The Issue

For over 15 years, Burton has been working with a national hotel ownership group with a portfolio of more than 100 hotels in 23 states. Support services include:

• Utility information management and performance reporting
• Deregulated energy contract management
• Energy and water efficiency strategy, including energy and water audits
• Turnkey project management services

In response to national energy rates recently increasing 13% and water/sewer rates increasing 50% over the past decade, Burton proactively engaged the client on efficiency audits designed to identify quick-to-market solution that reduce energy and water usage and overall operating expense across the portfolio.

The Burton Solution

Burton views energy and water audits as an important first step to improve profitability and reduce the environmental footprint of facilities. Typically, through an ASHRAE Level 2 audit, energy efficiency opportunities leading to a 10-15% energy reduction are identified while for water audits, measures identified typically lead to 20-30% water reduction.

To begin, Burton performed a desktop analysis for each hotel within the client’s portfolio, establishing metrics of kBTU per Square Foot for energy intensity and Gallons per Occupied Room for water intensity. These were then benchmarked against peer hotels to identify those facilities with the greatest savings potential.

Based on the desktop analysis, the client decided to move forward with energy, water, and/or retrocommissioning audits at over 50 hotels within their portfolio. As audits were completed, energy and water efficiency measures that met specific payback criteria were selected for implementation. In total, 117 energy and water efficiency measures were selected for installation.

Burton provided turnkey implementation support for the project which included soliciting proposals from a qualified vendor network, providing proposal comparison and review, and recommending vendors for each project. Once selected, Burton managed each project by coordinating schedules, managing budgets, verifying scope completion, and securing available utility rebates and incentives.

Upon completion, Burton performed measurement and verification of the savings at each hotel using monthly utility data stored in Burton’s Energy Strategy Platform. Savings were calculated by comparing usage and cost data from before and after the projects were completed, normalizing for weather, occupancy, and other variables that impact consumption.

In total, Burton’s audits and project management services resulted in $1.28 million in cumulative savings for the client. Typical efficiency measures implemented include:

• LED lighting upgrades in public spaces, back-of-house spaces, and guestrooms.
• Guestroom plumbing fixture replacement and commissioning; including toilets, showers, and faucets.
• HVAC controls optimization, retrocommissioning, and installation of variable frequency drives.
• Installation of demand control kitchen ventilation systems.