Energy Star Resources for the Hospitality Sector
Energy consumption is one of the most manageable operating expenses for hotel owners and operators. ENERGY STAR’s proven guidelines and resources for cost-effective energy management and climate protection can help you to optimize the operating and financial performance of your property or portfolio of properties.
In addition, many state and local goverments are adopting EPA's ENERGY STAR tools to seek reductions in energy use in commercial buildings like hotels. View this document for a quick summary of state and local legislation that use ENERGY STAR programs to track energy use, energy costs, and energy perfomance targets in new and existing structures, and refer to this presentation for guidance on benchmarking through their programs.
In preparation for Memorial Day weekend and the official start to the summer travel season, EPA will issue a national press release encouraging Americans to look for the ENERGY STAR as they plan their trips. Specifically, EPA will call on the nation’s summer travelers to book their stays at hotels that have earned EPA’s ENERGY STAR.
Take a look at the hotel properties in your portfolio, identify any hotels that are currently eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR (those with a score of 75 or higher), and then submit label applications for those properties as soon as possible.
The date of EPA’s national press release is tentatively set for Tuesday, May 25. If you would like to earn the ENERGY STAR for your hotel(s) in time, please allow at least two weeks for your label application to be processed.
Benchmarking your hotel’s energy performance allows you to track your property’s energy consumption and improve energy efficiency over time. Moreover, this tracking can provide evidence of meaningful actions to protect the environment that can be communicated and marketed to guests. Use ENERGY STAR’s benchmarking tool, Portfolio Manager, and the other resources below to track and improve your property’s energy performance.
Energy efficiency can and should be incorporated into your new facility from the very beginning of the design phase. Use Target Finder to assess the predicted energy performance of your design, to inform your design choices, and to help your new buildings receive recognition as “Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR.” The New Building Design Guidance is also a great starting point.
When you use ENERGY STAR products, you know energy efficiency is part of the package. To identify or purchase such products, visit the ENERGY STAR Qualifed Products page, HD Supply, or The Ultimate Hotel Buyer’s Guide.
ENERGY STAR also offers guidance to help your procurement team make energy-conscious purchases across a variety of product categories, including Commercial Appliances, Commercial Food Service, Commercial Heating and Cooling, Commercial Lighting, Construction Products, Electronics, and Office Products.
As hospitality professionals, you may want to pay special attention to ENERGY STAR’s Commercial Food Service Equipment program.
According to Pacific Gas and Electric’s Food Service Technology Center, as much as 80 percent of the energy consumed annually by the commercial food service sector does no useful work. These lost energy dollars are often wasted in the form of excess heat and noise generated by inefficient appliances, heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, lighting and refrigeration. To help counter these costs, ENERGY STAR helps operators improve the performance of their facilities and equipment while reducing energy costs. Operators that invest strategically can cut utility costs 10 to 30 percent without sacrificing service, quality, style or comfort — while protecting the environment.
ENERGY STAR now has six product areas in Commercial Food Service that can qualify for the label. In addition to commercial solid door refrigerators and freezers, steam cookers, fryers, and hot food holding cabinets, the newest product areas for which specifications have been developed include:
- Commercial Dishwashers. ENERGY STAR qualified commercial dishwashers can save businesses energy about 90 MBtus and an average of $850/year on their energy bills and $200/year and 52,000 gallons/year due to reduced water usage.
- Commercial Ice Machines. ENERGY STAR qualified commercial ice machines can save businesses energy about 1200 kWh/year and $100/year on utility bills and $10/year and more than 2700 gallons/year due to reduced water usage.
AH&LA teamed with ENERGY STAR to offer a free, live training session on benchmarking. Click here to watch and listen to the session, or download the slides.
Take the ENERGY STAR Challenge, increase your Energy IQ, and get rewarded for all of your efforts─ click here to learn more. For more EPA programs on water, waste, power and more, click here.