TORONTO—With more than 60 luxury properties around the world, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a diverse collection of new-builds, such as its hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan; historic hotels like its 124-year-old Banff Springs hotel in Alberta, Canada; and a number of contemporary hotels, such as those in Washington, DC and Scottsdale, AZ.
One of the corporate priorities unifying the entire portfolio has been a sustainability program. Under that environment-friendly umbrella, meanwhile, has been an aggressive energy management program targeted specifically at reducing the hotels’ carbon dioxide or CO2 output.
As a member of the World Wildlife Fund Climate Savers initiative, Fairmont has pledged to cut its operational CO2 emissions to 20% below 2006 levels by the end of this year. According to Sarah Dayboll, Fairmont’s director of environmental affairs, the brand has taken positive steps to curb energy usage and lower greenhouse gas emissions around the world.
Data control
At the corporate level, Fairmont created what Dayboll refers to as an “internal framework” to track, monitor and report on key energy and carbon data. On a regional basis, the brand identified managers (it calls “champions”) who were given the responsibility of overseeing audit and data controls.
And in another type of effort to empower rank-and-file employees, Fairmont created an Engineer of the Year Award intended to recognize and reward outstanding performance related to sustainability and the environment.
Last, but not least, Fairmont adopted a formal sustainable design and construction policy, which should help bring consistency and clarity to these matters, given how quickly the company has been expanding around the world, including in markets where sustainability might not be the highest priority.
For Dayboll, the 20% reduction goal, while ambitious, should prove achievable. “It’s meant focusing our efforts on improved energy efficiency, converting to low carbon technologies and solutions and by promoting conservation practices generally among our more than 30,000 colleagues worldwide,” she reported.
Moving next to the individual property level, Dayboll and her team identified a number of Fairmont hotels that have had particular success with projects designed to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Singling out individual properties poses a challenge, given that the age and location of the properties varies with climate conditions in different parts of the world differing dramatically.
Following are four examples at hotels from Dubai to San Francisco to London:
Recalibrating in the Middle East: At the Fairmont Dubai, one of two Fairmont properties in the United Arab Emirates, managers have been able to optimize the building’s temperature controls and humidity settings, resulting in a 17.1% reduction in greenhouse gases in the course of a four-year period. Greenhouse gases are so important because they affect the Earth’s temperature. Without these gases, the Earth’s surface would average about 33 degrees centigrade less than the present average, according to climatologists.
From oil to electric in Quebec: Managers at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, Charlevoix Hotel in LaMalbaie, Quebec, Canada, converted two boilers from oil to electric, in the process helping the property cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75%, despite having more guests in house. In addition to CO2, the gases that contribute most heavily to the greenhouse gas effect are water vapor, methane and ozone. While water vapor leaves the atmosphere relatively quickly, the others, including CO2, take years to dissipate.
Turning to thermostats in San Francisco: Over the same period of time, the historic Fairmont San Francisco, located at the top of fashionable Nob Hill, installed occupancy-sensing thermostats in guestrooms and adjusted the daily schedule of its heating and air conditioning HVAC system. The result was a 12.1% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
Working towards energy independence in London: The recent extensive renovation of the historic Savoy, a Fairmont managed hotel, here, included incorporating new systems designed at energy conservation. High on the list was the installation of a new combined heat and power plant known as a CHP facility. The new system helped reduce the hotel’s reliance on Britain’s national power grid by approximately 50%.
Added as well to the hotel located on the Strand overlooking the Thames River were new energy efficient boilers, smart meters and a waste management system that recycles up to 90% of the property’s waste, converting it into an energy source.