EcoGreenHotel

One Easy Way to Get Started

If you stop to think about it, your hotel is sort of like a machine. It’s got a ton of moving parts – the building and all of its infrastructure, the staff and administrative personnel, the grounds – all of those components have to be in good working order or the whole operation will suffer.

But there’s another moving part to your machine that you might not have considered right off the bat, and that’s the energy that powers your entire hotel engine.  If your building, its infrastructure, your personnel and the grounds surrounding the building are not conserving energy like they could be, the machine that is your green hotel will eventually sputter and stop running.  It won’t be able to sustain itself, and it won’t be able to compete with all the other green hotel machines that are running at peak efficiency.

Even if you have implemented a green initiative or two at your property, there is still room for improvement, because green lodging is not a destination – it’s a journey.  And a journey of a thousand miles begins with… say it with me now… a single step!

Maybe your green team would like to improve your property’s energy efficiency but you’re confused about the next logical step.  Or perhaps your hotel has yet to launch a green initiative and you don’t even know where to begin.  One easy way to overcome either of those scenarios and kick start the process in a single step is to conduct an energy efficiency analysis.

An energy efficiency analysis is an in-depth study of your property’s energy usage.  It shows you – in black and white – how each of your hotel’s moving parts can become more efficient, and how you can save energy and money without disrupting the guest experience (and in many cases, how you can actually enhance the guest experience).

One of the most important things to come out of an energy efficiency analysis is benchmarking, which gives you a starting point from which to measure your green hotel’s progress toward greater efficiency and savings.  The most trusted benchmarking tool for hotels is the one developed by Energy Star, which is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Almost 4,000 hotels have used the Energy Star benchmarking tool as part of their energy efficiency analysis.  To learn more, visit www.EcoGreenHotel.com and click on “Energy Star” under Our Services section.

Organic cotton to bamboo, these are the threads you should know about.

When it comes to purchasing your linens, you have the power to make a difference. It’s up to us,consumers including green hotel purchasers, to buy from companies that will create a shift in the market for our environment and long-term health.

You should know that not only are chemicals in the foods that we eat, but they are also found in our upholsteries, blankets, bed sheets and clothes. More and more, people are experiencing health problems such as rashes, allergies, respiratory and concentration problems due to chemical sensitivities. This adds to the growing demand of “green” hotel guest rooms.

So what makes fabric “eco-friendly”? Wikipedia defines eco-friendly (as well as environmentally friendly, nature friendly and green) to be used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies considered to inflict minimal to no harm to the environment.

“Green” fabrics, for the most part, include any fabric made from sustainable or organic natural materials using fewer chemicals, sustainable operations and environmentally supportive manufacturing methods. Green fabric is also used to describe recycled fabric.

Lets focus on the following four eco-friendly fabrics. Keep in mind, these aren’t the only eco-friendly fabrics available – we’ve chosen these to start with.

1–Organic cotton: is weaved from non-genetically modified plants. It is certified as grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides. It doesn’t damage the quality of the cotton or the land and surrounding ecology.

2– Organic linen with flax fibers: True organic linen is created with flax fibers. It comes in the color of a natural cream or light tan since pure white is only achieved through bleaching. Although it wrinkles easily, it is a great hot-weather fabric because it absorbs moisture without getting damp, thus drying quickly and cooling the skin. If you accept the wrinkle look charm, keep in mind flax fiber is stronger than cotton fiber and is less elastic.

3–Hemp: Ok, so it’s still illegal to grow hemp in the Unities States due to its association with marijuana. However, legislation is in the works to change. Right now it’s grown elsewhere in the world and, unfortunately, this increases it’s carbon footprint. Nonetheless, hemp products are manufactured in the U.S.

As for the hemp itself, it’s grown easily and is environmentally friendly. The fibers are mildew-resistant, antimicrobial, UV protecting and even fire proof. This makes it an ideal candidate for fabrics that get a lot of use, but it isn’t the softest option around.

4–Soy: It’s softer than cotton, much more durable, warm, absorbent, and lightweight. Made out of discarded tofu, it’s considered the ultimate sustainable fiber and sometimes referred to as “vegetarian cashmere” – “cashmere” due to its softness and luxurious appeal.

So how do you make fiber out of tofu, you ask? Well, leftovers from tofu manufacturing are gathered, liquefied, and extruded through spinnerets to create filaments that are spun into fine yarns. (Fun fact: Henry Ford first investigated the use of soy in textiles for his automobile in the 1940’s, but the arrival of synthetics on the scene stole the show – however it’s now being rediscovered).

