacting guest comfort.
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Better mobile, cloud or web-based access encourages managers to fully use energy saving systems such as EMS
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Solutions such as Verdant’s enable users to create recipes — setting profiles they can apply to groups of rooms, based on exposure, season, etc. Since installing the system nearly a year ago, average run times for HVAC systems at Baywood fell from between 34.5-57% to below 23%.
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Many brands let guests know about their sustainability efforts, but elect to keep guests from having to actively participate. But in certain niches, such as properties marketing to millennials, it makes sense to put energy savings front and center.
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This article discusses the implementation of computer technologies in hotels' green practices. Electricity use accounts for 60-70% of the utility costs and average daily water consumption per occupied room is 218 gallons. Management is permanently under pressure to cut these costs, however, this should be done without impacting guests' comfort. Installation of water-efficient fixtures and energy-efficient lighting helps to reduce utility bills. Computer operated systems aimed at consumption data collection, analytics and remote control are an essential addition to energy-saving equipment. Energy harvesting wireless sensors, thermostats, and other products help collect data that later is processed by IBM Watson, which applies predictive analytics to guest behavior to drive greater energy efficiency of HVAC and other equipment. Wireless networking in energy management enables the hotels to create customized profiles for different rooms depending on their exposure, season, occupancy, etc. based on historical data. Furthermore, satellite technology that tracks the weather and ground moisture helps limit excess irrigation. Computer technologies are meant to substitute guest's active efforts in resource savings. Yet sometimes the sustainability technologies become the selling point for hotels. For instance, guests, especially millennials, might be attracted by the hotel's energy panel that demonstrates how the power generated while using fitness equipment immediately adds to the hotel energy grid.