Boyne Mountain Resort in Boyne Falls, MI, is the first resort property in Michigan to take advantage of a new system to monitor and control energy consumption in unoccupied hotel rooms. Owners recently retrofitted all 220 rooms and suites in their Mountain Grand Lodge and Spa with the new system called Entergize™.
DBS Lodging Technologies, LLC developed the Entergize Energy Control System in 2001, and it promises to slash a hotel’s energy consumption by up to 40%. Given benefits of that scale, it’s surprising that Boyne is the first Michigan hotel to buy in. According to Entergize, about 20% of a hotel’s operating budget is spent on energy costs, with up to 75% of that total going for energy consumed in guest rooms.
That means the energy needs of guest rooms gobble up roughly 15% of a property’s overall operating budget. It’s easy to see why Boyne was intrigued, especially since Entergize installs easily in existing structures—with little to no dirt, noise or disruption. Roy Haworth, Boyne’s accommodations manager, calls the system a win-win. “The system’s efficiencies reduce wasteful energy consumption while also cutting hotel energy costs,” he says.
The annual projected energy reduction is 1.5 million kilowatt-hours, a carbon emissions reduction equal to 2.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere or 30,000 trees planted.
“For guests, the system is virtually effortless,” says Boyne public relations manager Erin Ernst. “The transition to the new system has been seamless.” All 220 rooms and suites have been outfitted with a guest key card-activated system to control heating, cooling and lighting with a wireless microchip-based radio frequency. Guests enter rooms with keycards as usual. Once inside, they insert the keycard into the control switch receptacle near the door. This enables energy sources, allowing lights to be turned on and heating and cooling temperatures to be adjusted.
Guests may set the heating/cooling control to whatever level is comfortable for them. When it’s time to go, the keycard is removed which returns all sources to preset energy-saving levels. Balcony rooms also have sensors that shut down heating and cooling elements when patio doors are left ajar.
Boyne has taken additional measures to save energy and protect the environment—green steps that have earned it Leader certification in the Green Lodging Michigan initiative. Nothing much will be different for guests at the Mountain Grand Lodge and Spa. The new system really provides no tangible benefits to them—except the good feeling that comes from knowing they’re participating with the resort they’ve chosen in lessening tourism’s impact on the environment we all share. For green-conscious travelers like me, and perhaps you, that’s more than enough.
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