Reducing energy consumption to save money is essential to us all. Businesses face increasing competition and need innovative new ways to save money and reduce overheads.
Plug Huge Energy Leaks to Save Money
One of the biggest users (and wasters) of energy is the hospitality industry. It is one of the largest employers globally and as a result requires innovative ways to save money and reduce energy consumption. In 2018 the sector exceeded £100bn in worth to the British economy alone.
As one of the biggest employers and users of energy, the need to educate staff in new ways to save money and view energy is vital to reduce harm to the environment.
This growth in hospitality is commonly associated with increasing profits. In many cases this is true, but the increasing price of energy that is resulting in hotels spending more than ever on power. From a recent survey by E.ON, 25% of hospitality businesses are spending over £250,000 a year on energy, second only to the manufacturing industry at 28%.
“£180m spent on energy waste per year in the UK.”
There is an estimated £180m of overspend on energy in the hospitality sector. Wasted money makes it one of the most significant contributors to energy loss in the UK. A lack of knowledge and understanding of what is using energy is where the majority of energy waste arises.
Make Money or Save Money?
What comes first – Energy efficiency or guest experience?
Energy is more often than not the second highest controllable cost in a hotel and plays a huge and often intensive role in delivering the ‘perfect stay’. The price of rooms being the easiest to control.
It is no surprise that the guest-experience will always come first for hotels. They need to be able to offer a comfortable and enjoyable stay to their guests no matter the weather, event or time. The convenience of guests often means using lots of energy, usually at peak-times, to create a comfort-level that satisfies guests. However, there are simple wins that can be made through increasing awareness and educating hoteliers and their staff about energy-saving.
How Can Hotels Reduce Energy Consumption and Save Money?
Essentially, energy can be saved through three simple measures:
1. Technological Change
Invest in hardware-based solutions to improve efficiency. Hardware though can be expensive and difficult to implement in a busy hotel where CAPEX is hard to come by.
2. Process Change
Realise that there is a fundamental flaw in the way you do business which is wasting energy and changing it to reduce energy use. For example, ensuring shutdown procedures in kitchens are monitored effectively.
3. People Change
Helping employees become better engaged and informed. Making sustainability a priority and embedding it in the hotel’s culture ensures staff can participate to save money and energy.
All three of these can result in a direct impact to save money and the environment by reducing energy waste.
However, without the right tools, identifying the best way to reduce energy consumption and implement that change can be a difficult task.
How Do We See Energy Use to Save Money and Make Behavioural Change?
Wesley Clover portfolio company, Surple, are a team of software developers, human behaviourists and data scientists who came together to change the way people see energy.
They have created an energy management solution that helps save money and optimise energy use. Essentially, Surple‘s software allows a user to quickly identify when, where and how energy is being used through the collection of energy data. It is then visually mapped using external data like weather. Analytics and trends help hoteliers make quicker, better-informed decisions that would impact on energy use and save money.
Surple helps hotels and groups reduce energy demand and save money across all their assets without compromising on guest-experience.
Surple provide actionable insights into how hotels save money by reducing their energy use.
By running an analysis of the organisational energy data, Surple provides an understanding of when and where they are potentially using energy inefficiently. Existing business intelligence data such as occupancy or restaurant sales data is mapped along with energy use to identify areas of inefficiency and waste.
Visualise the Relationship Between Energy, Weather, Occupancy
The data that Surple collects and analyses inform hoteliers of how and where they should be able to save money and energy.
Surple’s insights present relevant actions making individuals accountable. Analytics change habits and awareness resulting in reduced energy use over time.
Ryder Cup Venue Already Making a Change
One of Surple’s leading hospitality partners is The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales.
As one of the largest conference and leisure resorts in Europe, The Celtic Manor Resort has recognised the impact of their internal energy consumption on their bottom-line. Working with Surple, Celtic Manor now manage and reduce this impact using a sustainable and long-term solution.
What was being continuously neglected lay in the ‘grey matter’. Staff weren’t changing behaviours, and energy waste were evident. Couple this with rising energy prices and they found they were in a difficult situation and unable to save money.
Surple helps Celtic Manor identify critical areas of waste across the resort. They target specific individuals that were responsible for that waste to instil responsibility and awareness.
The impact of relevant insights along with improved visibility and understanding of their energy use has resulted in critical metrics at the management level. The effect can be tracked via the Surple platform both in staff awareness and engagement, as well as monitoring energy reduction across the business.
“We want to make sustainable behaviours the norm and get hotels and organisations to take sustainability into account when making business decisions. Changing the way people see energy, means not just seeing it as an inconvenience and an expense, but turning energy into a competitive advantage and save money.”
– Peter Allan, Managing Director of Surple
Conclusion
Surple address a specific niche that is not just hospitality specific. To be more competitive, organisations need to make more money, save money or improve customer experience. Surple allows venues to save money and identify areas within the business to enhance customer experience. This impact can also be leveraged to strengthen corporate social responsibility (CSR) and build a greener, more sustainable future that can be used through public relations to make more money.
Surple directly or indirectly impacts the three most valuable agendas for business growth.
If you want to find out more about Surple, then visit www.surple.co.uk