Side note: There is much controversy around the use of bamboo for fabrics and products. Therefore, keep an eye out for EcoGreenHotel’sbamboo pros and cons article to help hotel operators make a well-informed decision.

Our GREEN TEAM series is coming to a close soon. We’ve covered numerous topics on how to engage your employees in sustainability, now we’ll take a look at how leading companies are engaging their customers through different mediums and a quick idea on how you can create a green tool kit

Engage Customers to be Part of the Solution

Without customers, you can’t run a business. What would happen if you work together to achieve a goal? eBay realized the most powerful thing they could do as a company would be to invite their consumers into the equation. Many of their customers have green values—when they opened the eBay Green Team (ebay.com/greenteam), 40,000 people signed up over night. The Green Team, along with their corporate commitment to sustainability, has strengthened relationships with their customers and helped them achieve an authentic green identity in the marketplace.

Whether it’s a top down or bottom up approach, at one point or another you can’t avoid your guest’s needs. Start taking action by creating a Green Team at your hotel and explore creative ways you can engage your guests during their stay and away. Create a space for them to express themselves about your initiatives and allow them to make recommendations or participate in one way or another. Who knows, they might have some good ideas too.

As part of Intuit’s sustainability strategy, which reaches millions of small businesses with its software programs, have made a commitment to helping their customers be more sustainable. They developed Green Snapshot, a new free tool to help small businesses quickly and easily estimate a company’s carbon footprint and identify recommended actions to shrink it, saving customers money in the process.

Simple idea from Yahoo!. They make green relevant to its consumers through Yahoo! for Good, a campaign that offers tips and resources for going green, and Yahoo! Green, one of the most popular environmental sites on the Web. I’ve seen many hotels take this idea and incorporate it into their own green hotel initiative.

Use Art to Raise Awareness

Here are a few examples of how Yahoo! and eBay raised company awareness.

At Yahoo!, “Chuck the Cup” Day was held at four of their campuses to raise awareness about the environmental impact of using paper cups and highlight the things employees can do to create a more sustainable workplace. The project is the brainchild of Kai Haley, a Yahoo! Green Team member and the “Andy Goldsworthy “ of trash. She calculated how many paper cups are consumed every 15 minutes on Yahoo!’s main campus and created hexagon globes out of thrown away cups.

Along with providing incentives to encourage employees to bring their own mug, Yahoo! put the attention‐getting sculptures that Kai created on their main lawn, each of them representing the number of coffee cups (over 100) used in 15 minutes at their headquarters.

One of eBay’s local Green Teams was determined to phase bottled water out of their office. Prior to installing filters and chillers and removing water bottles from break rooms, they invited employees’ children to participate in a poster contest with the theme “what does water mean to you?” Winning posters were displayed around the office, along with facts and statistics to educate employees on the environmental impact of bottled water production and consumption. The team credits the poster campaign with increasing awareness and support for the project and allowing for a successful transition.

Create a Toolkit to Support and Guide Green Teams

To make it easier for your Green Team (or all your employees), consider cmpling a “Greening Toolkit.” For example, Deloitte’s green program toolkit includes 37 suggested best practices and greening projects, focused on energy consumption, paper consumption, daily product consumption, waste reduction, recycling and travel.

The program is monitored through a “Greening the Dot” Web site, which charts the number of toolkit projects that have been completed, kicking up competition between office locations. In the first six months, over half of the workforce engaged in the implementation of over a thousand greening projects across nearly 100 offices, and reducing energy, water, paper use and travel and increasing recycling.

In the end, they saved resources, reduced waste and realized savings. Everyone won! Being sustainable justmakes economical sense.

Next months newsletter will close this series with: Alighn Green Teams with Corporate Sustainability Goals. Don’t miss it!

Is that possible? Hotel Andaluz in Albuquerque, New Mexico, claims they’ve done just that. Reopening after a $30 million remodel, the Andaluz reduced their water use by 78% with their water savings program.

The Andaluz, which previously existed as the La Posada hotel, was extensively remodeled according to LEED standards. In order to cut water use, the Andaluz developers implemented numerous water and energy saving conservation measures, including:

1. “Oxygen-assisted” low-flow shower heads
2. Rainwater collection system for irrigation (in process)
3. Efficient low-flow toilets
4. Solar panels to heat about 60% of the hotel’s hot water (which will cut energy use by 20%)
5. Guestroom controls
6. Fluorescent and LED lighting

The result, in May 2004 the La Posada used 1.2 million gallons of water. In May 2005, the last year of operation before remodel, La Posada used 730,000 gallons in a month. After remodel, in May 2010, the Andaluz significantly reduced usage to 300,000 gallons of water. Although this is one month, it doesn’t dictate what the new hotel will average through the months to come, especially considering it’s a new hotel. Looking at eight different months of usage over the years, the new hotel averaged 770,000 gallons less than its predecessor La Posada.

