A Closer Look at the Energy Efficient Hotel Industry

When you stay at a hotel for more than one night, do you toss your towel on the floor, or do you hang it up for a second use? Most people do not do the simple act of re-using towels, which accounts for an extra 17 gallons of water to wash towels per room. Millions of gallons of water can potentially be saved by reusing towels at hotels. There are multiple hotels in the region that have “gone green” including the historic Strater Hotel, which has received the acclaimed EPA Energy Rating for their efforts. Other awards have been donated to hotels and motels in the region, from the Green Eco-Leaf Rating to being members of the Green Hotels Association.

There are a lot of times that people overlook hotels going green. This is a huge effort on the hotel industry’s part for bettering the economy and reducing their carbon footprint. According to recent statistics from the US Lodging Utility Expenses, electricity costs take up nearly 61% of total expenses.  It is also found that by investing in efficient choices for hotel, these investments nearly all paid off in 3 or less years and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75%.

A great example of these investments is the Marriott International’s. This hotel won the respectable reward of ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence designation in 2007. It was found that in 2006 alone this Marriott saved over $6 Million as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 70,000 tons. In order to achieve this sustainability the Marriott installed 450,000 CFL’s, converted outdoor sings to LED’s and fiberglass lighting as well as implemented water and energy efficient laundry systems. All of these changes were of no inconvenience and found to be virtually unperceivable to guests, yet amounted in a 2% reduction in greenhouse gas production per room!

On average, hotels have a 57.6% occupancy rate, accounting for nearly half empty rooms at a given time, which accumulates in unnecessary energy used to maintain those rooms’ conditions. Las Vegas is considered the second largest tourist destination in the nation, behind Times Square, NY; yet Las Vegas has a shocking recycle rate of 99%. Not only is this number surprising, but also extremely necessary for Las Vegas’s location in the expansive Nevada drought. In a lot of ways, Las Vegas Strip is leading the way for hotel industries around the world in terms of resourcefulness and efficiency.

Another example of how hotels are becoming more efficient is the Radisson LAX. This hotel has installed a system called Evolve Energy Management Systems (Evolve EMS). This system has been installed in over 580 guestrooms. The Evolve EMS system controls all lighting, televisions, temperature and energy controls of the room by inserting the room key into a slot when you enter the room which turns all lighting and energy controls on for the room-holder to adjust accordingly. When the card is taken out of the slot when the guest leaves the room, all lighting and energy is shut off, and temperature is set 5 degrees lower, saving over 30% energy usage per room, again at no inconvenience to guests.

There are countless ways for hotels to become more energy efficient without impacting guest comfort. A lot of hotels are beginning to look long term into efficient solutions that can save the hotels millions of dollars and reduce carbon footprints drastically. Especially when it can be calculated that there are 4,204,151 people sleeping in a hotel in the US every night (Tamika Figgs from the AH&LA Information Center).

About the Author

Lily Oswald is a junior at Animas High School participating in the Leading Internships for New Knowledge (LINK) program. Through community involvement, students learn to thrive in a professional setting and connect their coursework to their experiences in the working world.Learn more about Lily and her work at Animas High School by checking out her on-line digital portfolio