Spain. The InterContinental hotel in Madrid is meeting its environmental objectives by equipping its HVAC systems with ABB converters and high-efficiency motors. Energy consumption has been reduced by 445,000 kWh per year, enough to boil two million water kettles.
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), with some 5,000 hotels of 12 brands, is betting heavily on sustainability. Through its "Green Engage" programme, IHG has already achieved that, between 2013 and 2017, its hotels and resorts reduce their energy consumption by up to 25%. A key aspect in energy reduction is heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, which can account for between 60 and 80% of all the energy consumed by a hotel.
"Through the IHG Green Engage program, each of our hotels has to achieve certain environmental goals. Of course, without compromising the comfort or well-being of our guests one iota," explains Esteban Rodríguez, chief engineer of the InterContinental Hotel Madrid. A detailed energy study carried out by Exel Industrial – ABB's official supplier for sales, support, service and engineering in Madrid – revealed that the hotel's energy consumption was high, especially in the eight pump groups that service its heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and the supply of hot water for the rooms, kitchens and other facilities.
Based on these results, the pumping systems were equipped with 13 ABB ACH550 frequency converters and 16 electric motors, with IE3 energy efficiency rating, and integrated into the building management systems. This improvement provides the system, as a whole, with greater stability and energy efficiency, as the engine speeds are now adjusted and adapted to the precise energy demand of each moment.
ABB's intelligent motion solutions enable energy savings of approximately 40%, helping IHG not only meet, but exceed its Green Engage goals. This is equivalent in one year to 445,000 kilowatt hours (kWh), which reduces the hotel's annual energy bill by $ 37,000 and allows the investment to be amortized in less than two years.
As a result of IHG's Green Engage program, the hotel's ecological impact has been reduced by 253 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. If similar energy savings could be repeated in just a quarter of the estimated 187,000 hotels in the world (according to STR Global), global CO2 emissions could be reduced by nearly 12 million tonnes a year, which would be roughly equivalent to shutting down three coal-fired power plants.
Research published by the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) shows that the hotel industry currently accounts for 1% of all global emissions. This figure will increase as tourism continues to grow and if, as estimated, the total number of hotel rooms worldwide goes from 17.5 million to more than 25 million in 2050.
Source: ABB.
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