Hawaiian Hotel Counters Rising Electricity Cost With EnOcean Technology
Contrary to what you might believe, the sun does not always shine for hotel owners in Hawaii. They are not only feeling the present economic slump, the price of electricity has reached a record level and obviously shows as a big minus on their balance sheet. Figures released by the US Department of Energy show that the basic price for electricity in Hawaii is almost three times that of the national average. That has a lot to do with the fact that the island‘s electricity is generated by burning expensive, imported crude oil. Instead of watching their profits virtually go up in smoke because of the price of power, the management of Hawaii‘s Kahana Falls Hotel looked for a way of cutting cost and reducing their consumption of valuable raw materials. In this way they came across EnOcean‘s self-powered wireless technology.
Power consumption down and carbon footprint smaller
The project involved retrofitting 106 rooms with energysaving solutions that work on alternative sources. The new energy management system enables the Kahana Falls Hotel to both reduce its power consumption and help do something against climate change. 20 percent less power consumption enables the system implemented here to reduce annual carbon emissions by 145,000 kg. The hotel rooms were fitted with wireless key card switches, presence detectors and door sensors. The wireless key card switch from Echoflex Solutions functions as a master switch for the hotel rooms. A presence detector automatically cuts out the air-conditioning as soon as a guest takes their key card out of the dock and leaves a room. A door sensor, powered by a solar cell, recognizes the status of doors and windows and will also switch off the air-conditioning for example, after a set length of time, if the door to a balcony is open. Signals for the cableless and batteryless light switches and sensors are converted into switching functions by relay receivers from ILLUMRA.
Speed of installation prevents operating loss
Given the financial and ecological benefits, shortterm shutdowns for the purpose of installation were easily accepted. The hotel did not have to be closed for any lengthy period because attachment of the EnOcean-enabled cableless sensors and switches is so fast and straightforward. Almost all rooms were ready booked, so the loss through installing cabled switches and sensors would have cancelled out the immediate gain resulting from the project. Not forgetting all the effort, discomfort and inconvenience involved in routing cables through concrete walls and ceilings. A further advantage of the new EnOcean technology is the fact that the sensors and switches are self-powered, so they need no maintenance, i.e. battery replacement, for their entire lifetime.
An investment that pays back
Taking power consumption, occupancy statistics and installation costs all into consideration, an investment with sponsoring by the state will have paid back within eight months – or 16 months without state promotion. Then there are the ecological advantages of course, through less air pollution and reduced consumption of raw materials.
(Source www.hotelsmag.com, 30.11.2009)