Green Business Plan Statistics for an Environmentally Friendly Hotel

I have stood on my soap box for years talking about the wisdom of running a green B&B. I’ve been asked several times to review how much money is saved by conserving water and energy, only two of the resources I urge innkeepers to conserve. Here is a list of statistics about the actual resource savings for you to apply your water and energy rates to for coming up with how much you will save by implementing an environmentally friendly operations program.

washing machine50 gal/load20-25 gal/load

	New	Old
toilet	1.6 gal/flush	5 gal/flush
shower	2-3 gal/min	5-8 gal/min
sink	2-3 gal/min	3-7 gal/min
dishwasher	4-10 gal/load	9-12 gal/load	by hand: 20 gal
	Top loader	Front loader

• A typical hotel uses 218 gallons of water per day per occupied room. Compare that to the
  U.S. average per capita consumption of 70 gallons per day.
• Water efficient fixtures can reduce water consumption by 25-30%
• commercial front loaders: use proportionately less water than a front loader

Gas facts include:

• using a cold water wash saves the 20-40 gallons (newer washers) of water you used from being heated
• using a front loading washer with a warm wash saves money over a top loader
• gas water heaters are more energy efficient than electric water heaters
• gas is a more efficient heating fuel, be it air or water, than electricity

Laundry costs, when it comes to electricity, look like this:

Wash/Rinse	kWh/yr	Cost	Assumptions
Hot/Cold	1517	$155	39 gal/load
Warm/Cold	825	$ 93	380 loads/yr
Cold/Cold	103	$ 10	electric heat,   $0.10/kWh

And if the rinse cycle for the hot wash is hot, or the warm wash is warm, there would be even
higher operating costs than illustrated here.

• dryer — uses an average 4.1 kWh/load (varies by machine size)
• washing machine water temperature comparisons, from the Rocky Mountain Institute

Now, lets compare the total cost of doing laundry, looking at a top and front loading washing machine cost, from RMI.

• • Assumptions:
    • Water costs $2,00 per 1,000 gallons
    • Electricity costs $.02 per kWh

 

Top Loader:		Front Loader:
* Electricity	2.33 kWh	* Electricity	0.65 kWh
	$0.19/load		$0.05/load
Water	50 gal	Water	25 gal
	$0.10/load		$0.05/load
Load Cost:	$0.29	Load Cost:	$0.19
* Gas	0.06 therm	* Gas	0.60 therm
	$0.09/load		$0.03/load
Water	50 gal	Water	25 gal
	$0.10/load		$0.04/load
Load Cost:	$0.19	Load Cost:	$0.08

Let’s look at an average bed and breakfast’s laundry costs, using a front loading washer and electric dryer.

Annual B&B Laundry Costs

Assume $0.19/load. 50% occupancy, 365 days, for a B&B size of:
laundry frequency	Small (2 rooms)	Average (8 rooms)	Large (25 rooms)
daily	$69.35	$277.40	$866.88
every other day	$34.68	$138.70	$433.44
every third day	$23.12	$92.47	$288.96
Savings of up to:	$46.23	$184.93	$577.92

Lighting is a huge energy consumer. Changing your lights from incandescent to compact fluorescent (CFL) will save you considerable money. Here are some facts to help show you the light.

• • Electricity use accounts for 60-70% of utility costs at a typical hotel
  • Guest lighting equals about 30-40% of hotels’ energy consumption
  • The best lights to use CFL bulbs in are those that are on at least four hours a day
  • A CFL lasts up to seven years
  • Compare a 19W CFL to 75W incandescent:
    • less heat is generated because of the increased efficiency (saves on cooling bills)
    • CFL 75% more efficient than an incandescent
    • 8,000-20,000 hr CFL life vs 800-2,000 hour incandescent life (save labor in not
      replacing CFL as often)
    • same light output, but different costs over their respective lifetimes

 

Purchase Price  $4.00  $5.00

	19W CFL	75W Incandescent
Purchase Price	$4.00	$0.50
Life of Bulb	14,000 hrs (8-20,000)	1,400 hrs (800-2,000)
Life Cost	$26.60	$10.50
Life’s Energy Consumption	225 kWh	105 kWh
extrapolate numbers to equal 14,000 hours for both bulbs: 1 CFL, 10 Incandescent
Life of Bulb	14,000 hrs	14,000 hrs
Life Cost	$26.60	$105.00
Life’s Energy Consumption	225 kWh	1,050 kWh

 

• • Now, if you want to consider labor costs in maintaining the use of incandescent bulbs,
    follow this line of thinking. If there are 10 incandescent light bulb changes required for
    every 1 CFL, you pay your employees $10/hour, and it takes a conservative estimate of 1
    minutes to change a bulb, it will cost you $1.67 more/fixture to use incandescent bulbs. And
    chances are it will take longer than one minute to change a bulb. Then, there are the costs
    of disposal, storage,and purchasing of all those incandescent bulbs to factor into your
    analysis.

 

Another money saving idea is buying Energy Star appliances — water heaters, AC, furnace, refrigerator, freezer, washers, dryers, dishwashers, computers, etc. Energy Star appliances show their rating and energy savings, so you can select just how energy conserving you will be.

It seems obvious to me, but based on the amount of dripping I find in lodging properties when I travel, it must not be so obvious to innkeepers. Maintenance goes a long way in saving resources, especially water. Stop drips and save water and thus energy (if the drip is from a hot water line).

These are the inexpensive-to-implement solutions. If you want more to do, there are lots of steps you can take. The energy costs will vary across the U.S. and around the world, so apply your specific water and energy costs to the calculations you run. The one thing we can all count on, as much as death and taxes is water and energy costs will continue to rise.

Start taking care of your cash flow now and begin converting your water and energy hogging devices to water and energy saving devices. The savings of the first change or two will help fund subsequent changes. If I wasn’t clear before, make a difference to the environment, win your guests over for your environmental sensitivity, and take care of your bottom line. There is gold in green.