Case Study: Guest Services, Inc.
Outstanding Achievement by a Large Business

Guest Services, Inc. is a 91-year old District of Columbia corporation, with 54 units around the District, employing over 500 people. Since 2007, all facilities are required to be built and operated in compliance with our environmental management program, known as “our Planet.”

1)  Construction/Development in the District

Guest Services constructed two retail/food kiosks adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial.  Both kiosks utilize energy conserving closed-loop geothermal HVAC and refrigeration systems. These systems use the constant temperature of the earth 400 feet below the kiosks to cool and heat the air in the kiosks, and cool the walk-in refrigerators, freezers, and operate the ice-making machine. 

This system provides these benefits:

• Saving 2.1 million gallons of fresh water/year/per kiosk (4.2 million gallons/year total) by geothermal cooling of the ice-making machine versus a conventional water-cooled icemaker of similar capacity.
• A 50% reduction in electricity to heat space inside kiosks (compared to conventional heating systems).
• Forty-percent reduction of refrigerant in the refrigerators, freezers, and ice-making machines.
• Aesthetic benefit of no external condensers or cooling towers.