Each year tens of millions of tourists visit San Diego – drawn here by our year-round sunshine, gorgeous beaches, fun attractions, and wide variety of restaurants and hotels. The hospitality industry is a multi-billion-dollar business in our region, and the thousands of businesses that make up the industry typically use lots of energy.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. An iconic hotel on San Diego Bay has demonstrated that it’s possible to conserve energy without sacrificing guest comfort.
The Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina was recently honored at our 12th Annual Energy Showcase, which recognizes local businesses and organizations that are making a big impact reducing their carbon footprint and cleaning the air we breathe.
Putting into Place Best Practices
Located on San Diego Bay near the Convention Center and the Gaslamp Quarter, this iconic resort hotel is spread over 1.5 million square feet, featuring 1,360 hotel rooms and two LEED Silver certified ballrooms. Built in 2016 and touted as the largest on the West Coast, the ballrooms are equipped with 100-percent LED lights and high efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
“We don’t need to choose between energy efficiency and guest comfort. We have both,” said Jerry McHugh, director of engineering for the Marriott Marquis.
Over the years, the Marriott has implemented numerous energy efficiency measures, including low-flow shower heads and tankless water heaters, with the support of one of our account executives. The hotel participated in our Savings by Design Program, which provides design assistance and incentives to project owners to encourage the construction of high performance buildings that offer economic, health, and environmental benefits.
The banquet facilities at the Marriott Marquis not only impress in terms of their ability to pump out meals – serving up to 6,000 guests a day – they also boast state-of-the-art ventilation technology. Sensors monitor how much cooking activity is taking place in the kitchen, and controls automatically optimize the motor speed of the exhaust fans to save energy.
Impressive Results
By adopting best practices and leveraging technology to reduce energy consumption, the Marriott’s partnership efforts with SDG&E have saved more than 880,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.
Watch this short video to learn more about how Marriott Marquis is leading the way in environmental sustainability.