Case Study: Great Wolf Lodge to Save $1.3 Million in Power Costs by Applying Innovative Solutions

Energy costs are increasing and there is no second opinion to this. With awareness of climate change increasing among consumers, the hospitality industry needs to have sustainable energy sources, not only to save costs, but also because guests now care about climate change and it affects the business. The ‘always on’ requirements of the hospitality industry make it a large consumer of energy in the form of electricity and natural gas, the costs of which can consume up to 10% of revenues at a single property.

The Great Wolf Lodge, which is a chain of 10 indoor waterpark resorts across US was looking for a solution that can make all the resorts energy efficient. This U.S. hospitality chain that has also received the Green Seal certification was not open to any compromises. They even have Project Green Wolf that is especially dedicated to sustainable hospitality operations.

With sustainability in their minds, the group required an end-to-end building energy plan, implementation and support for a range of energy improvements. The requirement was to save on electricity, natural gas and water bills. For building on their previous progress in energy conservation and to make significant progress towards further reducing carbon footprint, the Great Wolf Lodge turned towards Dalkia.

For pilot, the Fitchburg, Massachusetts resort was chosen for which Dalkia made a complete plan for the building that included an energy software, LED lighting improvements, water conservation devices, HVAC upgrades and on-site electricity generation with a combined heat and power (CHP) unit.

Since utility rates are extremely high, CHP proved to be one of the most impactful solution. It reduced the dependency on the grid by producing power on site. During high usage periods, they were able to share the peak electric demand for the facility and reduce their energy charge as a result. The software helped monitor the energy usage 24x7 and ensured that the plant is operating correctly and maximizing energy savings. The benefits were felt by the resort when the temperature was maintained on a day with -10 degrees and the boilers were off! They were using power from CHP unit.

Impressed with the results of the system at the Massachusetts resort, the Great Wolf applied the systems to all the 10 resorts within a year. The energy efficiency upgrades have saved 11,211,938 kWh of electricity, equivalent to about 1,000 U.S. households’ annual consumption.

“Based on extremely positive results from their work across ten of our locations, we look forward to investing in additional energy-saving and carbon-cutting measures with Dalkia in the near future at our other lodges,” said Bob Holesko, Corporate Director of Engineering at Great Wolf Lodge.

The energy cost-cutting impact is projected to provide $1.3 million in savings for Great Wolf Lodge, along with a 10% reduction in carbon intensity of their operations its first year of deployment.

The energy projects helps the Great Wolf to be more efficient and the engineers work better.