Crowne Plaza Melbourne improves energy efficiency

Crowne Plaza Melbourne, a 4 ½-star hotel located on the banks of the Yarra River, has implemented a number of operational and engineering initiatives over the past few years to reduce energy and water consumption and landfill.

The efforts, led by the Victorian Area Engineering Manager Robin Power, have been backed by property owners Eureka Funds Management, which understand that investments in increasing the energy and resource efficiency of their properties leads to a direct payback through reduced operating costs and increased asset values.

The hotel group worked with energy management consultant mySmartCTI on a series of energy-efficient projects that have delivered positive and measurable energy savings.

Following a successful public area LED lighting upgrade, the hotel management made the decision to upgrade the guestrooms during the course of 2012. Even though the lights were only on for a few hours a day, the energy savings were clearly identifiable and the upgrade was worthwhile. Dimmers in the public areas, which dated from the hotel’s construction in 1988, had been failing over previous months and years. This resulted in lighting in the front of house being on 24 hours a day. In October 2012, these dimmers were upgraded to Clipsal C-Bus, giving the hotel group instant energy savings through scheduled control.

In 2010-11, Crowne Plaza installed variable speed drives and upgraded public area lighting. Installation of variable speed drives on the main air handling units meant that they could be run at around 75% capacity. Variable speed drives regulate the speed of pumps and motors during high and low demand periods. The initiative led to a reduction in the amount of energy required to operate them but ensures the conditions within the hotel still meet guests’ expectations. This project was a joint effort with the Savings in the City program and was partly subsidised by the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development. In 2009-10, the hotel installed the INNcontrol energy management software. Linking directly into the hotel’s property management system, the software allows for real-time control of temperature setbacks. Once a guest has checked out, the software instantly commands a 2°C setback of the room’s temperature. This setback is reversed the moment a new guest checks in and new settings are in already in effect while they are making their way from reception to their room. Other features of the software include: manage information from intelligent devices giving energy trend data; automatic load shedding and peak demand algorithms; interface with PMS, BMS and other hotel systems; reporting of any malfunctioning equipment.

Crowne has already installed over 400 INNcom e4 528 smart digital thermostats. The key energy-saving benefit of this installation is the automatic temperature setback when the in-built PIR detects that the room is empty. The thermostats feature an ecoMODE, which allows guests to voluntarily be involved in the hotel energy-efficiency initiatives. When the button is pressed the temperature setback is increased a further 0.5°C with increased time delays between cooling or heating correction cycles. Other features of the thermostat include: guest-programmable parameters including make up room and do not disturb; balcony door and window monitoring; ecoMODE for guest opt-in involvement in property energy efficiency; mini-bar, safe and smoke detector monitoring; in-built PIR for occupancy reporting.