Case Study – Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers

EcoSmart Offers Fiscally Responsible Energy Efficiency Upgrade

As an upscale brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers attaches great importance to the connection between “green” actions and financial success. When the Sheraton Chicago, owned by Tishman Hotels, began considering energy saving technology, Telkonet’s EcoSmart intelligent energy management system quickly emerged as the frontrunner

“From a guest comfort perspective, we wanted high-end energy management technology throughout all of our guestrooms,” said Ryan Egan, Chief Engineer at Sheraton Chicago. “We also required an attractive ROI for the project to make sense financially. After we qualified for a substantial rebate offered through the ComEd Smart Ideas for your Business® program, installing EcoSmart was a no brainer.”

EcoCentral Provides Insight on HVAC Efficiency

With intelligent EcoWave thermostats installed in each guestroom, regular preventive maintenance has become an integral part of maintaining guestroom energy efficiency at the Sheraton Chicago. EcoCentral, the cloudbased EcoSmart command center, uses real-time energy consumption data from the thermostats to track room-by-room HVAC performance. With EcoCentral, the hotel can easily analyze room-by-room energy consumption and easily identify low-performing HVAC units for maintenance, and control individual thermostats at a guests’ request.

“With EcoCentral, I have complete control of individual HVAC units to maintain consistent comfort for our guests,” said Egan. “And with a 30-month payback, we’ll soon be able to make additional improvements throughout hotel that touch other aspects of the guest experience.”

Savings Results

After the EcoSmart installation, annual guestroom electricity costs at Sheraton Chicago dropped 43%, from $580,636 to $329,178. Shortly after the installation, the hotel joined Retrofit Chicago’s Commercial Building Initiative, a public effort to increase energy efficiency. Buoyed by the sustainable savings provided by EcoSmart, Sheraton Chicago has cemented itself as an efficiency leader in one of the most important U.S. cities for business and leisure travel.