Hotel to Demonstrate Energy-Efficient Lighting
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are studying the energy savings of a new energy-efficient lighting control system to be installed at a DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, Calif.
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are studying the energy savings of a new energy-efficient lighting control system to be installed at a DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, Calif.
Berkeley Lab researchers, in partnership with SMUD, developed the demonstration to measure and verify the energy savings, with funding from the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research project. The Watt Stopper is manufacturing the units, and SMUD and DoubleTree are sharing the demonstration's costs.
Improving the efficiency of an efficiency-conscious industry
Several years ago, Berkeley Lab lighting researchers conducted a DOE-funded study to search for ways of improving energy efficiency in the hospitality industry.
"We found that one of the largest energy-saving opportunities in hotel guestroom lighting is eliminating the unnecessary extended operation of the bathroom fixtures," says Berkeley Lab lighting researcher Michael Siminovitch. "More than 75% of the energy used by these fixtures occurs when they are left on for more than two hours at a time." Siminovitch and Erik Page, of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, conducted the work.
The study showed that bathroom lights are activated for the longest periods of time in occupied hotel rooms -- an average of eight hours, compared with less than five hours for bedroom lights, and two hours for desk lights.
A standard solution to lights being left on is the occupancy sensor, which automatically turn the lights out when guests leave the room. However, hotel managers were reluctant to reduce the comfort of their guests with a device that might irritate occupants by turning lights on and off when they were in the bathroom for an extended time period.
The researchers realized that they could install occupancy sensors in hotel bathrooms with long set times (one hour or more) and still get very significant energy savings, because the vast majority of energy use occurs when the fixture is left on longer than two hours when guests are gone out of the room.
"The long set time would achieve these energy savings in a manner that would be relatively transparent to the guest," says Page.
Commercializing a technology to respond to the opportunity
The technology demonstration contract calls for the "relighting" of the entire Sacramento facility, which has more than 400 rooms, with a new control system for bathroom lighting.
As a result of this study, The Watt Stopper, Inc., which manufactures automatic lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and office power control products, entered into a partnership with Berkeley Lab, SMUD, DoubleTree, and the California Energy Commission to develop a product based on this research that the hotel industry could install in its rooms and that could capture the energy savings identified by Berkeley Lab without sacrificing lighting quality.
In fact, according to Bob Hughes, regional director of the DoubleTree, the automatic night-lighting system on this device should increase the quality of the guest experience. "We are very excited about the potential of this device to save energy in a manner that will not impact guest comfort," he says.
The sensor replaces the standard wall switch in guest bathrooms. It is set to turn off the light after one hour. An energy-efficient light-emitting diode night light provides illumination, eliminating the need to leave bathroom lights on throughout the night. This LED-based night light improves the comfort of the guest for night use of the bathroom without using a bright overhead light.
Berkeley Lab researchers, in partnership with SMUD, developed the demonstration to measure and verify the energy savings, with funding from the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research project. The Watt Stopper is manufacturing the units, and SMUD and DoubleTree are sharing the demonstration's costs.
Improving the efficiency of an efficiency-conscious industry
Several years ago, Berkeley Lab lighting researchers conducted a DOE-funded study to search for ways of improving energy efficiency in the hospitality industry.
"We found that one of the largest energy-saving opportunities in hotel guestroom lighting is eliminating the unnecessary extended operation of the bathroom fixtures," says Berkeley Lab lighting researcher Michael Siminovitch. "More than 75% of the energy used by these fixtures occurs when they are left on for more than two hours at a time." Siminovitch and Erik Page, of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, conducted the work.
The study showed that bathroom lights are activated for the longest periods of time in occupied hotel rooms -- an average of eight hours, compared with less than five hours for bedroom lights, and two hours for desk lights.
A standard solution to lights being left on is the occupancy sensor, which automatically turn the lights out when guests leave the room. However, hotel managers were reluctant to reduce the comfort of their guests with a device that might irritate occupants by turning lights on and off when they were in the bathroom for an extended time period.
The researchers realized that they could install occupancy sensors in hotel bathrooms with long set times (one hour or more) and still get very significant energy savings, because the vast majority of energy use occurs when the fixture is left on longer than two hours when guests are gone out of the room.
"The long set time would achieve these energy savings in a manner that would be relatively transparent to the guest," says Page.
Commercializing a technology to respond to the opportunity
The technology demonstration contract calls for the "relighting" of the entire Sacramento facility, which has more than 400 rooms, with a new control system for bathroom lighting.
As a result of this study, The Watt Stopper, Inc., which manufactures automatic lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and office power control products, entered into a partnership with Berkeley Lab, SMUD, DoubleTree, and the California Energy Commission to develop a product based on this research that the hotel industry could install in its rooms and that could capture the energy savings identified by Berkeley Lab without sacrificing lighting quality.
In fact, according to Bob Hughes, regional director of the DoubleTree, the automatic night-lighting system on this device should increase the quality of the guest experience. "We are very excited about the potential of this device to save energy in a manner that will not impact guest comfort," he says.
The sensor replaces the standard wall switch in guest bathrooms. It is set to turn off the light after one hour. An energy-efficient light-emitting diode night light provides illumination, eliminating the need to leave bathroom lights on throughout the night. This LED-based night light improves the comfort of the guest for night use of the bathroom without using a bright overhead light.