SUSTAINABLE HOTEL DESIGN
2.3 FREE-OF CHARGE ONLINE SELF-ADMINISTERED ENERGY AUDIT (FOSEA)
• Incentive program costs to include materials and rewards (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2001).
Although each hospitality organization must take into consideration the challenges and costs of implementing an energy management program and conducting energy audits, it is important to retain a return on investment ap- proach to decision making. Continuous energy price increases can be offset against the benefits accrued through auditing Energy management and au- diting may be best described by the adage “one needs to spend money to save money.” Hospitality organizations are advised to devise a budget with predetermined funding and a quantification of expenses (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2001). Additionally, small- and medium-sized hospital- ity organizations and hospitality entrepreneurs may be particularly interested in the use of Free-of charge Online Self-administered Energy Audit (FOSEA) tools that can assist in the challenges of energy auditing and reduce the costs.
2.3 FREE-OF CHARGE ONLINE SELF-ADMINISTERED ENERGY
2.3.1 FOSEA TOOLS APPLICABLE TO HOTELS
The six most dominant tools applicable to hotel energy auditing as identified by Legrand et al. (2012) are reviewed accordingly.
2.3.1.1 HOTEL ENERGY SOLUTIONS E-TOOLKIT
The Hotel Energy Solutions (HES) toolkit is the result of a partnership be- tween the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA), the French Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie (Environment and Energy Management Agency or ADEME) and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) (HES, 2011). HES helps small and medium-sized hoteliers to measure, analyze and reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions in their operations (HES, 2011). The tool requires registration but is free of charge to all hoteliers (and non-hoteliers) and can be used in a multitude of geographical conditions (see http://www.hes-unwto.org).
2.3.1.2 ENERGIE-SPARPROGRAMM OF THE ENERGIEKAMPAGNE GASTGEWERBE
The Energiekampagne Gastgewerbe (energy campaign accommodation in- dustry) is a project initiated by the Deutsche Hotel-und Gaststättenverband (DEHOGA), the German Hotel and Restaurant Association. The tool aims to help German hotels and restaurants improve all aspects of energy efficiency.
The tool is free of charge to all DEHOGA members (see http://energiekam- pagne-gastgewerbe.de/) (DEHOGA, n.d.).
2.3.1.3 HOTEL POWER
Hotelpower is developed and managed by the Swiss hotel association Hotel- leriesuisse and aims at the improvement of energy efficiency in the hotel and gastronomy sectors. Hotelpower is available without any registration and can be used for properties in different countries but of similar geographical factors (see http://www.hotelpower.ch/) (Hotelpower, n.d.).
2.3.1.4 HOTEL ENERGY CHECK
Hotel Energy Check is an initiative of Green Globe, a certification program for the travel and tourism sector, in cooperation with Avireal AG a facility management company headquartered in Switzerland. Hotel Energy Check calculates the hotel’s saving potential and provides benchmarking and tips (see http://www.hotelenergycheck.ch) (Energy Check, 2004).
2.3.1.5 ENERGY STAR PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Energy Star is a program of the United States Environmental Protection Agen- cy (EPA) and the United States Department of Energy, aiming at the reduction of energy usage and the increase in energy efficiency in private homes as well as large enterprises (Star, n.d.). Through the certification program, products and buildings in the United States are assessed according to energy efficiency.
Energy Star offers a Portfolio Manager that is part of the FOSEA tool to assess energy and water consumption of buildings. The Portfolio Manager awards a performance score relative to similar properties, ranging from one to 100. For scores of 75 or above, a property is eligible for the EPA’s Energy Star (see https://www.energystar.gov/istar/pmpam/) (Star, n.d.).
2.3.1.6 GREENQUEST
The FOSEA GreenQuest was instigated by EnergyCAP an energy manage- ment software retailer. It enables the user to track the usage and cost of elec- tricity, water and fuel for a single building. Additionally, it tracks the build- ings’ carbon footprint and in correlation with Energy Star can benchmark the building against similar properties (See http://www.energycap.com/products/
greenquest-features/energy-starbenchmarking) (GreenQuest, n.d.).
2.3.2 RECOMMENDED DATA PREPARATION FOR FOSEA TOOLS
The basic premise of each of these tools is to assist small and medium sized hotels, which may not have the necessary resources to pay a professional in- house audit team nor the financial means to hire an energy consultant to in- crease their use of energy efficiency (EE) and invest in renewable energy (RE) technologies. The outcome of a self-audit should be three-fold: (1) a reduction of costs (2) an increase in competitiveness and (3) a reduction of the industry’s
impact on climate change. The depth of data used or requested by the various FOSEA tools varies immensely. To provide a clear and reliable picture of a property’s energy performance one can apply the adage ‘the more data the better the output.’ The choice of which tool is based on multiple factors such as geographical location, complexity or flexibility of the tool or desired sup- port from a national hotel association. It is recommended that any tools avail- able to hoteliers should incorporate eight major sections: (1) type of hotel; (2) occupancy figures; (3) staffing figures; (4) building features; (5) geographical location; (6) hotel size and types of facilities; (7) energy consumption and (8) energy efficiency activities implemented to date (see Table 1).