Portola Hotel and Spa Energy Audit
Chris Saiz, Technical Solutions Engineer with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) met us in the engineering department of the Portola Hotel and Spa http://www.portolahotel.com/. Portola's Chief Building Engineer, Al Hittle and George Lewis from the Engineering Departmentwere on hand as we began conducting a Level I Energy Audit walk through of the building for the Portola Hotel's LEED Existing Building Operations and Maintenance certification. The account manager for PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric), Alex Calvillo, was able to arrange this audit with Chris. Alex was present as well as Alicia Kilgore from PG&E.
We did not expect to find many lighting upgrade opportunities, since the staff at the Portola Hotel had been committed to energy savings long before they decided to register with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Undaunted, Chris was able to uncover large areas in Jack's Lounge that could be converted from 50 watt MR16 halogen lights to 3 watt LED equivalents. He was quick to notice incandescent lights that could be replaced with CFL's in some of the lobby areas. Chris made a point of observing the intent of the lighting. If it was directional, he would lean toward LED lighting, even in favor of efficient fluorescent lights.
The Portola Hotel has quite a large kitchen area that serves restaurants as well as banquets. Chris observed the walk in refrigeration and kitchen equipment. He had suggestions that would provide PG&E incentives to purchase or upgrade equipment. This is valuable information for future reference. As equipment requires major repairs, knowing the incentives for replacing the equipment, as well as energy savings makes better informed buying decisions.
Similar to most luxury hotels, the Portola Hotel and Spa has a dedicated laundry operation. The hotel has a state of the art co-generation plant that helps make the laundry operation very efficient. This did not stop Chris though. He saw opportunities to preheat water before it entered washing machines and talked about heat exchange technology for the dryer operations. We also discussed time of day usage and the potential to change the schedule of operations to reduce the impact of peak time rates.
We managed to brave some rather vocal seagulls on the roof top. Chris was able to give suggestions on improving operations of the chiller and air handling units. Some efficiencies include managing the time of use with variable frequency drives (http://www.joliettech.com/what_is_a_variable_frequency_drive.htm) Another strategy is adjusting the amount of outside air that is conditioned. Many systems have the outside air set to take in the minimum amount allowed by code. There is a benefit to bringing in more than that level of air in an area like Monterey's Central Coast that has natural air conditioning. There is less energy expended to cool this air and guests get the benefit of more fresh air.
No walk through would be complete with out a sampling of rooms. We were fortunate to tour some of these gorgeous rooms. It was hard to focus on saving energy when you are enjoying a terrific view of the Monterey Harbor and marina. We did manage to find some potential savings. Even a relatively small savings can get big when you consider it is multiplied over more than 300 rooms.
Finally, Chris was able to give us some suggestions on reducing demand for computers. Chris works primarily in the Silicon Valley, so data center energy management is a core competency for him. He made a point for virtualization using products similar to Vmware to reduce the amount of servers in the data center. Each server generates 255 watts for 8000 hours a year. It also requires about 350 watts of cooling...so this can add up! He is also a big proponent of energy management software that could shutdown any of the 80 computers that the hotel uses as they become idle.
We will be awaiting a report from Chris about his observations. We will use that report to implement low cost no cost solutions. We will also form a long term capital plan based on upgrades that will present some large opportunities. This is where the LEED certification process challenges you to a higher benchmark of achievement. As a result, the Portola Hotel and Spa will have terrific energy savings, and a great place to stay for the green minded traveler
We did not expect to find many lighting upgrade opportunities, since the staff at the Portola Hotel had been committed to energy savings long before they decided to register with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Undaunted, Chris was able to uncover large areas in Jack's Lounge that could be converted from 50 watt MR16 halogen lights to 3 watt LED equivalents. He was quick to notice incandescent lights that could be replaced with CFL's in some of the lobby areas. Chris made a point of observing the intent of the lighting. If it was directional, he would lean toward LED lighting, even in favor of efficient fluorescent lights.
The Portola Hotel has quite a large kitchen area that serves restaurants as well as banquets. Chris observed the walk in refrigeration and kitchen equipment. He had suggestions that would provide PG&E incentives to purchase or upgrade equipment. This is valuable information for future reference. As equipment requires major repairs, knowing the incentives for replacing the equipment, as well as energy savings makes better informed buying decisions.
Similar to most luxury hotels, the Portola Hotel and Spa has a dedicated laundry operation. The hotel has a state of the art co-generation plant that helps make the laundry operation very efficient. This did not stop Chris though. He saw opportunities to preheat water before it entered washing machines and talked about heat exchange technology for the dryer operations. We also discussed time of day usage and the potential to change the schedule of operations to reduce the impact of peak time rates.
We managed to brave some rather vocal seagulls on the roof top. Chris was able to give suggestions on improving operations of the chiller and air handling units. Some efficiencies include managing the time of use with variable frequency drives (http://www.joliettech.com/what_is_a_variable_frequency_drive.htm) Another strategy is adjusting the amount of outside air that is conditioned. Many systems have the outside air set to take in the minimum amount allowed by code. There is a benefit to bringing in more than that level of air in an area like Monterey's Central Coast that has natural air conditioning. There is less energy expended to cool this air and guests get the benefit of more fresh air.
No walk through would be complete with out a sampling of rooms. We were fortunate to tour some of these gorgeous rooms. It was hard to focus on saving energy when you are enjoying a terrific view of the Monterey Harbor and marina. We did manage to find some potential savings. Even a relatively small savings can get big when you consider it is multiplied over more than 300 rooms.
Finally, Chris was able to give us some suggestions on reducing demand for computers. Chris works primarily in the Silicon Valley, so data center energy management is a core competency for him. He made a point for virtualization using products similar to Vmware to reduce the amount of servers in the data center. Each server generates 255 watts for 8000 hours a year. It also requires about 350 watts of cooling...so this can add up! He is also a big proponent of energy management software that could shutdown any of the 80 computers that the hotel uses as they become idle.
We will be awaiting a report from Chris about his observations. We will use that report to implement low cost no cost solutions. We will also form a long term capital plan based on upgrades that will present some large opportunities. This is where the LEED certification process challenges you to a higher benchmark of achievement. As a result, the Portola Hotel and Spa will have terrific energy savings, and a great place to stay for the green minded traveler
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