Lets put that into perspective. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection estimates a hotel to average around 200 gallons per room per day. Assuming these numbers, Andaluz, in its best month, used 300,000 gallons in a month, which is 10,000 gallons each day – and with 107 rooms and suites, it averages around 93 gallons each day per room. That is better than the low average.

Andaluz took on aggressive green measures, including energy efficiency, in its remodel and operations that the hotel is applying for LEED gold status (it had previously aimed for silver). Once certified, it will be one of the first historically renovated gold LEED hotels in the U.S. -

Visit Green Hotel Directory for more green hotels.

It’s been four months since the launch of the EPA’s National Building Competition and fourteen contestants have been in fierce battle to win! They’re at the midpoint of the first-ever national contest to reduce their energy use. Currently, there is only a one percent margin that separates the leader from the next contestant.

The fourteen contestants have together reduced their energy consumption by over 24 billion Btu and reduced their carbon dioxide emissions equal to the electricity use of 330 homes for a year – impressive would be an understatement! By shedding the energy waste, the incredible energy savings are also piling up.

The top 5 as of the mid-point are:

1. UNC’s Morrison Hall (Chapel Hill, NC)
2. Sears (Glen Burnie, MD)
3. 1525 Wilson Blvd (Arlington, VA)
4. JCPenney (Orange, CA)
5. VanHolten Primary School (Bridgewater, NJ)

The Courtyard Marriott San Diego Downtown is currently in 10th placereducing their energy usage by 3% while the Sheraton Austin Hotel is lagging behind in 13th place with a -.08% reduction. It isn’t the winner’s spot, but at the end of the day both hotels have won regardless of their ranking– a healthy environment for themselves and guests, guest satisfaction, environmental stewardship, better future for all, and energy savings to name a few. Just as San Diego’s team name, Money in the Bank, implies – triple bottom line savings!

But whether or not they’ve made it to the top, five of the contestants have increased their ENERGY STAR energy performance score by more than 10 points; three contestants are eligible for the ENERGY STAR label and several more are within striking distance. And they still have less than three more months of savings to go before the winner is announced!

The contestants have pursued a wide range of effective projects that focus on energy efficiency improvements in the areas of operations and maintenance, technology upgrades, and raising awareness. Each property started with the basics like changing out inefficient light bulbs with highly efficient CFL and LED lighting, but as the competition has gotten very close, they had to step it up a notch. Properties have implemented energy efficient strategies although they won’t disclose their secrets.

Wishing all the contestants best of luck (but of course, we’d like to see our hotel friends win!).

See the complete list of the midpoint ranks go to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=buildingcontest.contestants

By Susan Patel

I was watching clips of the Today Show a few days ago and found a segment titled “Green Your Routine,”which brought attention to green cleaning products. It got me thinking: why isn’t there a law or regulation requiring manufacturers to list ingredients? Not knowing what chemicals are in products can be dangerous. You don’t know what you’re using and how it could destroy our immune system, cause cancer, lung disease, and death – a health and safety nightmare!

Companies are shockingly allowed to use general terms for chemicals such as “fragrance”or “preservatives.” This wouldn’t make the cut with the Food & Drug Administration, but apparently products we touch and breatharen’t that important on the list. What we need is national regulation so that companies must disclose every ingredient in a product.

So, what are we to do? Warning labels are useful, first line of defense. But we need to start gradually creating a system that works for our well-being and us.We have to start somewhere, right? Why not with all of us – you!

At the frontline of the EcoGreenHotel Store, I’m on a mission to know exactly what we’re selling. One form of verification I’ve become familiar with is the Green Seal, a third-party certifier. Of course there is also EcoLogo, Environmental Choice and EPA’s Design for the Environment Program that test products for effectiveness, besides health and environmental considerations. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other since each is slightly different, however a certified product is better than none at all.

When hotels purchase products certified by Green Seal or any of the other eco-labels, they know that the products meet good standards and consumers aren’t completely on their own. Still, some green cleaning products are not certified. There are several reasons for this: the product might be new on the market, the company that produces it has chosen not to pay the fee the certifying agencies charge to evaluate it, or that they didn’t meet the criteria of that certifying organization.

When it comes to what we sell on EcoGreenHotel Store, we’ve made sure our green cleaning products are Green Seal certified. For example, the Proxi hydrogen peroxide multi-purpose cleaner, a versatile, environmentally friendly cleaning product formulated with an active ingredient that is safer than aggressive acids and bleaches. Added bonus, due to its high concentration (dilute 1oz per quart water to make 128 quarts), it’s actually saving you money too!

