MERRILLVILLE, IN— At White Lodging Services’ 81 limited-service and full-service properties, energy management is all about getting back to the basics, such as setting back hotel temperatures and reporting leaky faucets. According to Randy Gaines, vp/housekeeping and maintenance, when he implemented his three-tier energy management plan back at the tail end of 2000, he and other corporate executives at White Lodging were concerned about rising energy costs. Thus, Gaines kicked off the plan by hiring an outside firm— Spokane, WA-based ACIS— to track energy usage at all White Lodging properties, which are concentrated in areas such as Northwest Indiana, Chicago, Colorado, Salt Lake City and Austin, TX. “First, we needed to have an understanding of the usage. So we hired [ACIS] and sent all of our energy bills to a data vault for the company to track our usage,” said Gaines. “Once we understood how much energy we were using, we wanted to go to market and get better deals. So, we partnered with Tharaldson— which has an energy group that negotiates deals with power companies— and used our aggregate power to get discounts.” Once discounts were obtained, the next step involved devising simple ways to reduce water, gas and electric usage and cut energy costs. Dubbed “asset optimization,” Gaines looked at each property, and devised checklists each property could implement with the help of all employees. Gaines noted that once the company was able to understand its usage, it was fairly easy to come up with ways to control it. “Once you understand energy usage, you can really control it,” he said. All staff members at the property level now carry asset optimization out daily. Each property’s housekeeping staff is key in this implementation, and that’s why each day the housekeeping staff at each property gathers for pre-shift meetings to reiterate the importance of energy conservation. One of the most important items that the housekeeping personnel check daily are the PTAC units, making sure the temperatures aren’t set excessively high or low, depending on the climate, said Gaines. Other items checked include leaving the drapes open only six inches, reporting faulty equipment and turning off the lights. The maintenance staff at each property also plays a key role, said Gaines. The maintenance department’s energy duties include cleaning PTAC filters quarterly, making sure fluorescent bulbs are in use, doing monthly zone checks on irrigation systems, keeping water pressure between 60 and 80 psi and ensuring exterior doors are properly sealed and weatherstripped. Additionally, each property is required to have monthly, documented energy committee meetings, said Gaines, so that corporate can monitor the program’s effectiveness. Now after almost two years in place, the program has earned the company its first energy accolade. White Lodging’s Courtyard by Marriott Indianapolis Capitol was the first of only two hotels in the U.S. to receive a federal environmental award for its energy savings. The property received an ENERGY STAR performance award from the EPA. The steps this property took to reduce energy included many of those Gaines outlined. Among them were adjusting thermostats; turning off lights; adding timers on lights in storage rooms and other low-trafficked areas; changing laundry hours to off-peak energy use times; and installing water-saving showerheads. As a result of these efforts, energy usage at the property is down 16% compared to last year, and utility costs are down 20%, noted Gaines. Overall, Gaines said the company’s electric usage is down 10% from last year, water usage is down 15% and gas usage is down 3%. In terms of cost, Gaines said the company has saved 9.9% on its electric, 32% on its gas and 7.5% on its water as compared to last year. For a plan that only saw an investment of approximately $160,000 thus far, the savings are significant, said Gaines. That investment was only for a lighting retrofit pr
