Article why some WDW hotels have motion detectors for A/C

[ncligs]

This was in todays paper(Pittsburgh) on a company that invented this, and how it works, and how much $$ it saves WDW and other hotels.

http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20020815remote2.asp

 

[Mary Ellen]

From the article:

At the same, the heating and air-conditioning system is set on a five-minutes-on, 45-minutes-off cycle. Electrical outlets also are deactivated for additional cost savings.

Since we've read many complaints of rooms being too warm at night from lack of A/C, I SURE hope that Disney doesn't deactivate the electrical outlets too. My brother requires a CPAP machine at night (as I'm sure other WDW guests do) and would NOT be happy if it lost power.

 

[Lewisc]

Electrical outlets also are deactivated for additional cost savings.

So much for having a clock that'll show the correct time. The AC won't be running long enough to properly dehumidy the room. I see a lot of complaints and people trying to work around the system.

 

[AndiCT]

The fact that the hotel can monitor my movements in a room is disturbing. Big brother is watching.

 

[erikthewise]

Biskup said a hotel, using his system, could save as much as 40 percent on its monthly energy bill. For a 100-room hotel, this is no small change -- about $10,000 a month, he said.

The units will cost about $350, including installation. In a 100-room hotel, that's about $35,000. Biskup said a large hotel should get a return on its investment, when measured against its energy savings, in less than 24 months.

I think they need an accountant too.

Since they are "preparing to roll out the product", it's a pretty safe bet that Disney is not using this particular product. The cutting off of power seems unlikely to be true at face value. You'd lose not only clocks but nightlights, refrigerators, etc.

 

[ncligs]

Bump for new readers......

 

[SueM in MN]

he cutting off of power seems unlikely to be true at face value. You'd lose not only clocks but nightlights, refrigerators, etc.

And quite a few people would be calling Housekeeping or Maintenance when their clock wasn't working.

From the article:

When the guest leaves the room, the security system is activated.

At the same, the heating and air-conditioning system is set on a five-minutes-on, 45-minutes-off cycle. Electrical outlets also are deactivated for additional cost savings.

The article indicates they have prototypes that have been shown at trade shows, so no one has the product in operation yet. It sounds like this product would only be affecting the room when no one is in it. I can see that it could save a lot of money since they would not need to heat or cool rooms until someone is in them. I don't see that deactivating the outlets would save a lot though. If no one is in the room, who would be using the outlets?

 

[Tesabat]

Where exactly in this article did it say this was the system that is in WDW or that this is a system that WDW is considering?

 

[tnkrbell]

I have never had a problem with the air at Disney(I know when the slider is open the air turns off) Except that my hubby feels he must turn the air Way too low while we are ther and I Freeze my hiney off!!

 

[SueM in MN]

Where exactly in this article did it say this was the system that is in WDW or that this is a system that WDW is considering?

It doesn't (at least not that I found). According to the article, the system is just in the "showing to people and trying to convince them to install it stage." It doesn't sound like it's in actual use anywhere.