Pay It Forward

Special Feature Article

Rick Fedrizzi

Rick Fedrizzi is a principal with the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions and president of Green-Think Inc., an environmentally focused marketing and communications consulting firm providing services for the residential and commercial built environments. He also serves as president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council, of which he also is founding chairman, and president of the World Green Building Council. Contact by e-mail.

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"the electricity that is generated is emissions-free because no fossil fuels are burned in the process."

"largely through lighting, mechanical, and energy management efforts – that could cut hotel energy costs by 25 percent .."

"There are ways to operate our businesses that are smart from both an economic standpoint and from an environmental standpoin "

Welcome to the Green Apple!

By Rick Fedrizzi

If any New Yorkers are still feeling downtrodden about not getting the 2012 Olympic Games, then I urge them to cheer up. From the perspective of a self-proclaimed green-building geek, they’ve got something much better and potentially farther reaching.

In June, Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers, Sheraton's largest and flagship property located in midtown Manhattan, became the first hotel in the Big Apple to install an on-site power plant featuring fuel-cell technology. Located on a fourth-floor roof of the hotel, the 250-kw plant generates between 8 and 10 percent of the power required to operate the 24/7 facility, including electricity for lighting and domestic hot water, as well as some backup electricity.

What’s not to like about this project? Essentially, the electricity that is generated is emissions-free because no fossil fuels are burned in the process. Natural gas is piped into the power plant, but it’s not used in the traditional way. Instead, hydrogen is created as the gas passes through the fuel-cell module (wastewater treatment gas also can be used as the fuel source), which in turn generates electricity to make the fuel cell operate—basically as a continuous battery.

Why am I so excited about this project? It’s all about the precedent being set. Fuel cells are not new technology; NASA has used them in the space program for decades. But, only in more recent years has the footprint been reduced to a size more practical for commercial use. Installation costs are still high, but grant money is available.

For the Sheraton New York project, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) contributed $920,000—roughly half the cost—to the project. (“Why?” you might ask. Need I remind you of the 2003 blackout that crippled the East Coast and parts of the Midwest? Taking power off the grid—particularly if other facilities follow the Sheraton’s lead—also could do much to lessen rolling blackouts the city experiences during hot summer days.)

Now, here’s the kicker. Sheraton New York is actually the fourth hotel owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., to feature fuel-cell technology. In February 2005, Starwood entered into an energy agreement to provide a framework for fuel-cell power plant projects at any Starwood properties and to streamline the installation process. FuelCell Energy of Danbury, CT, manufactures the fuel cells; the Sheraton New York is its seventh hotel project overall. Trystate Mechanical Inc. of Yonkers handled installation in New York. (Trystate is a subsidiary of Allentown, PA-based PPL Corp., which controls about 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States.)

Starwood’s first fuel-cell project was at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, which actually uses four 250-kw fuel-cell power plants (installed by Alliance Power Inc., of Littleton, CO) to supply base load electricity; heat byproduct will be used to heat the hotel pool. The other two Starwood projects are in New Jersey.

The reason I like this trend is because of a white paper on energy-efficiency opportunities in the lodging industry that I co-wrote with Jim Rogers, a senior advisor with Capital E LLC, in May 2002. According to data available at the time from the Alliance to Save Energy, the lodging industry was the fourth most intensive user of energy in the U.S. commercial sector – largely because of the 24/7 nature of hotels and the wasteful energy habits of hotel guests who want comfort (energy efficiency be damned!). According to the 2001 Lodging Industry Profile compiled by the American Hotel & Lodging Association of Washington, D.C., the hotel industry was spending about $500 per room per year for fuel and electricity – approximately $2 billion for the more than 4 million U.S. hotel rooms. This also equated to an industry average of $2 per square foot for energy in the United States and Mexico.

The paper went on to outline various strategies – largely through lighting, mechanical, and energy management efforts – that could cut hotel energy costs by 25 percent ($500 million) or more. The Sheraton New York actually was one of several hotels we profiled in the paper because of its efforts in replacing two 1,100-ton steam turbine-driven centrifugal chillers and one 400-ton electric centrifugal chiller – all installed as the original chiller plant in 1962 – with newer, high-efficiency electric chillers (0.528 kw per ton) that could take advantage of off-peak rates of less than 3 cents per ton-hour vs. nearly 10 cents for steam. Payback on this project: less than 3.5 years.

Now, high-efficiency, clean generation is different than high-efficiency usage of equipment, but it all sends a message: There are ways to operate our businesses that are smart from both an economic standpoint and from an environmental standpoint. These stories should be made public, and early-adopters and trendsetters need to be recognized. Because of them, projects such as this could become the norm instead of the exception.

Next time you’re in New York, stop by the Sheraton on Seventh Avenue and look at the fuel cell—you can see it from the street. When someone asks you what you’re looking at, point out the fuel cell and tell them what it does. It’s a great way to educate and to spread the word, and they’ll think you’re really smart, too!

http://www.buildings.com/Newsletters/greener_facilities/default.asp

RBc: Thanks for the words Rick!

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