All Case Studies

Hotel HVAC - Chicago Illinois
Chiller Optimizer - Hilton Hotel, Palm Springs, California

The Mode Green Solution

  • Can be incorporated into both new construction and retrofit solutions.
  • No wires need to be pulled.
  • The Mode:Green system can reduce overall water and power use by as much as 50%.
  • Our team will work with you to target key cost savings areas, develop a solution, specify it, cost it and implement it.
  • Based on the USGBC LEED program and has proven ROIs based on reduction of monthly utility costs.
  • Basic Mode:Green Systems (Tier One) are very cost effective and have excellent ROIs
  • Accomplished through a simple internet based user interface that allows Mode:Green's servers to track the consumption of power and water based on pre-set parameters and intervene where necessary
  • Works in real-time and offers a simple, yet powerful dashboard display of all consumables being monitored.  
  • Creates a system customized to every clients needs that reduces costs, carbon footprint, and allows real-time analysis of all consumable resources. 
  • Displays the actual power and water consumption of a room, unit, building, or several buildings/ facilities and makes critical adjustments throughout each 24 hour period to optimize cost savings.
  • System communicates with power, water, solar, wind, irrigation, lighting and security systems.
  • Combines to create a unique resource management system.

Controls, LED Lighting, HVAC

Hotel

Chicago, Illinois

In a recent case study, Mode:Green ran a program for a hotel with an estimated energy budget of $1.1 million. Approximately $600,000.00 was used to heat and cool the hotel. The Mode:Green system was installed to analyze the power consumption of the guest rooms. The goal of this study was to perform real-time power consumption observations of the HVAC units in each of the guest rooms and compare the room’s consumption during their “checked-in” and “check-out” states.

In order to conduct this study, Mode:Green installed new thermostats and controllers in ten rooms which were programmed to report the status of each room’s HVAC state throughout the day. During this pilot program, Mode:Green was able to monitor the status of the thermostat fans, calculate per minute costs of each room’s HVAC system and, track five of the room’s guest check in/ out status and external weather conditions. This installation was performed using the existing infrastructure of the hotel and requires no major interruption to each room. The system was monitored by Mode:Green’s back-end servers and integrated into the Micros / Opera PMS system and guest internet connections.

The rooms were divided into “controlled” and “uncontrolled” rooms. The controlled rooms were running with fully managed services on them and were programmed to do the following:

When a guest checked in:

  • Unlock the thermostat keypad buttons
  • Set the thermostat set-point to 70 degrees
  • Set the thermostat fan mode to auto
  • Alert the Mode:Green system that a guest was checked and the set-point was set appropriately.

When a guest checked out:

  • Lock the thermostat keypad buttons
  • Set the thermostat set-point to 63 degrees
  • Alert the Mode:Green system that a guest has checked out and the set-point was rolled back appropriately.

The information received over the three week program showed a direct correlation between guest room status, outdoor conditions, and the overall cost to heat each room. In the cases of the controlled rooms, as soon as a guest checked out, the system was immediately shut down and the fan did not run until a new guest had checked in. In the uncontrolled rooms, there were no correlation between check-in and check-out, and fans ran consistently throughout the day, regardless of occupancy. Alerts were sent in the event that the room temperature dropped below 63 degrees, which did not occur as the rooms were receiving a fair, if not excessive, amount of heat from the hallways.

On average, the room fans ran for a total of 9.6 hours throughout the day with obvious fluctuations based on outdoor weather conditions. The outdoor temperature during this pilot program ranged from a high of 63 degrees to a low of 17 degrees. The hotel pays $0.08 for each kilowatt-hour used. The HVAC units in each room drew five (5) kilowatts. This translates to $0.40 to run a unit for one hour, or $3.84 per room on average per day, or approximately $466,000 per year, producing 3062 tons of carbon.

During the three weeks of the Mode:Green case study, data was tracked to determine how much power could be saved by better controlling the HVAC systems when integrated to the guest management system. It was determined that Mode:Green can reduce HVAC run time on average of 2.7 hours per day, resulting in a savings of approximately 28% and a carbon reduction of 845 tons. This does not fully take into account the unknown annual occupancy percentage, which could improve this number significantly. This results in a return on investment of under three years. Only Mode:Green can prove this through our proprietary system.

When fully deployed, the Mode:Green system offers a substantial amount of data for tracking energy consumption and providing both the Mode:Green call center and the engineering staff a real-time dashboard of current room status. This proprietary reporting system shows each rooms HVAC state including current temperature, set-point for heat and cool modes, cool and heat calls, and fan speed. This information is used to proactively optimize the system for energy savings and trigger alerts when anomalies occur.

The Mode:Green infrastructure creates a platform which can be quickly and easily expanded to reduce costs in all aspects of utility consumption while enhancing the guest experience. Mode:Green will work with the hotel to create a roadmap defining their long term goals. This roadmap could include, but is not limited to,the integration of additional HVAC, lighting, water and gas systems. All these can be added with increased savings and utilizing the existing Mode:Green platform. This will serve to not only save money, but also create an opportunity to provide customers actual information about the hotel’s corporate initiatives as they become more environmentally responsible and reduce the building’s overall impact on its surroundings.