The Westin Tabor Center
1672 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80202
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Earning an ENERGY STAR Rating at The Westin Denver Downtown
Moving our Portfolio Manager Baseline of 41 to our Goal of 75 in Six Years
I met Patty Crow, who works for the EPA, as she was educating attendees on ENERGY STAR programs at a conference held at The Westin Westminster in 2007. She enthusiastically told me about a program named Portfolio Manager, and that if I wanted to be forward thinking within the hospitality industry I had better sign our building up. Not knowing the journey this would lead our team on I signed 1672 Lawrence Street up with Patty’s patient assistance. A few months later I even helped her present at a Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association seminar on ENERGY STAR to get other hotels in Colorado engaged in utilizing Portfolio Manager.
A short time later, Senator Barack Obama announced the Democratic National Convention would be held in Denver, Colorado. The convention encouraged the entire City of Denver in cooperation with CHLA to adopt sustainable practices, and our then-Director of Operations, Chuck Schuringa, became our Sustainability Champion and started a Sustainability Council at the hotel. Learning many practices from a tour at the local Whole Foods, our Sustainability Council implemented many great programs such as recycling in the guest rooms and public spaces in partnership with Waste Management, composting in partnership with Alpine, and oil and grease recycling in partnership with Mahoney. Six years later none of our Associates could imagine not recycling or composting inside the hotel. The best thing is it has also taught and encouraged Associates to recycle and compost at home. It was a complete and sustained organizational change.
Chuck asked me if I wanted to lead Energy and Water Conservation within his Sustainability Council, and, armed with a benchmark from Portfolio Manager, I told him our grim reality, “I have already benchmarked our hotel and we are rated at a 41.” Chuck was visibly embarrassed for the hotel by our score. He encouraged me by making me recognize that increasing our score from a baseline of 41 is easier than increasing our rating from a much higher score, “There must be a lot of low hanging fruit Jim.” There was a lot of room to improve. He was also impressed by Portfolio Manager and that I had already benchmarked our hotel. He loved the idea of being able to measure our progress in savings and improvement. I agreed to lead Energy and Water Conservation efforts for our Sustainability Council and the hotel set a goal to achieve a 75 and earn the ENERGY STAR.
I had three key elements on my side; our Owner, our Corporation, and our Executive Committee. First our Owner, Host Hotels, supported our initiative by looking at ROI projects any time during the calendar year. If we could make the case fiscally and a project conserved energy or water, they would invest in the project. Next, our corporation, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, has a strong commitment to sustainability. Starwood has an entire department focused on sustainability with Sustainability Champions and Councils now being required at every hotel. Luckily the WDD was ahead of the curve and had already formed a committee. In 2008 Starwood set a lofty corporate goal for all of its hotels in North America called “30/20 by 20.” Our goal as a corporation in North America is to reduce energy use by 30% and water use by 20% by the year 2020. We are proud to say that since 2008 The WDD has reduced our energy use by 11.5% and we have already met and surpassed our corporate goal having reduced our water use by over 20%! We are supported with many programs and ideas to meet this goal through our corporate office. Last, we have an Executive Committee managing the hotel at The WDD whom is engaged in being leaders in sustainability. Most noteworthy is my predecessor and mentor, our previous Director of Engineering, Dan Tate, without whom our goal of earning the ENERGY STAR would never have been reached.
As Dan’s Assistant he taught me how to lead many energy and water saving projects. If we were replacing a motor on our domestic water system he would ensure it was a Nima Premium Rated motor. When we were upgrading our AC units to have VFDs he would ensure we received an Excel rebate. When we installed a water recycling system in our laundry he ensured we received a Denver Water rebate. Every project and dollar spent in Engineering was scrutinized to see if there was a better way of doing or spending to save energy or water.
Along the way The WDD earned numerous awards recognizing our efforts in sustainability:
--2013 ENERGY STAR, Environmental Protection Agency
--2011 Best in Class for Sustainability, Host Hotels and Resorts
--2010 Inaugural Watts to Water Award, City and County of Denver
--2008 Inaugural Greenest Hotel Award, Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association
Starwood is earning awards as a corporation, too, recognizing our efforts in sustainability and energy efficiency:
--2012 Environmental Leadership Award, PCMA
--2012 Sustainability Supplier Gold Medal, GBTA
It has been quite a journey for The WDD over the last six years and we are very proud to say we have earned the ENERGY STAR in June of 2013. We have even surpassed our goal of 75 and currently have a score of 76. The WDD has not and will not stop working toward excellence in sustainability and being good earthkeepers. Now that we have earned our ENERGY STAR, where do we go from here? We are beginning Phase II of our Sustainability Council with new goals. The WDD is focused on meeting our corporate goal of “30/20 by 20” and we are also focused on implementing all LEED-EBOM prerequisites. With six years behind us and six years left in our corporate goal I have no doubt that The WDD will continue to be forward thinking within the hospitality industry and be good earthkeepers.
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Please note: Narrative information in this profile has been provided by The Westin Tabor Center or a representative of this facility. Other building information was verified and submitted to EPA at the time of application. Building energy performance, operating characteristics, and ownership/management may be subject to change over time.
Building Owner:*
The Westin Tabor Center
Property Manager:*
The Westin Tabor Center
Year(s) Labeled (Rating):
2013 (76)
Facility Type: Hotel
Total Floorspace: 423000 sf
Year Constructed: 1984
Contract Type: None
Technologies Used:
| Stage 4-Fan Systems |
| Stage 5-Heating and Cooling Plant |