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Technology can be effectively used to bring down energy consumption and cut down on overall operating costs. Amrit Dhillon looks at what hoteliers are practising today
Green policies to protect the environment and save energy have jumped from being ‘nice to do’ extras to absolute must-haves and necessities.
A revolution has swept through the industry, from guests altering their instinctively wasteful behaviour in hotels to hotels abandoning ingrained practices.
Customers realised what gargantuan amounts of waste were caused by changing sheets and towels every day, keeping the tap running while brushing their teeth, flushing toilets copiously, opening new bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and leaving the television, lights and air conditioning humming in a room even when they had stepped out.
Such wanton behaviour seemed to hard-wired into guests’ neuron circuity. The moment they stepped into a luxury hotel room, they shed the ‘sensible’ behaviour they displayed at home and turned into raving hedonists, as though comfort was synonymous with waste.
Everything has changed beyond recognition. Guests are now acutely aware of the devastating damage to the planet caused by pollution. Surveys globally show that hotels face well-informed and concerned customers who expect hotels to follow environmentally-sound practices.
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In India, studies by Concept Hospitality in Mumbai, which manages eco-friendly hotels, show that 90 per cent of corporate travellers prefer to stay in an environment-friendly hotel. Hotels have also woken up, with a jolt, to the huge savings to be made from cutting energy and water consumption and reducing waste.
Heating and cooling are a hotel’s main energy needs. Consuming less electricity for these two purposes can alone reduce costs significantly and cut down the greenhouse gases. Estimates show that eco-friendly measures can reduce water consumption by 30% and electricity bills by 35-40%.
“The amount of lighting and air conditioning that is wasted in the average hotel is enough to run a small hotel. We now have sensors in parts of the hotel like the public rest rooms, gyms and banquet halls which switch off everything if no one is there and the same happens on the service floor landings,” said Ajay Bakaya, executive director, Sarovar Group.
Measures to reduce carbon emissions and limit damage to the planet fall into three broad categories:
First, energy efficiency which includes using energy-efficient lamps or newer LED lamps, the use of highly energy-efficient air conditioning plants (if possible with a heat recovery system), Building Management Systems (BMS), and solar energy.
Second, solid waste management where the amount of waste is first reduced and then recycled such as treating used water and re-using it in the gardens and adopting vermiculture.
Third, water conservation where hotels opt for low flow shower heads, dual flushing systems, aerators and flow restrictors, drip irrigation, and sewage treatment plants to treat and reuse water.
Hotels are adopting green programmes because they wan to limit the damage they inflict on their already battered planet and because it makes economic sense. Operating costs fall once consumption of energy and water falls. Going green can mean turning a hotel’s book from red to black.
Throughout the industry, the use of solar panels, computerised air conditioning and heating systems to provide light, heating and cooling on an ‘as-needed basis’, intense recycling, reduced water usage, and energy-saving architectural designs are spreading.
The level of consciousness in the industry is greater than ever before. Even small hotels are realising that a host of little changes can make a big difference.
Simply choosing energy-efficient lighting, using water recycling systems and lowering laundry temperatures can reduce emissions and costs significantly.
Small and big, hotels are switching to computerised air conditioning and heating systems to control energy consumption. Those which have heat recovery systems allow hotels to use the heat that is generated during cooling to heat the hot water needed in the kitchens, guest bathrooms, laundry, and toilets.
They are also attaching STL tanks to air-conditioning systems. These store the cold energy produced by an air-conditioning system. This helps cut energy costs considerably by eliminating the need to run the AC 24/7.
Instead, the system can be run during non-peak hours when the electricity tariff is lower. During peak hours, the hotel can keep the air conditioning off and release the stored cool energy, cutting power consumption and reducing compressor overloading. Also widely in use to limit emissions and energy consumption are Building Management Systems (BMS). These tackle the massive wastefulness that used to characterise hotels.
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