STUDY OF ENERGY CONSERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT IN THE GREEN MARK FEATURES FOR EXISTING HOTEL IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The Green Mark scheme was launched to rate the environmental impact and buildings performance based on world-wide best practices. Hotel is one of the largest energy consumers and burdened by high energy cost. However, there is relatively slow growth of hotels in achieving Green Mark Platinum as the government only made it compulsory for new public buildings to be Platinum rating. A platinum building can achieve more than 30 percent energy savings compared to a building that is merely code compliant. Hence, hotel owners are encouraged to improve its performance to the highest rating for a significant energy savings. This dissertation focuses on the energy efficiency and green mark features of a Green Mark Gold Plus Hotel, the Novotel Clarke Quay Singapore. This research primarily aims to find the energy conservation opportunity and further improve Novotel performance to achieve the Green Mark Platinum. Literature review is conducted to review the energy efficiency in hotel industry, global Green Mark trend and BCA Green Mark Scheme. This research examines Novotel in two parts; case study of the green mark features that have been applied and measurements of the thermal parameters of unoccupied guest rooms to analyze the energy conservation opportunity. Based on the case study, it can be concluded that numerous green mark features have been applied in Novotel contributing to the Green Mark Gold Plus award. However, the hotel may consider applying more green mark features to obtain the highest rating. Based on the measurement of the thermal parameters in the guest rooms, it is not applicable to increase the unoccupied set point temperature as the Novotel current set point temperature also does not achieve the thermal comfort condition and the cooling coil is oversized. It will be followed by recommendations of new green features to achieve Green Mark Platinum such as regenerative drive lift with sleep mode, ultraviolet in AHU and greywater recycling. Furthermore, recommendations on energy efficiency improvement in the guest rooms are also provided such as redesign fan coil unit, place a fan to improve airflow and install HVAC occupancy control. Lastly, limitation of the research is discussed and suggestions are provided for further study.