Improving energy effi ciency at Hotel Waltikka – An example of university business cooperation
Heating and energy solutions are the hot topic of the day. We are living in a time of transition and every player in society is concerned about some aspect of energy - price, availability, low carbon. Our university's Hybrid Systems and Energy Efficiency study module has never been more topical. This article presents an implementation approach that combines the learning needs of students, the university's objectives for business cooperation and regional effectiveness, and the individual company's objectives for cost-effective development of its own activities.
The case is Hotel Waltikka, a private family business built in 1988 in Valkeakoski, Finland. The hotel has 83 rooms. The volume is 5600 square metres, or 22 000 cubic metres. The meeting rooms and restaurant are both about 800 square metres. And being Finland, the number of saunas is important: there are 4 of them.
The current owners of the hotel, Piia and Tomi Kuparinen, bought the hotel in 2019. At this point, any reader familiar with the tourism industry will sigh in their minds, knowing what happened the year after they bought the hotel. No one however, had a crystal ball to predict the coming Covid-19 pandemic or the energy crisis that would soon erupt – crises that decisively changed the calculations made on the hotel's profitability.
CEO of the hotel, Tomi Kuparinen, set out to revamp the hotel by developing both the operational concept and the physical building. Several energy-saving upgrades were made: motion sensors, LED lighting, ventilation upgrades, an automation control system for heating pressure, watersaving showers, tendering for electricity contracts, etc. The solar panels alone have already generated 100 MWh per year.
This year's upgrades include an air-to-water heat pump, supplemented by district heating.
HELP FROM UNIVERSITY COOPERATION
Crises have followed one another, and entrepreneurs in Finland and elsewhere have sought new solutions to survive. The CEO Kuparinen started working with our university. HAMK is a multidisciplinary higher education institution offering bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering. Research in this field is carried out in the HAMK Tech research unit, where one of the research areas is energy efficiency research. The link between education and working life is ensured through projects, internships and theses in cooperation with companies. Teaching is delivered in eight-week (15 cr) modules.
The case of the Hotel Waltikka was implemented as part of the module "Hybrid solutions and energy efficiency", which introduces the realisation of heat and electricity solutions for the building. In addition to the theoretical studies, the students worked in small groups to carry out a study and design on an aspect of energy efficiency in the building. The aim was to find new innovative and smart energy-saving solutions with a short payback period.
TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS SKILLS
At the time of writing, the project was about halfway through and the results were not yet ready, but it looked promising. Sensors and meters had been brought into the building, which had allowed us to make very precise measurements. The results of the measurements were already being put to good use.
From the university's point of view, this kind of cooperation is very useful. The students become familiar with the theoretical knowledge of energy efficiency. Alongside this, they get to work on a real and concrete application in groups. The presentation of the results will give them an overall picture of the energy mapping and energy efficiency improvement of a large building.
In addition to technical skills, students will also learn other skills such as project management and teamwork. Their communication skills will be developed, as students will prepare a written report on the subject under the guidance of a communication teacher, following the requirements of the thesis.
The development of business thinking, business case analysing, is also important. "Developing technical skills alone is not enough for today's engineers. Solution options must always include an explanation of the payback period," sums up the CEO Tomi Kuparinen.
A student's path to becoming an energy professional is a combination of theory-based learning and practical training.
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
The group of students consisted of people studying for an engineering degree while working. This allowed the students to benefit from their previous experience and, by studying in small groups, they can also learn from each other. Ari Kolehmainen works at Nokeval and studies while working.
He describes the project as interesting: “It took us from a school environment to a real customer environment.” His team
studied exhaust air heat recovery. According to the student, the group had a business-critical mindset, with a two-step approach to the solution: first, you could choose a cheaper solution with a lower initial investment cost but with a lower heat recovery capacity.
This could be followed by a more expensive solution with a higher purchase price, which could even double the efficiency. The group started with saving electricity, but ended up considering saving district heating. He said this was a challenge, but it was also because his group wanted a challenging task. From the teachers' point of view, this is a positive development as it shows a strong motivation to learn. Cooperation with the company has increased the understanding of how to implement this type of energy efficiency project with students.
In addition, important information has been obtained during the project about which things to pay attention to from the point of view of energy consumption.
The student's path to becoming an energy professional is a combination of theory-based learning and practical training. The importance of business cooperation cannot be over-emphasised: it benefits all parties involved.
THE PROJECT WAS DIVIDED INTO SUB-AREAS
For all aspects, a thorough current state analysis was first carried out by familiarising the building, its systems and documents. The sub-areas:
1. Ventilation and heating of the restaurant lobby and lower lobby; aim to achieve the demand-based heating and ventilation
2. Lighting of the restaurant lobby; aiming at intelligent lighting with LEDs
3. Total heat recovery; with the aim of improving energy efficiency
4. Ventilation and heating of the meeting rooms; with the aim of achieving energy efficiency in heating and ventilation
5. Lighting and AV controls in the meeting rooms; with the aim of intelligent lighting in LEDs
6. Ventilation and heating of sauna rooms; with the aim of achieving efficiency in heating and ventilation
7. Sauna room lighting and heating controls; aiming at intelligent lighting with LEDs and scene controls for different uses
8. Kitchen ventilation and lighting; aiming at achieving compliance with both lighting and ventilation needs
9. Optimisation of electricity consumption and use of domestic appliances in the kitchen; with the aim of finding the optimal and appropriate Lean "drive" for all appliances
10 Ventilation and heating in hotel rooms; aiming at achieving the necessary efficiency in heating and ventilation
11. Lighting of the hotel rooms and long corridors and consumption of hot water in rooms; aiming at intelligent, demand-based lighting with LEDs
12. Design of the architecture of the distributed automation system; aiming at a new distributed hardware architecture
13. Mapping of the existing electrical system; aim to modernise the sub distribution boards
LEA MUSTONEN, Senior lecturer, Communications, Häme University of Applied Sciences
TIMO VIITALA, Senior lecturer, Electrical and Automation Engineering, Häme University of Applied Sciences
TIMO VÄISÄNEN, Senior lecturer, Electrical and Automation Engineering, Häme University of Applied Sciences
Monitor and Reduce Motor Operating Temperature to Increase Reliability
