Hotel hosts energy-efficient lighting controls. (News).(DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, California)

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers are studying the energy savings of a new lighting control system to be installed at a DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, CA, under an agreement signed in March by Berkeley Lab, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), DoubleTree Hotels, and WattStopper, Inc.

The technology demonstration contract calls for the "relighting" of the entire facility, which has more than 400 rooms, with a new control system for bathroom lighting.

Several years ago, Berkeley Lab lighting researchers conducted a Department of Energy-funded study to search for ways of improving energy efficiency in the hospitality industry.

"We found that one of the largest energy-saving opportunities in hotel guestroom lighting is eliminating the unnecessary extended operation of the bathroom fixtures," says Berkeley Lab lighting researcher Michael Siminovitch. "More than 75% of the energy used by these fixtures occurs when they are left on for more than two hours at a time."

The study showed that bathroom lights are activated for the longest periods of time in occupied hotel rooms--an average of eight hours, compared with less than five hours for bedroom lights, and two hours for desk lights.

A standard solution to lights being left on is the occupancy sensor, which automatically turns the lights out when guests leave the room. However, hotel managers were reluctant to reduce the comfort of their guests with a device that might irritate occupants by turning lights on and off when they were ...