DOING MORE WITH LESS

The adoption of efficient HVAC energy management solutions has minimised the effort needed from a hotel's staff to manage these systems, saving time, effort and man-hours

- PRANITA BHOSALE

As one of the critical investments, and assets, for any hotel, the optimal functioning of HVAC systems is essential for the property's overall profitability. This has underlined the criticality of prime energy management.

Fortunately, there is greater understanding and acceptance for integrating intelligent in-room devices and technologies to reduce HVAC costs today, especially with newer constructions. After all, smart buildings use information and communication technologies (ICT) to enable automated building operations and control.

They can enhance occupants' comfort and productivity while using less energy than a conventional building. While conventional buildings have systems operating independently, smart buildings use ICT to connect building systems to optimise operations and whole-building performance, Arun Khanna, Director of Engineering, Hyatt Regency Delhi, pointed out.

The energy consumption of a commercial building continuously varies based on several dynamic conditions. According to Rahul Prabhakar, Chief Engineer at ITC Grand Chola, the energy management framework is highly dependent on the quality data at the right time, which allows building managers to be flexible and agile in their approach to energy reduction.

The integration of smart in-room devices and other technologies helps us generate big data. The facility energy manager can use the Smart Building analytics platform to monitor and measure various aspects of the building. It can also bring in various other data inputs to extrapolate anomalies, making correlations, and helping end-users gain knowledge to make smart operational decisions that will affect the bottom line, he claimed.