California resort enjoys lower costs courtesy of energy storage

February 12, 2015

Numerous stores, conference rooms, restaurants and boutiques operate inside large resorts, creating numerous opportunities for energy waste - the Carbon Trust noted that 25 percent of a hotel's electricity costs come from lighting. HVAC also consumes a large amount of electricity- accounting for almost one-third of the energy cost in commercial buildings. In fact, cooling can increase associated carbon emissions by up to 100%. Cooling costs are most expensive for hotels during the peak demand periods, when guests are most actively consuming electricity. Thankfully, these costs can be offset with targeted installation of energy storage, a strategy employed by the Pacific Palms Resort in California. Taking a closer look at the hotel's approach to energy storage provides key insights into how any hotel and/or resort could cut their costs by shifting peak demand.

Pacific Palms deploys energy conservation strategies
Recently finished upgrades to the Pacific Palms Resort, including the addition of energy storage, resulted in the reduction of energy costs by over $300,000, not including operational discounts or the value of rebates the company received for its more energy efficient HVAC equipment. HVAC industry leader Trane recognized the Pacific Palms Resort for its commitment to operational and energy efficiency by awarding its "Energy Efficiency Leader Award" to the hotel. One of the biggest improvements made to the hotel was the replacement of aging, inefficient HVAC equipment and controls with state-of-the-art chillers. By integrating that technology with  a wireless building automation system, variable speed drive plus thermal energy storage, the Pacific Palms Resort is ensuring a comfortable environment for the hotel employees and guests.

Thermal storage minimizes chiller use
Trane partnered with staff at the Pacific Palms Resort to perform a comprehensive audit of the hotel, identifying energy conservation strategies. By exploring over 200 points of data, the team recognized that energy measurement and management was critical to the long term success of the hotel. Several energy storage technologies were available, but the decision-makers at the Pacific Palms decided that ice thermal storage was a right fit for the hotel. Over a dozen ice storage tanks sit just outside the hotel, storing energy at night when power costs are at their lowest. This inexpensive stored energy is then used to cool the resort throughout the day, minimizing the need to run the centrifugal chiller and minimizing energy costs even further. These improvements are expected to contribute to hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings for the hotel, and have already earned kudos from sustainability minded companies and customers.