NOVOTEL LANGLEY HOTEL

Hotel takes 'green' approach to building maintenance.

When Perth's Novotel Langley Hotel was built in 1987, there were only limited energy conservation initiatives installed during its construction. Since the building's completion, the owners have consistently been looking at energy and water saving initiatives. As the hotel was well engineered and well built, it has been possible to initiate a successful energy program built on the back of a sound structural platform.

Initiatives

The initial initiatives included:
- Installing an Energy Management System
- Installing carbon monoxide sensors (use of this technology was rare in commercial buildings in the 80s)
- Implementing appropriate maintenance programs on all mechanical plants
- Creating high awareness amongst staff and management of water and energy issues.

Ian Knox, director of Hotel fm Pty Ltd - the company contracted to instigate and manage energy saving initiatives at the hotel - said the hotel was yet another building that confirmed the ability to "be green and be profitable at the same time."

"Energy efficient lighting was installed to all hotel rooms in 1991; a total of 1250 incandescent lights were replaced in accommodation rooms with energy efficient compact fluoros. The hotel rooms were refurbished in 2005. At that time approximately 80% of the original energy efficient lights were still in place, reflecting a significant maintenance benefit over the previous 14 years," he explained.

There were also other improvements made to the technology-based systems from 1997 onwards.

Electronic Valves

- Electronic valves were fitted to the reciprocating chiller sets. Net electricity consumption was reduced on the central plant by approximately 19% or 170,000 kWh per annum
- Water consumption on the cooling tower was reduced by some 14%
- Maintenance costs rose on the cooling tower fans but this additional cost was outweighed by the benefits of the reduced operating costs
- Calculated financial paybacks, including water savings, was calculated at 1.4 years.

"As a result of the initiatives the maintenance frequencies were halved on the chiller sets due to the reduced run time and more efficient operation," said Mr Knox.

"This reduced costs by a further $3,000 per annum."

Heat Reclaim

A series of heat reclaim de-superheaters were installed onto the central chiller sets in 1998. These preheat potable water for the main hotel potable hot water generators. Between November and April, 90% of the hotel's hot water requirements are provided by the waste heat taken from the chillers. This has led to a gas energy usage reduction of approximately 41% or 1.8 gigajoules of energy per annum.

"Once again, water consumption was reduced significantly on the cooling tower due to the fact that all the heat being pumped out to the cooling tower was then being transferred to the hotel's hot water systems," Mr Knox explained.

"At its peak summer loading (February), the cooling tower's consumption reduced by approximately 19,000 litres per day, which was an extraordinary result."

Annual savings of these initiatives were calculated at $29,000 per annum with a payback period of approximately 18 months. The combination of energy reductions and significant water reductions is a good example of how energy management initiatives often have other benefits.

In 1999, a significant investment was made to replace the Energy Management System and to upgrade the chiller controllers with a modern digital platform. The introduction of this system allowed the operators to better manage, track and maintain the total building services.

"The hotel was recently sold and now has new owners," Mr Knox said

"The due diligence process highlighted the exceptional condition of the hotel's mechanical and heating systems and the benefits that result from long term energy and maintenance systems. A comment was passed that the mechanical systems were in as good condition as when they were installed some 19 years earlier."

One of the keys to the program and ongoing investment by the hotel owner was the monitoring and tracking program that was implemented in 1987. Consistent evidence from both a conservation and financial perspective convinced the owners to continue focusing in this area.

The Future

In order to retain all the benefits achieved over the previous 18 years it is planned that the current infrastructure will be maintained as well as the condition of the chillers, AHU and mechanical systems and the BMS.