Aside for looking for a third-party certification, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) is another tool that helps hoteliers to make a well-informed decision. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) also has information about many toxic substances at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp.

Next time you’re purchasing your green cleaning products, make sure you know what chemicals are in the products you’ll be using at your green hotel.

Hospitality Industry’s role in Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure

Electric vehicles are no longer a dream on the drawing board. The Volt and the Leaf will be in showrooms later this year from automakers GM and Nissan. Luxury EV manufacturer, Tesla Motors offered an IPO this June; which makes it the first American Automaker to go public since 1956. Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen all have EV models on the board. It looks as if the EV has captured the imagination of the people. Now comes the hard part….building the charging infrastructure.

Creating a robust regional or statewide EV infrastructure will take commitment and buy-in from numerous parties. In North Texas, government, non-profit, and Fortune 500 corporations are making that commitment together. This year’s Texas State Fair will feature an Electric Vehicle Showcase, sponsored by General Motors, US Green Building Council –North Texas, North Central Texas Council Of Governments and North Texas Clean Air Coalition, where attendees will get a chance to drive a Chevrolet Volt on the Road Test Track, and to see how electric vehicles, smart phones, smart charging, green buildings, the Smart Grid and renewable energy work together to become something greater than the sum of parts.

Furthermore the hospitality and travel industries will play a key role to make the electric vehicle an everyday reality. Years ago one could only dream of a day where business travelers would rent an EV at the airport and stay in a green hotel with an EV charging station. Beginning next year that dream will become a reality. Hertz will begin offering the all-electric Nissan leaf early 2011 and Starwood’s LEED Certified Element Hotels offer public charging stations in Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Boston.

Hotels that recognize the opportunity for increased bookings will be among the first businesses to offer public charging stations. What’s more, early adopters are likely to benefit from the buzz, press, heightened brand recognition and strengthened brand loyalty as people recognize the “cool factor” and the importance of the electric vehicle. Green Hotels could see outsized marketing returns for installed charging stations, especially since tax incentives halve the cost of charging infrastructure that’s installed this year.

Hotels have an opportunity to help our communities work on big challenges. There’s growing recognition that electric vehicles offer solutions to many of the challenges we face today: dependence on foreign oil, clean air, climate change, energy security, national prosperity, a missing collective sense of purpose. (To learn more, see the Electrification Coalition Roadmap). An important first step is to create a geographically diverse network of charging stations in a region. Hotels will play a vital part.Please contact us if you would like additional information.

Each year, billions of dollars are spent to control or curtail the effects of odor.  We mask it.  We cover it up.  We try almost anything to kill it.  And we spend our money on solutions that don’t really work, but do end up increasing the amount of toxic chemicals in our lives.

No more.  Because the hospitality industry can finally put an end to the practice of using ineffective, toxic chemicals to control odor and instead use a simple, permanent and non-toxic solution based on the active ingredients used in hydro-therapy and water purification to end odor forever.

Zero Odor is a new technology platform in odor control.  It actually permanently eliminates odor on a molecular level by seeking out and bonding with odor molecules, turning them into non-odor molecules.

Essentially all foul and unpleasant odors have a common denominator:  they all contain either a sulfur or nitrogen-family molecule in their make-up.  The active ingredients in Zero Odor form an irreversible bond with sulfur or nitrogen in gaseous form, which means that any odor that Zero Odor touches is gone forever.

“We got the samples of Zero Odor and let me tell you, housekeeping loves the product!” says Stephanie A. the Assistant Manager of the Golden Bear Inn.  “I also notice the difference in the rooms, walking into the rooms there are no lingering smells of anything.  It’s like magic!”

Zero Odor is formulated to leave no scent or fragrance behind – only clean, crisp smelling air.  There is a slight “tracer scent” embedded in the product to help consumers know where they have sprayed, but very soon the tracer scent also disappears.

Zero Odor is available in 22 and 66 oz sizes through the Eco Green Hotel Store. As the product of organic chemistry, the active ingredients in Zero Odor are non-toxic and biodegradable in the environment.  Packaging for Zero Odor is 100% recyclable.

The Benefits of using Zero Odor:

• Remove odor on a permanent basis and refresh rooms
• Save by avoiding costly room renovations or replacing items with embedded odor problems
• Works on fabric, solid surfaces, in the air
• Non-Toxic; biodegradable; recyclable

In the wake of disasters in two of the world’s greatest tourist destinations (the 2004 tsunami in Asia, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, most recent Gulf Coast oil spill), tourists discovered that a vacation or meeting that includes volunteer time is a rewarding way to enjoy a trip away from home while also giving back to their host community.

