Did you know that the energy consumption of hotels accounts for at least 14% of operating costs, and can reach up to 22%? Are you looking for strategies or technologies to improve energy efficiency in hotels? In this post we give you the keys, providing practical and effective measures, such as upgrading to GPON fiber optic networks. Read on and discover how to reduce costs while improving sustainability.
How much energy and money can your hotel save by improving its energy efficiency?
With the updating of the network infrastructure and another series of measures that we will indicate later, you can achieve significant savings in energy consumption and its associated expenses.
Various estimates put up to 40% of the operating costs of energy consumption that can be saved in a hotel. And something even more significant: reduce between 75% and 89%, CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Energy represents an increasingly larger percentage of the total operating cost of a hotel. This high cost is linked to the high energy demand, both thermal and acoustic as well as light, which guarantees the comfort of the guests. On the other hand, increasingly demanding in relation to their comfort.
GPON fiber optic installation saves up to 172.800 kW per year in one of Cerium's GPON fiber network renewal projects. In addition, the use of intermediate electronics is reduced by 60%.
In this sense, your objective should be to optimize the energy efficiency of your hotel without, in any way, affecting the experience of your clients.s, your comfort, or your offer of products and services.
A balance that, today, we can achieve if a series of measures are applied.
How to improve energy efficiency in hotels?
As a hotel manager or member of the management or financial team, you will almost certainly encounter these two major professional challenges:
- On the one hand, you must provide a high degree of well-being and comfort to your guests and clients, in line with their current needs and expectations.
- But you also have to reduce fixed structural costs, of which a considerable part corresponds to energy costs.
The current context, characterized by a significant rise in the price of electricity and other forms of energy, does not seem ideal for reducing this item. However, it is not an impossible mission, since, as shown in this table extracted from the Guide to Savings and Energy Efficiency in Hotel Establishments in the Valencian Community (p. 35), there is a wide range of consumption in hotels, which translates into different degrees of energy efficiency:
Obviously, your objective must be to ensure that your hotel is in the most advantageous position in terms of energy efficiency, which could be achieved by taking a series of measures and recommendations.
1 illumination
Reducing energy efficiency in hotels begins, of course, by spending less on lighting. To achieve this, you can follow some simple tips that do not require large initial investments. For example:
- Prioritize the use of daylight or natural light with the placement of the appropriate curtains and the optimal distribution of spaces, giving great importance to orientation.
- Replace lamps, spotlights and other conventional light sources with low consumption ones led . It is a small investment that is recovered very quickly, due to the great savings it entails.
- Install presence control switches to avoid having lights on in areas of the hotel where there is no one.
- Adapt the amount and intensity of artificial light to real needs.
- conduct a correct maintenance and cleaning of lamps and luminaires, since it implies a not insignificant energy saving.
2. installation fGPON fiber optic
Did you know that installing the latest technology in your hotel for the deployment of technological services can help you optimize energy expenditure? We are talking about fiber optics GPON (Gigabit capable Passive Optical Network).
The GPON fiber optic system guarantees each and every one of the hotel's guests a high quality and reliable Internet connection, both in the common areas and in their rooms. In addition, it allows the simultaneous sending of voice (VoIP phone), data and additional services, such as digital television (IPTV) or video on demand (VOD).
In addition, fiber optics allow data to be transmitted over greater distances than conventional copper cabling systems. This translates into great energy savings for the following reason: by not having repetition points, through Switch, the distribution elements are passive and do not need electricity for their operation.
It may interest you: Discover all the benefits of GPON for your hotel
3. Apply presence sensors
Introduce home automation and BMS (Building Management Systems) systems that, through sensors and software, make it possible to save electricity or other energy sources in the rooms. Being able to deploy presence sensor technology throughout all hotel rooms is much easier through a GPON fiber optic deployment. With it, the data on whether a room is occupied or empty is efficiently transmitted to systems that allow lighting to be regulated automatically.
4. Heating and air conditioning
Are you worried about reducing your cooling and heating items? Did you know that poor thermal insulation can mean an increase of up to 60% in the energy bill for heating and air conditioning? For this reason, it is essential to ensure that doors, windows, covers and floors are properly insulated. If we add to this a proper maintenance of: heat pumps, boilers, etc, the savings that we can achieve increases.
In addition, if you want to further improve energy efficiency in your hotel, it is important that you consider replacing the conventional copper wiring networks over fiber optic networks. The main reason is that the copper cable requires an electrical supply, so it generates energy in the form of heat and requires significant spending on cooling, increasing maintenance costs. This is something we avoid with the GPON fiber optic.
5. Water saving
You should not underestimate the cost of water, since although it is not as expensive as electricity, in a hotel of a certain volume it can be a significant expense.
The decrease in water consumption not only implies a reduction in spending for this concept, but also provides significant energy savings in hotels, as a result of lower spending on fuel required for heating.
Water consumption due to possible losses in the installation must be eliminated, since it causes a greater consumption of working hours of the pumping equipment, with the consequent increase in energy consumption.
Here are 3 simple measures to optimize energy costs associated with water consumption in your hotel:
- Devote the necessary time to the detection and elimination of water leaks.
- Install flow reduction systems in showers and taps.
- Always use moderate pressure.
6. Install solar energy panels
The roofs are the ideal place to install solar panels and start saving on the electricity bill. Although it is an interesting possibility for all types of accommodation: from an apartment complex to a rural house. At this point there are important aids to finance these projects and achieve a more advantageous amortization.
7. Comparison of energy rates
The market for energy supply and distribution companies is complex and the range of options and types of rates is very wide. In addition, in the current situation of rising prices, a price war between the different companies.
For all these reasons, if you want to save on bills, it is essential that you analyze the conditions of each company and choose the rate or plan that best suits the needs of your hotel.
It may interest you: ITHSAVEHOTEL program, the hotel energy rehabilitation program of the Hotel Technological Institute, a Cerium partner
Energy savings in hotels conCerium
En Cerium we are specialized in GPON technology, which will allow your hotel to increase its Green Star qualification (seal green building for hotels) and reinforce its sustainable image for guests and society. Specifically, the energy benefits of this network make it possible to obtain the LEED Certification (Leadership in energy and environment design) in accordance with the international standard ITU-T. Therefore, a GPON Network contributes significantly to obtaining the LEED Certification for green buildings.
On the other hand, GPON systems are a green technology, since they use fiber optic cabling made of glass. recyclable. In addition, they use up to 90% less copper and up to 60% less energy than traditional networks.
On the other hand, Cerium follows a very active Technological Social Responsibility policy. An example of this is our agreepartnership with the Spanish company ECO-ONE, specialized in 360º hotel sustainability.
The main objective of this agreement is to offer solutions to improve energy efficiency in hotels, with sustainable, efficient and profitable technologies.
Contact us and we will advise you without obligation
