Hotels React To NYC Energy Emergency

NEW YORK— As the Northeast bakes under extreme temperatures of up to 96 degrees, New York City has declared an energy emergency and is asking local buildings to participate in voluntary load reductions throughout the workday today, August 7. Con Edison, the city’s energy provider, has asked businesses in the metro area to turn off all perimeter lighting wherever possible and to turn off lights and systems that are not needed, such as unused conference rooms. Some hotels in the area are taking heed of the energy warning, and are stepping up, or continuing, their existing conservation efforts. Nick Bellantoni, director of engineering at the Regent Wall Street in the city’s financial district said, “We’ve been doing things according to that [directive]all along,” noting that as of 2:50 p.m. August 7, he had not seen any directive from Con Edison. “We make sure the lights are shut off in areas with meeting space, banquet space, board rooms,” including the hotel’s signature 12,000-square-foot ballroom. Air conditioners also are shut down in any of the 144 rooms that are not in use, and temperatures have been raised slightly (to 74 degrees) in rooms that are being used, he said. The property also has the advantage of being constructed of marble and other stone. “We don’t get a lot of sun into internal space. We’re surrounded by a lot of tall buildings, so we don’t get a lot of effect from the outside heat,” said Bellantoni. “We get by with 74 degrees without any problem.” A lot of the systems also are on timers, said Bellantoni, so when the lounge or restaurant closes, the air conditioning systems automatically shut down. Since business “is slow right now,” a couple of service elevators have been shut off. “It’s a vigil,” said Bellantoni. “We’ve been on it because our energy bills have been very high.” He added if Con Edison has recommendations or suggestions “that we’re not doing already, then we’ll look at it….we’ve really been working on keeping it as low as we could.” Tom Downing, assistant general manager of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Central Park West, said he was not contacted by Con Edison regarding the “voluntarily” reduction of energy usage during the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on August 7. According to Downing, Con Edison has a long-standing voluntary power-conservation program, but the hotel was not asked to be part of that program, because it is a young (five years old), highly energy-efficient building that features comparatively little in the way of public (or non-essential) space. Moreover, in the five years it has been in operation, the hotel has never experienced a brown-out or major power disruption. Even if it did, the hotel can utilize a bank of emergency generators to produce essential power, and has battery back-ups to ensure the switchover from city power to generator power is smooth and virtually seamless. As for the aforementioned Con Edison program, Downing noted that— while the “right” thing to do would be to say yes and do one’s part in the name of energy conservation if approached on the subject— the demands placed on his property as a luxury hotel would make wholesale compliance with such a request a commercial difficulty.