In the last half of this decade, volunteer travelers, or voluntourists, have begun combining vacation or business travel with charitable work in and around their destination in greater numbers than ever before, and voluntourism has quickly become one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry.

These days, savvy green hotel marketers around the world are finding inventive ways to attract volunteer-minded travelers.  Is your green hotel doing everything it can to appeal to voluntourists?  Here are a few of the many imaginative ways that green hotels and trip organizers are rolling out the welcome mat for volunteers:

• The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau created a special program called “Meet Responsibly” which helps local green hotels garner more convention and meeting bookings.  Meeting planners choosing to hold their event in the Fort Lauderdale area can choose from a menu of volunteer opportunities for their attendees – things like helping at a nearby food bank, cleaning up a park, beach or bike trail, or planting trees.
• Give eight hours of community service to a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and receive a 50% discount – or in some cases, a free night’s stay! – at over fifty Sage Hospitality properties across the USA.
• Volunteers at the recent 2010 Albany Tulip Festival in Albany, New York were treated to lodging discounts from several hotels during their stay.
• Green hotels along the Gulf coast – including the Port Inn and Mainstay Suites in Port St. Joe, Florida, are offering discounts to oil spill volunteers.
• The Four Seasons Austin’s “Pay It Forward” program links volunteer-minded guests with a food bank and a downtown beautification project and rewards them with up to 46% off their room rate.

Voluntourism is clearly here to stay, and figuring out how to get in on this lucrative new segment need not stress you out.  We volunteer to help!  If you need some fresh ideas for attracting voluntourists to your green hotel, simply contact us today and let’s brainstorm!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has sponsored the first national energy efficiency contest – a “Biggest Loser” competition to see which commercial building can shed the most energy waste and be declared the most efficient in the country.

The EPA is keeping tabs on 14 final contestants until August 31st, among which are two hotels. They include the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Downtown and the Sheraton Austin Hotel. The 14 buildings also include schools, college dorms, hotels, department stores, a mall, a healthcare center and office buildings. They were selected as finalists from a pool of 200 participants.

EPA’s National Building Competition’s 14 finalists will be judged on their energy performance from September 1, 2009 to August 31, 2010. The energy use of each building is being monitored with EPA’s Energy Star online energy measurement and tracking tool, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Television personality Bob Harper will provide energy fitness tips for the contestants through a series of videos that will be available on the contest website. The winner will be declared at EPA’s final weigh-in on October 26, 2010.

The Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown is managed by Denver-based Sage Hospitality Resources. Located in the Gaslamp Quarter, the Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown is housed in one of the city’s most prominent landmark buildings, the historic San Diego Trust & Savings Bank. The hotel, which currently has an Energy Star rating of 63, plans to win the competition by making key operational changes, including the installation of water restricting devices, motion sensing lighting controls in stairwells and the replacement of all incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs.

Energy Star Challenge

“We are thrilled and honored to be a part of the EPA National Building Competition,” said Jody Blackinton, general manager of the hotel. “There are definitely unique challenges to improving the energy efficiency of a historic property like this and we look forward to seeing how we measure up against other buildings across the nation.”

“Sustainability is good business, plain and simple,” said Chris Alto, the Sheraton’s general manager. “Not only does it help global efforts to make the planet a cleaner place to live, but it also creates meaningful cost reductions for our bottom line. HEI Hotels & Resorts has been a leading proponent of ‘green initiatives’ for some time now, as evidenced by being named a 2010 Energy Star Partner of the Year. Our goal is to continue this mission.”

“Buildings of all shapes and sizes are saving money and energy with help from EPA and Energy Star,” said Jean Lupinacci, director of EPA’s Energy Star Commercial Buildings Program. “We applaud the contestants of EPA’s National Building Competition for taking action to protect the environment and fight climate change.”

In addition to showcasing contestants’ efforts toward energy efficiency, the competition is intended to put the Energy Star program in the spotlight. More than 17,000 companies, schools, colleges, hospitals, municipalities, utilities and other organizations participate in the program.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings in the United States account for 72 percent of electricity consumption, 39 percent of energy use and 38 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.

Commercial buildings are responsible for 17 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year, says the EPA, which estimates that on average 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted.

“It’s time for buildings to tighten their belts and we’re happy to help them go on an energy diet,” said Gina McCarthy, the EPA’s assistant administrator for air and radiation.

We, at EcoGreenHotel, know the challenges involved to become both an energy efficient and green hotel. Therefore, we’re rooting for both the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Downtown and the Sheraton Austin Hotel and wish them good luck!