Lighting Helps Westin Ottawa Make Sustainability a Permanent Guest
May 7, 2017
The Westin Ottawa is well on its way to becoming one of the first Westin hotels to achieve long-term sustainability with its 30/20 by 2020 conservation plan, an aggressive initiative that will see the hotel reduce 30% of its energy use and 20% of its water consumption by 2020.This represents the equivalent of removing 450 homes from the electricity grid.
The Westin’s sustainability efforts have been supported by Hydro Ottawa through the Save on Energy program. Funded by the Independent Electricity System Operator and offered locally by Hydro Ottawa, the program offers incentives that encourage businesses to implement energy efficiency measures.
The hotel is a three-time recipient of the Hotel Association of Canada award recognizing energy and environmental sustainability. Among the initiatives undertaken by Westin Ottawa under its 30/20 by 2020 conservation plan are the following:
- retrofitting 300 exit signs with LED technology saves the hotel $10,000 annually
- retrofitting thousands of fixtures with LEDs in the Westin’s 500 guest rooms and high-traffic spaces, such as the lobby and hallways, reducing lighting costs by 75%
- overhauling the cooling system, eliminating the need for it to work around the clock seven days a week. Now the system functions only on an as-needed basis
- making a small change in the hotel’s kitchen ventilation system that reduced its electricity use by 90%
- introducing new elevators that save electricity in two ways — by grouping guests based on their destination, making fewer trips, and by using a regenerative feature commonly found in electric vehicles. The elevators produce their own power and redistribute it back into the elevator system.
