Dubai: Dubai hotels may have missed out on an opportunity to save thousands of dirhams in energy consumption, according to a study by UAE-based technology and sustainability-driven facilities management (FM) company Farnek.
As part of its research, Farnek took a snapshot of energy and water consumption and waste management of 12 Dubai hotels using hotel energy data with its internet-based software, Hotel Optimiser.
The online tool tracks the performance of more than 100 hotels across the Middle East, measuring and benchmarking energy, water and waste.
Farnek’s study revealed that the 12 Dubai hotels may have each missed out on the opportunity to reduce carbon emissions by 74 tonnes and save at least Dh80,000 in energy costs between March and May this year, compared with the same period last year,
Farnek discovered that average occupancy at the 12 hotels between March and May 2019 was 73 per cent. However, due to the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, average occupancy slipped to 25 per cent.
Farnek said the hotels could have reduced their consumption to 19,000 MWh if they had an effective energy management strategy in place.
That’s equivalent to a saving of Dh1.45 million, said experts.
In terms of water consumption, Hotel Optimizer noted that the 43 per cent drop in consumption correlated with the fall in occupancy. Regarding waste, the international standard for hotels is broadly accepted as one kilo of waste per guest per night. From waste data analysis, it was observed that the hotels reduced their waste by 45 per cent from Jan to May 2020.
However, the kilo per guest night was at an average of five, which means in spite of lower occupancy hotels were having a baseload of waste which if managed efficiently, could reduce waste and bring down disposal costs.
