Energy efficiency opportunities in Hotels

Abstract

According to the statistics in Egypt (2013), the number of hotels is 1193, about 407 of them have contracted power greater than 500 kW. Air conditioning, lighting, water heating and refrigeration represent the main activities demanding electrical energy in hotel business. The energy consumption per night spend changes a lot, depending on various factors; facilities provided, category of hotel, occupancy , geographical situation, weather conditions, nationality of clients, design and control of the installations. Energy benchmarking is an internal management tool designed to provide ongoing, reliable and verifiable tracking on the hotels performance. The most useful performance indicator (or Energy Efficiency Benchmarking) of hotels are: Lighting Power Density (LPD) in W (for lighting)/m2, and energy intensity (kWh/m2/ y). There are multiple benefits for improving energy in hotel business; reduces the hotel's operating cost, reduces climate change risks and promotes green tourism. Energy efficiency opportunities are low-cost measures and cost- effective investments. There are many energy saving opportunities for lighting in hotel's guest rooms as well as the more obvious savings in lobbies and exterior lighting areas. Behavior campaigns can yield substantial energy savings, both through the guests and housekeeper behavior. Encouraging housekeepers to use natural light during room cleaning is a simple first step to implement energy saving program. This paper presents the energy efficiency guidelines and energy benchmarking for hotels. Also a case study showing how the energy efficiency program implemented is presented.