Fairmont Chateau Whistler
The Story
$42,000 in annual savings. Now that’s a wake up call.
"At The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, our goal is to be an industry leader in projects that will move us towards a more sustainable planet. Energy efficiency is one of the obvious first steps. The great thing about becoming energy-efficient is that it reduces our operating costs, thus making us more profitable and able to invest in other sustainability projects."
-Dan McGowan, Director of Operations, Fairmont Chateau Whistler
The Situation
The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, part of the nation-wide Fairmont Hotels & Resorts chain, was built in 1989. The hotel has 550 guestrooms, as well as restaurants and conference space for a total floor space of 485,000 square feet. Dan McGowan, Director of Operations together with Dan Wilson, Sustainability Coordinator and their management team identified lighting as a significant component of the hotel’s energy consumption and saw it as an opportunity to save money on energy costs, reduce materials use and enhance the brightness of guest rooms. In addition, maintenance staff wanted to reduce the number of light bulbs they had to change each year.
Improving the lighting was a natural fit with the hotel’s long-held commitment to a green program of environmental stewardship and its constant efforts to move towards a more sustainable operation.
The Solution
Senior operations staff prepared a business case for a hotel-wide lighting retrofit based on an energy study previously undertaken. They estimated that the simple payback would take 36 months, longer than the payback required for senior management approval. Nick Ferri, BC Hydro Key Account Manager suggested that they submit an application to the Power Smart Incentive Fund. The Incentive Fund is available to Power Smart Partners and provides funding based on a competitive process to shorten paybacks on energy efficiency projects. The Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s application was successful. With Power Smart Incentive funding, the project met internal payback requirements and was carried out in winter 2002.
"The Fairmont Chateau Whistler is a Power Smart Partner, and Dan Wilson and his crew have been very pro-active in finding opportunities to be more energy-efficient. BC Hydro was pleased to be a catalyst to enable this project to go ahead," says Nick Ferri.
The project included:
- Upgrading all 1,300 fluorescent luminaires in areas where lights must be on all the time, such as hallways and parking garages, with T8 lamps and electronic ballasts that are 30% more efficient.
- Replacing all 4,000 guest room incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs that are 75% more energy-efficient and last much longer.
The Benefits
Cost savings
The lighting retrofit will reduce The Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s overall energy use by 10% and produce electricity cost savings of $42,000 a year. This includes savings on air conditioning costs, resulting from the fact that energy-efficient lights generate less waste heat than conventional lights. The hotel will achieve additional savings through lowered maintenance costs, due to the longer life of the energy-efficient bulbs.
Brighter rooms
Compact fluorescent lamps produce more light with less electricity, enhancing brightness and guest comfort.
Reduced environmental impacts
The lighting retrofit will result in reduced materials through utilizing smaller equipment and will decrease the amount of greenhouse gases released by the hotel by 50 tonnes a year based on BC Hydro’s 2001 figures.
Progress towards sustainability
Installing energy-efficient lighting supports The Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s goal of becoming a more sustainable operation. It also fits well with the hotel’s commitment to other sustainability strategies, including moving towards zero waste, upgrading to more efficient and environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems, purchasing green electricity and providing sustainability education to staff.
Contact Us
Find out how Power Smart programs could help your business improve efficiencies while reducing your energy costs. Call us today at 1 866 453-6400.
