Hilton LightStay Program Cuts Hotel Energy Use by 6.6%, Saves $74M

Hilton Worldwide and its portfolio of 10 hotel brands announced the 2010 results of LightStay, its sustainability measurement system.

Since the introduction of LightStay, the company continues to improve sustainability and economic performance and saved more than $74 million in utility costs as a result of the following reductions:

6.6 percent reduction of energy use;
7.8 percent reduction of carbon output;
19 percent reduction of waste output;
and 3.8 percent reduction of water use.

To date, Hilton Worldwide's efforts are equivalent to the removal of more than 50,000 cars from the road, water savings that could fill more than 1,000 swimming pools and energy conservation that could provide power to nearly 20,000 homes a year.

"Sustainability is a priority to Hilton Worldwide and a central part of how the company does business," said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton Worldwide. "LightStay has provided us with a platform to measure hotel performance and economic improvement, proving to be invaluable given today's increased operational demands and resource constraints."

Hilton Worldwide is the first major multi-brand hospitality company to make sustainability measurement a brand standard. Also as a brand standard, Hilton Worldwide properties are committed to making continual improvements to their overall sustainability results each year. All of the more than 3,750 properties are required to use LightStay by this December, bringing the company even closer to its long-term goals.

Ability to Share Best Practices

To further support these efforts, new features were recently built into LightStay to allow hotels to track projects, share best practices and communicate with one another through a "social network" dashboard. Thus far, LightStay has more than 1,200 projects in the system, which is expected to double by next year, conserving additional resources.

As a result of these actions, Hilton Worldwide recently earned ISO 14001 certification for Environmental Management Systems, achieving one of the largest ever volume certifications of commercial buildings -- with more than 3,750 properties across 10 brands and 85 countries. As part of the Hilton Worldwide certification process, DEKRA Certification, Inc. performed a series of audits and will continue ongoing assessments to monitor compliance.

Over the next three years, Hilton Worldwide will continue to invest in their owned assets to improve building performance, illustrating the company's commitment to both long-term cost and energy savings. Projects will include the installation of energy-efficient chillers, boilers, motors, building automation systems, water reclamation systems, high-efficient windows and white roofs. The Hilton New York, for example, with be installing an on-site cogeneration system, which will offset 54 percent of its electrical needs and 33 percent of its thermal needs.

By 2014, Hilton Worldwide is committed to reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions and waste output by 20 percent, as well as reduce water consumption by 10 percent from direct operations within the company's owned hotels and corporate properties.

This article originally appeared on Green Lodging News.