Contrary to what you might believe (after all it is officially the sunniest place in Britain), the sun does not always shine for hotel owners in Weymouth, in Dorset. They are not only feeling the present economic downturn, but the price of electricity is soaring and obviously shows as a big red minus on their balance sheet. So instead of watching their profits diminish because of the price of power, the management of one leading Dorset hotel looked for a way of cutting cost and reducing their energy consumption. The answer was simple and their Contractor introduced them to EnOcean‘s self-powered wireless technology.
Project Type
The project involved retrofitting 106 rooms with energy saving solutions that work on alternative sources. A new energy management system was required that would enable the hotel to both reduce its overall power consumption and help do something against climate change. If they could achieve a 20% decrease in total power consumption, it will enable the hotel to reduce their annual carbon emissions by over 14o,000 kg.
Customer Expectations
They wanted the hotel rooms fitted with wireless key card switches, presence detectors and door sensors. The wireless key card switch will function as a master switch for the hotel rooms. A presence detector automatically cuts out the HVAC as soon as a guest takes their key card out of the dock and leaves their room. A door sensor, powered by a solar cell, recognizes the status of doors and windows and will also switches off the HVAC after a set length of time if the door to a balcony is open. Signals for the cableless and batteryless light switches and sensors are converted into switching functions by relay receivers.
Customer Comment
Given the financial and environmental benefits, we were happy to accept a short term shutdown for the purpose of installation. The hotel didn’t have to be closed for any lengthy period because attachment of the EnOcean-enabled cable-less sensors and switches is so fast and straightforward. Almost all rooms were pre-booked, so the loss through installing cabled switches and sensors would have cancelled out the immediate gain resulting from the project. Not forgetting all the effort, discomfort, inconvenience and not to mention mess involved in routing cables through concrete walls and ceilings. A further advantage of the new EnOcean technology is the fact that the sensors and switches are self-powered, so they need no maintenance, i.e. battery replacement, for their entire lifetime.
Top Features
- Power consumption down and carbon footprint smaller
- Speed of installation prevented operating loss
- An investment that pays back
- The ecological advantages of course, through less air pollution and reduced consumption of raw materials
- Wireless key card switches
- Presence detectors that automatically cut out the HVAC
