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Amit Castelino
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Eco- champions of some of the country’s most eco- conscious hotels say that their green initiatives have definitely paid off and are reflected in their log books as well as guest loyalty

What is your most important role as head of engineering?

Amit Castelino: Energy Conservation is what is generally on our mind as part of the engineering department; particularly with respect to Electrical Energy other than daily operations to keep the property in prime condition.

Saravana Raj: It’s the responsibility of the Chief Engineer to incorporate the environment friendly best practices in our hotel operations as per the guidelines provided by the Marriott International. Our philosophy is “As a worldwide leader in the hospitality industry, Marriott International is committed to the responsibility of protecting the environment for our associates, our guests and our communities.

By implementing a wide range of environmental solutions across Marriott’s hospitality portfolio, we intend to increase our efforts every year to conserve and protect global natural resources. In every community, we will continually expand awareness and action among our associates and will respond to the environmental interests of our guests”.

Prem Thakur:
• A keen planner, strategist and implementer with expertise in managing overall profitability of operations, with accountability on strategic deployment of available resources to achieve organisational objectives.
• Demonstrated abilities in working on initiatives, focusing on Energy efficient operations thereby bringing down breakdowns and achieving annual costs savings. Managed a wide spectrum of machinery, equipment and utilities; while curtailing the operational costs and expenses.
• Recognised competence in managing projects connected with new setups, renovations with the distinction of ramping them up within the targeted deadlines.
• Expertise in handling the complete operations and maintenance entailing planning, resource utilisation, maintenance and manpower management.

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COMMENT Comment on this article

Castelino: In the areas of energy management especially with respect to hotels: there is a lot of scope in saving energy by use of efficient AC plants. Particularly Air conditioning because it comprises of more than 50% of the energy consumption in most hotels. The newer VRV or the VRF Systems are the latest trends in markets.

These have a high investment cost but save big compared to the other systems. Some Companies selling these products sell them with controllers that have got schedulers where you can program the schedules for each and every unit from a central location for the entire calendar year. These systems may not work as a retrofit for a hotel unless they are looking at major renovations even though these systems give the advantage of partial commissioning. However these systems can be easily looked at for a new hotel.

For retrofits R134a Screw Chillers is an emerging trend with an ODP of zero and a GWP of 1300 which is a very modest value compared to other refrigerants.

With respect to Water Conservation the use of water savers that regulate the flow of water at each tap or outlet will be soon seen as another emerging trend. The use of waterless urinals is also picking up quickly.

Raj: 1. Reducing the energy consumption per available room by adopting green building concept
2. Recycling of water for area like gardening , cooling towers and flush water system
3. Recycling and reuse of plastics, cardboards, papers and other possible wastes.

Thakur :
• Replacement of conventional incandescent lamps and tube lights with CFL’s, LED’s and T5 lamps.
• Installation of Motion sensors in limited traffic areas like stair wells, cloakrooms, garage etc.
• Replacement of conventional motors with Energy efficient motors
• Optimisation of high side equipments like chillers, boilers, pumps etc.
• Installation of Integrated Building Management system.
• Variable frequency drives for equipments with dynamic loading pattern.
• Enerkeeper Transformer – which improves the power quality with cost savings.
• Use of PNG (Piped natural gas) instead of LPG/HSD/LDO/FO
• Usage of Eco friendly refrigeration equipment with non HFC gases.
• Sewage treatment plant with Zero discharge in to the environment.
• Dual flush system in Guestrooms.
• Flow restrictors for wash basins and showers in Guestrooms and BOH.
• Automated urinal sensors in cloakrooms.
• Rain water harvesting.
• Online 3D Traser installation by M/S Nalco for cooling water treatment.
• Segregation of dry garbage for complete recycling and wet garbage sent to piggeries
• Installation of Organic waste converter to convert wet garbage in to manure.
• Vermi-composting of garden waste.
• Conversion of waste cooking oil in to Bio Diesel.

Chender Baljee: Recycle and reuse are the key words here. Not just in commercial structures but also in bigger residential communities, conservations, especially water conservations would be the big step in the coming year.