Four years ago, hospitality investment firm HEI Hotels & Resorts was looking for an economical way to ramp up its conservation efforts in a way that would have a positive impact on the local environment, create a culture of energy awareness and bolster its bottom line.
Norwalk-based HEI, which owns and operates 32 full-service luxury properties in 16 states under brand names such as Embassy Suites, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and the Westin, set a goal of reducing its energy use by 10 percent.
Since 2005, HEI has invested more than $7 million in company-wide conservation initiatives that include energy audits, lighting upgrades, improved motion detection systems and new software technologies that help monitor and analyze usage.
And that investment has paid off in a variety of ways.
Savings related to the capital investment came to $2.5 million in 2009, plus another $900,000 in operational savings. The total 2009 energy savings of $3.4 million represented “killer results,” said Bob Holesko, HEI’s vice president of facilities and a certified energy manager.
Between 2005 and 2008, HEI’s energy efficiency efforts garnered a savings of more than 23.8 million kwh and more than 23,500 tons of CO2, which equates to enough electricity to power 2,366 homes for one year.
The upscale hotel company saves an average of $1.2 million a year on its heating and cooling bill alone, Holesko said. All in all, he calculates that the simple payback of the capital investment was achieved in 2.8 years.
Holesko and a team of engineers rely on high-tech sensors developed by Minn.-based PureChoice Inc., to monitor heating and cooling activity throughout the company’s hotels.
Several times each second, the data collection system uses electronic “noses” to screen indoor air quality and detect gases such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and other pollutants.
Holesko spent $5,400 on the PureChoice service and received the $400 “noses” free for being an early adopter. Each hotel in the company’s portfolio has three of the devices.
PureChoice’s building-performance software — called PureTrac — transmits the information over the Internet to a computer at HEI, where the hotel’s proprietary network checks the data against average levels and alerts Holesko and his team if the settings do not register correctly.
“One of the most appealing components of the PureTrac software application is it is not part of the infrastructure of the building,” said Kevin Kuhne, PureChoice president and chief operations officer. “For that reason, PureTrac can be installed in any building, old or new, to support the already existing building control equipment.”
Holesko says the PureChoice system helped him last summer when he discovered a thermostat in one of his empty hotel ballrooms in Florida reset itself automatically to a chilly 66 degrees at 2 a.m.
“The noses allow us to look back at the previous night or weekend to determine if energy was wasted,” he said. “This data helps the hotel chief engineers I work with identify waste and make timely corrections.”
Using data from the hotel’s three sensors, Holesko was able to monitor, identify and fix the Florida problem from his office in Norwalk. “Prior to installing the noses, a hotel ballroom could waste tremendous energy over an extended period of time and we would never know it,” he said.
HEI grabbed two industry accolades in recent months: the Energy STAR Partner of the Year award and a Corporate Energy Management Award from the Association of Energy Engineers. HEI is the only hospitality-focused company and lone business in the state to win the Energy STAR Partner award in 2010.
As part of its energy management program, HEI offers ambitious employee incentives that recognize property managers and hotel chief engineers who come up with the best ideas that lead to savings.
Holesko says HEI reduced its heating, cooling and lighting consumption company-wide by 8 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. The hotel firm committed to slashing its energy use by another 5 percent this year, a goal it achieved in just the first two months of 2010.
“To achieve true success in sustainability, we knew we would have to get our associates engaged and motivated to help,” said Holesko. “At the beginning of 2009, we began a competition among our hotels, divided by brand with prizes ranging from gift cards to flat-screen televisions.”
Holesko doled out six 50-inch flat-screen television sets in 2009 and expects to triple that in 2010 after expanding its rewards program to include chefs, housekeepers and banquet supervisors.
A company’s green policy can also help attract new customers and profits. J.D. Power and Associates recently surveyed more than 66,000 hotel guests and found that 66 percent said they were aware of their hotel’s conservation efforts, up from 57 percent one year earlier.
HEI is exploring different trash and recycling programs to determine what it can do to reduce waste and improve recycling efforts across the company, said Holesko.
Altogether, Holesko expects HEI to give out 18 television sets at the end of the year. The company also has quarterly awards this year and will recognize the biggest energy savers with gift cards and cash prizes.
The hotelier changed the friendly competition up a little for 2010. HEI launched a social responsibility program in September called “We CARE” and announced it will focus on each component — Communities, Associates, Relationships and Environment — for one year at a time, starting with Environment.
It also reported that a high percentage of guests took part in their hotel’s sustainability efforts. Among those guests who were aware of the green program, 72 percent said they participated in their hotel’s conservation programs during their stay, meaning they recycled or participated in the property’s linen reuse program.
Awareness of green programs had a strong impact on overall customer satisfaction, according to the 2009 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.
