Championing a cause

Team Hotelier India , June 1st, 2009

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.

What according to you are currently the top green or eco friendly trends? 

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.

How do you ensure that all departments of the hotel function in sync with each other while adhering to your green norms?

Castelino: We have training and feedback sessions within various departments where inputs coming from down the line and are shared between the heads of various Departments.

Raj: In Marriott hotels we have a system called “ Environmentally Conscious Hospitality Operations (ECHO)”, which clearly indicates the various responsibilities of individual departments clearly. It also indicates the information flow that is needed from one department to the other. By adhering to the ECHO system we can establish synchronised operation among all the departments.

Thakur: We have an Environment committee which has volunteers from each department to drive home the message – someone who ensures all associates understand how the hotel’s environmental programs affect them.

The committee is chaired by the general manager, who clarifies the committee’s decision making authority and resources available. The environmental committee/champion is responsible for:
• leading the implementation of new programs
• ensuring environmental objectives are set
• encouraging associate participation
• compiling and communicating environmental results
• convening and chairing committee meetings on a regular basis

Baljee: Green practices are implemented across the Royal Orchid properties, and Royal Orchid Hotels has adopted energy conservation measures in existing hotels and most importantly in the upcoming projects across the country.

• Although our hotels are not LEED certified, we are adopting measures which are leading to being certified as green buildings.
HVAC
• One of the most important measures in the air conditioning fields is the use of ozone friendly refrigerant gases. ROH is adopting measures to ensure that polluting CFC gases are not used in our hotels.
• CO2 monitoring is carried out in areas like the basements, where vehicle movement contributes to higher levels of CO.
• Energy conservation in public areas by use of motion sensors ensures that the air conditioning in areas which are not occupied will get switched off.
Hot Water Generation
• Hot water is normally produced by burning fuels in boilers or electric heating. ROH adopts measures to ensure trapping of natural energy sources for water heating. These include:
• Solar panels for hot water generation.
• De-superheaters in chilled water systems, whereby the waste heat from the chilling units is transferred to the domestic water. This ensures lower energy consumption for hot water generation as well as lesser load on cooling towers.
• Rain water collection pits are connected through a network and the ground water is re-charged through wells located around the property. This ensures that the storm water is effectively conserved, rather than get thrown into the city sewers.
Sewage treatment plant
• All the waste water generated from the toilets, kitchen and laundry is treated in an STP and is effectively used for landscaping, flushing and cooling towers for the A/C systems.
• Structural glazing
• High performance glass is used for structurally glazed areas, thus reducing the ingress of heat into the building and leads to lower air conditioning costs.

In competitive market conditions how do you promote and practise the ‘green’ philosophy?

Castelino: Though we can boast of use of CFLs (even dimmable CFLs) in the Guest Rooms we have not promoted our green philosophy as we still use R22 as our refrigerant for the AC Plant as we believe that this one area where we lag. However once we have replaced this system with a system that has got a low ODP and GWP we will be in a position where we will be way ahead in this race and there will be no stopping us then.

Raj: While we have the strong know-how of the environment friendly measures , in the present market we would like to use this tool as a edge over our competition.

Our philosophy is not just to adhere to these standards but to become a worldwide leader in the hospitality industry . When it comes to our own practice, we have implemented various activities like recycling the water and solid wastes, usage of automatic taps in the cloak rooms, introduction of energy efficient equipments like variable frequency drives (VFD ) for high capacity equipments.

Thakur: We engage our customers with various Green initiatives as follows:
• Guestroom linen reuse program
• Having an option of organising Green meetings for customers
• Involving guests in various activities during Environment Awareness Month in April.
• Observing International Earth Hour in the entire property.

Baljee: Inspiring awareness and responsibility in our guests is an important step for us, especially in a competitive market.

Awareness in our guests is inculcated by strategically placed signs and some innovative measures like, having a display button within the room, giving the guest an option of not having their linen changed. This would lead to reduced energy consumption for laundry purposes.

How much of a difference has  going green made?

Castelino: Going green just means more savings in energy which logically mean better profit margins. Eventually these green measures also give us a feeling that we are doing our bit for the environment and that’s what matters as well.

Raj: By adhering to the above mentioned good practices we can save 3 to 4 % of the total energy that we are spending.

Thakur : A lot of difference. Going Green directly affects the profitability of the hotel and helps in long term sustainable development.

Do you feel that practising a few green trends gives you an edge over other properties?

Castelino: Yes, guests are conscious about hotels conservation policies. Most of them ask what our initiatives to go green are. Some of them go a step ahead and buy some of these products where they can use at their residences or offices as these are not available easily in the local market. Eventually it does give an edge to our property as we use some products that no other hotel in India could boast of – the use of dimmable CFLs.

Raj: The corporate segment is very much particular about the green initiatives. In many cases we are considered for their bidding process only when we are environmentally conscious hotel. However when it comes to the “Free Individual Travelers (FIT)”, there is a scope for improvement.

Thakur: Going green creates better reputation among customers and investors, new business opportunities and greater operational efficiencies are the major benefits perceived by Indian companies at the overall level. Further, the companies perceive that improved environmental performance leads to increase in shareholder and market value of businesses.

Baljee: Being a socially responsible corporate is important today. ‘Green’ trends help not just conserve precious resources, but also aid cost effectiveness In our company.

What challenges do you foresee while implementing eco friendly practises?

Castelino: Some Green Measures can actually be very heavy on the pocket. Initial investment to implement these measures is the only hurdle.

Fortunately some of these projects have a low buy pack period which makes things a little easier. But implementing projects with a higher buy back period becomes a problem.

Raj: 1. Resistance to change among the people which could be solved over a period of time
2. Easy to install in the new project and become complex while installing in the existing properties

Thakur : Challenges such as awareness and availability of funds

What advice do you have for your colleagues looking to incorporate green into their day-to-day functioning?

Castelino: Going green is the need of the hour. Going green at this stage would mean more profits.

Eventually governments will force us all to implement green measures. Why be forced by someone to do something that’s a bigger advantage to us and the society at the same time. It’s more logical to invest in these measures now and reap the benefits so that you save more in the long run. 
 
Raj: The three important aspects of environmental protection are “Reduce , Recycle and Reuse”. First of all do not consume any form of energy or resource when it is not mandatory. Recycle the resources wherever it is possible. . For example water is precise and we can start saving the water by recycling.

While recycling the water it is better to adopt the ozone plant technology to get best results. In many cases it makes more sense to replace the inefficient machines with the latest ones with better technologies.

Baljee: New ideas for energy consumption and avoidance of wasteful practices can be shared with the others in the industry so that there is common benefit for everyone.