Energy Auditing and Efficiency in a Chain Hotel : the Case of Scandic, Järva Krog

Abstract:   Energy efficiency and conservation measures in hotels is an area of research at the Department of Energy Technology, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH), Sweden. As a continuation of the research work, this project was focused on a hotel's resource-use performance, considering both internal and external factors that influence their consumption. The work comprised a literature study on energy efficiency and conservation measures in the built environment, focusing on hotel buildings, as well as an analysis of existing building assessment tools. An auditing and monitoring process was applied at one Scandic hotel, Järva Krog, which was selected with the support of Scandic management. Another four Scandic hotels were included in this study, using their data on energy/water consumption for the past five years.  The tourism industry is one of the world’s largest single industries, experiencing rapid expansion in recent decades. The number of international tourist arrivals increased from 441 million in 1990 to 763 million in 2004 (WTO, 2005). The hotel industry forms the largest part of the tourism industry with more than 300 000 hotels worldwide. Hotels offer their lodging capacities with the highest possible comfort and quality, without compromise. High demands on comfort and the level of services offered require an intensive utilization of energy and water.  The price of energy has been increasing continuously during the last few years, with electricity increasing 6 % on an annual basis, which has made energy expenses increase rapidly during the past years. Adding high energy costs to concerns about CO2 emissions, highlights the importance of accurate information for energy management within any hotel facility. A need to decrease energy expenditure demands depending of knowledge relating to hotel facility consumption.  The objective of this thesis is to understand energy performance and energy distribution within one typical chain hotel facility, and how this understanding can be applied to a selected group of similar hotels as well as to define the relationship between the factors behind energy expenditure. Such factors include outdoor climate as an external quantitative factor; HVAC system efficiency, lighting, occupancy rate and number of food covers sold as internal quantitative factors; and personnel behavior, operation/maintenance routines/levels as internal qualitative factors.