Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008 - (Page 26)

26 Energy Star Update IN THE details New rating tool planned Measures performance Tracks entire portfolios To be released in early 2009 H&MM November 3, 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Energy Star to update hotel rating system ince 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program has offered a national energy performance rating for hotels. This 1-to-100 rating system has helped numerous hotel owners and operators enhance their energy-management capabilities, increase energy efﬁciency throughout their properties S By Anna Stark H&MM Columnist and achieve recognition for their successes. In the ﬁrst quarter of 2009, Energy Star will release an updated version of the rating tool. Serving a similar role as the automobile “miles-per-gallon” metric, the Energy Star rating is a measurement of whole-building energy perfor- mance. The rating helps hoteliers assess how efﬁciently their buildings use energy relative to similar hotels nationwide. By tracking performance across an entire portfolio of hotels, users can see which properties are performing at a superior level and which may beneﬁt from operational enhance- ments and other energy efﬁciency upgrades. Furthermore, the tool allows users to track greenhouse gas emissions related to energy use, and it also can be used to monitor water consumption. To date, more than 3,300 hotels (representing over 710 million square feet) have benchmarked their energy performance using this tool. Of these, more than 300 properties have earned the Energy Star, indicating they are performing in the top 25 percent of all hotels nationwide. Commercial buildings that earn the Energy Star use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Recent movement within the marketplace—including the commitment of several major hotel companies to the Energy Star partnership, the growing industry interest in green and the development of state and local legislation requiring buildings to benchmark using Energy Star’s rating—suggests the lodging industry’s use of the tool will increase dramatically in the near future. Energy Star revises its rating tools on a regular basis, subject to the availability of reliable, industrywide data. Like most other Energy Star ratings, the revised hotel rating is based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, which is conducted every four years. In the coming months, Energy Star will be working to ﬁnalize the tool for public release in early 2009. Current users of Portfolio Manager will have their information automatically transitioned into the new model at that time. Energy Star looks forward to delivering this updated tool and encourages hotel owners and operators to pursue energy-management practices through these partnerships. For more information, please visit www.energystar.gov. hmm@questex.com Anna Stark is the national program manager for commercial property markets, Energy Star, United States Environmental Protection Agency. CIRCLE NO. 145 http://www.HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.energystar.gov http://www.onity.com http://www.onity.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008 Contents The Rate Debate Accor Defines Motel 6 Prototype Rollout Holiday Inn Eyes Upscale, Timeshare Perspective Economy Sets Tone at The Lodging Conference Mellow Vibe Meets Bold Design at HD Boutique Expo IH/M&RS to Focus on Going Green Legally Speaking Sales Clinic On Finance Travel Trends Cornell Insights Franchise Law HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Energy Star Update Energy Star Update An Industry Connected People on The Move Annual GM Survey Point-of-Sale Systems IH/M&RS Product Preview Outdoor Lighting Refrigeration Marketplace Ad/Editorial Index Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - November 3, 2008

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