Energy Use Reduction Using Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation
The Merrion Hotel is a luxury resort located in Dublin, Ireland. The hotel has 123 guest rooms, 19 suites, event spaces, a spa, two bars, and two restaurants. Back-of-house includes two full kitchens that operate 24/7, 365 days per year.
CONTEXT
To help mitigate potential ventilation issues and to help control operating costs, the hotel decided to install a demand control kitchen ventilation system in one of the kitchens. Thus, an ENERGY STAR-rated and SEAI approved Intelli-Hood kitchen hood controls system was installed by EFTECH. The Intelli-Hood system controls the ventilation fan speed, depending on the current conditions of the kitchen hoods. Temperature and optic sensors are used to detect heat and steam, and these sensors will change the fan speed accordingly. This saves, in the case of The Merrion Hotel, 38% of ventilation fan energy consumption. Reducing the fans from running 24 hours per day not only saves energy consumption from the extract and supply fans but also creates considerable heating and cooling savings.
RESULT
The Merrion Hotel experienced a strong return on its Intelli-Hood investment: less than an 18-month payback, based on the recorded data. This further supports the case that 90% of lodging with on-site commercial kitchens can benefit from Intelli-Hood. The hotel was not only able to reduce its immediate energy consumption by 48% but is also able to use the technology to continually monitor usage and adjust
as necessary.
