The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Ill., was named the winner of the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AH&LA) year-long Energy Slasher Challenge. The challenge, launched on Earth Day 2010, helped participating hotels obtain a 5 percent overall energy reduction. The hotel receives a full day with the AH&LA Green Guru for a personal eco-strategy session, as well as other prizes courtesy of HD Supply.
Participants could use several tools to help with tracking their costs, including GreenQuest, EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager, or their brand/corporate benchmarking program. Costs were compared and analyzed to determine who slashed their energy costs by the biggest percentage. Each quarter AH&LA updated an online leader board, and Green Guru Pat Maher provided monthly strategies, assistance, and best practices to help participants in their quest to slash energy costs.
“All of the participants in the challenge used the AH&LA Green Guidelines as a basis to help reduce their energy consumption,” Maher says. “However, the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center went the extra mile using an innovative Green Team approach and installing plate and frame heat exchangers last year. With this installation, the hotel was able to have free cooling for over six months by just using the cooling towers.”
