Opportunity

When Holiday Inn Express chief engineer Bob Kane was approached by Efficiency Vermont to participate in a new technology program, he anxiously jumped on board. The hotel is, after all, located in the “greenest” lodging area in the U.S. — a credential Vermont state can boast with 65 lodging establishments out of 300 nationwide that participate in a Green Hotel program. The Holiday Inn Express is a participant in the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership (VBEP), a state program that recognizes businesses that go the extra step to become environmental stewards.

Solution

In an effort to install more energy-efficient outdoor lighting, Holiday Inn Express in Brattleboro, Vermont selected the Cree Edge™ area luminaires in a one-for-one replacement. Twenty-two 80-LED luminaires replaced 250-watt metal halide fixtures in the parking lot and four 120-LED luminaires replaced 400-watt metal halide fixtures on the property’s access road. Because of zoning regulations, building façade lights are not allowed at the Holiday Inn Express, making it important to install high-performance parking lot lights for guest safety.

Benefit

The Cree LED luminaire installation allowed the hotel to achieve a required higher lighting performance while saving 191 watts per fixture. With a total energy savings of 23,700 kWh over the incumbent lights, the facility saves 65 percent annually in energy costs. Efficiency Vermont estimates a 5.9 year payback (including maintenance savings, assuming 4,380 hours of use at $0.13/kWh).

“The new lighting is awesome; the parking lot illumination is fantastic,” said Kane. “We’ve had quite a few customers compliment us on how well lit the parking area is.”

The first opportunity to present a positive impression about the relative safety of a hotel or motel property is at the perimeter where parking lot security is often the most overlooked area. Good exterior lighting must be balanced and even, and is designed to fill the gap between the property boundary and the hotel entrance.