Gaylord Entertainment – Emily Applegate – 2011

Goals

Emily Applegate spent her summer as an EDF Climate Corps fellow at Gaylord Entertainment. Gaylord Entertainment, a leading hospitality and entertainment company based in Nashville, Tenn., owns and operates Gaylord Hotels, its network of upscale, meetings-focused resorts and the Grand Ole Opry. Gaylord’s GET Green campaign recently publicly announced its sustainability goals for 2015, which included reducing energy consumption and emissions by 20 percent from 2009 baseline and pursuing LEED certification on all new development. Applegate was brought in to assist in achieving these goals.

Solutions

Applegate’s primary energy efficiency project was the financial analysis of an LED and induction lighting retrofit across the four main hotels and two entertainment venues which included over 30,000 new light bulbs.

Potential Impact

The project could result in savings of approximately 30 million kWh hours annually, amounting to over 17,000 CO2 tons and helping Gaylord move closer to its 20 percent energy reduction goal. Additionally, the project could provide Gaylord with $2.5 million in annual utility bill savings, as well as potential savings from labor cost and HVAC load reductions.