Four Seasons Resort Maui’s Engineering Team Earns Energy Conservation Award

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea’s engineering team. Courtesy photo.

By Maui Now Staff

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea’s 20-person engineering team was awarded the “Hawaiʻi Energy Conservation Award” for saving more than $1 million annually in energy costs.

Hawaiʻi Energy, the ratepayer-funded energy conservation and efficiency program for Maui, Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi, Lānaʻi and Oʻahu, presented the award for the team’s outstanding leadership, contribution and commitment towards energy conservation and sustainability for the state.

Four Seasons Resort Maui’s team was led by its energy-saving visionary, Pat Ware, the director of engineering, who was responsible for overseeing more than $8 million in energy-efficient renovation projects for the 635,976 square-foot property from 2010 through 2014.

Four Seasons Resort Maui will save an estimated 3.8 million kilowatt hours per year. The electricity savings will total more than $1 million annually (based on $0.26/kWh) once the remaining projects are completed by 2016. The projects include guest room energy management systems and electronically commutated fan coil motors.

Walter Enomoto (left) of Hawaiʻi Energy and Pat Ware, formerly of Four Seasons Maui. Courtesy photo.

Ware recently retired after spending the past 30 years in various engineering positions at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for properties in Vancouver, Jakarta, Atlanta, San Francisco, Lānaʻi and Maui.

Hawaiʻi Energy awarded Ware with a certificate of excellence for his dedication and efforts to save energy.

“It’s an honor to recognize Pat and his team for their unwavering commitment to helping the resort operate as energy-efficiently as possible,” said Joe Simpkins, program operations manager for Hawaiʻi Energy. “Pat’s humility, character and legacy are a true inspiration for the next generation of engineers following in his footsteps.”

Four Seasons Resort Maui’s team replaced an old building automation system (centralized control system) with a state-of-the-art model that made it possible to monitor and manage more of the resort’s energy consuming equipment. The system helped identify an underground hot water leak when large energy spikes with the heat pumps were detected. By fixing the leak the resort saved more than $94,000.00/year (1,000 kWh/day) and prevented thousands of gallons of water from being lost.

Additionally, Ware taught the team how to install the building automation system themselves. The hands-on expertise increased the team’s working knowledge of the system and ensured proper maintenance in the future.

Four Seasons Resorts Maui’s engineering team was the first organization to win the Hawaiʻi Energy Conservation Award. The first individual to receive the award was Allen Evans in 2012. Allen is the owner and operator of Refrigerant Recycling Inc. on Oʻahu, which developed the first refrigerant recycling service of its kind. The award will be presented annually to an individual or organization.
For more information, please call Hawaiʻi Energy at 839-8880 or toll-free on the Neighbor Islands at (877) 231-8222. Visit www.HawaiiEnergy.com.