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Green Hotel Third Party Certifications Increasing
Ten years ago a business traveler looking for green lodging options would have to search long and hard for accommodations that offered in-room recycling, linen re-use programs, energy efficient light blubs, and water saving fixtures. Five years ago “certified green” hotels were tiny blips on the traveling public‘s radar.
Nearing the close of 2010, the business traveler has over 2000 “third-party certified” hotels in North America, dozens of USGBC LEED hotels and conference centers, corporate brands offering sustainability programs and LEED certified prototypes, numerous certifying organizations, Travelocity and Expedia “green lodging” search engines, and 35 State and Local Green Lodging programs to aid them in their quest for a sustainable overnight stay.
However there is no hospitality industry standard definition of a green hotel. Some will argue that simply implementing guest room recycling, using green cleaning products, and linen re-use programs are enough. Others say a self-certified audit program from an outside party such as following state lodging guideline qualifies. Even more say only a third party audited and certified hotel is the only way to guarantee compliance to strict standards.
Most sustainable industry professional’s definition of green hotel include green policies and procedures in place that at a minimum take into account energy, water, waste streams, indoor air quality, and green cleaning. Furthermore and most importantly, the hotels are audited and certified on a consistent basis from an independent third party organization. A third party certification provides accountability and assurance that the various standards are followed and to avoid “green washing”.
GreenKey’s Certification program has made tremendous gains throughout North America over the last five years. Currently they have over 1500 certified green hotels in the US and Canada and expect that number to increase with recently signed agreements with Hyatt, Carlson, Motel 6 and MGM Resorts.
According to Zach Cohen, GreenKey Global VP of Sales & Marketing, “the GreenKey Program has been well received because it allows for flexibility in the certification process by using a earn/deduction point scoring system rather than a pass/fail method. We expect to see another 1000 to 1500 properties earn their certification in 2011.” Additional programs such as EcoRooms/EcoSuites, LEED, GreenSeal and EnergyStar for hotels are available to hotel operators. All of which have their strengths and offer marketing advantages.
The green hotel movement is only going to gain momentum as more states and municipalities create green lodging initiatives and corporate brands adopt certification programs as standard practice. It will be exciting to see how the next ten years un-fold.
Third Party Certifications 2005-2010
About Author
Jeff Kiec, LEED-AP and Director of Sustainability at EcoGreenHotel, is a veteran of the environmental service industry. His experience includes engineering building assessments, operational sustainability audits, and environmental site assessments. He has project experience in a range of property types including industrial, multi-family residential and commercial office buildings. As the Sustainability Director for Deep Ellum, a historic arts and entertainment neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, Kiec is responsible for education and working with neighborhood businesses and property owners to incorporate sustainable building technologies.
Basic Money-Saving Energy Usage & Waste Reduction Tips
Many hotels have taken the plunge into green standards and certification as thousands of buildings and manufacturing plants have earned the EPA’s Energy Star through the recent “green” trend years. Getting started is simple as there are a variety of everyday appliances and electronics that almost all hotel offices operate daily, such as: photocopiers, computers, printers, fax machines, and refrigerators. Whether you are just starting out or are an energy efficient hotel but overlooked these basic steps, there are money-saving and environmentally responsible solutions to reducing energy use with all of these equipments.
- PHOTOCOPIERS that are switched off at night and on weekends—either manually, or with an automatic time switch can yield a savings of 40% to 60% per year [that] can be achieved for each photocopier in the workplace according to research by the Government of South Australia.
- DESKTOP COMPUTERS can yield an even higher return profit since a modern desktop computer costs about $110 a year to run 24-hours a day, but just by turning them off each night a single computer can reduce its energy use by 70%. If your green hotel is purchasing a new desktop, be sure to look for the energy efficiency logo by Energy Star. Hotels can also refer to the EPEAT ratings to compare manufacturers and models of environmentally friendly computers.
- PRINTING SMARTER is also a great money and energy saver when documents are printed double- sided and by having toner cartridges refilled or remanufactured. Paper costs can be almost halved simply by printing double-sided, and you can save $100 on toner and $30 on ink by refilling your printer and toner cartridges.
The environmental reflections are also positive as Office Depot states that “each remanufactured toner cartridge keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills…and conserves about a half gallon of oil.”
- PURCHASING A FAX MACHINE can also yield long-term savings when an inkjet machine is chosen over a thermal machine. Although a thermal fax machine costs less to buy, the thermal paper costs a lot more than the plain paper used by inkjet fax machines, isn’t recyclable, and needs to be photocopied for long term storage.
- ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED REFRIGERATOR can save at least 30% when upgraded from an older, noncertified refrigerator.
Energy efficient hotels is the future. Therefore, become and energy efficient hotel not only to compete but for your bottom line savings.
Foundation for Successful Energy Management
Nationwide we’re seeing growth in the green economy, but hurdles still remain as hotels, companies, and other businesses look for resources and funds.
One growth area that we have noticed is the emergence of opportunities around energy. With Obama focusing on green and clean technology, we’ll be seeing more funds (tax rebates, federal energy incentives, etc) allocated to help businesses move towards our national goals. Case in point, over the next three years, $900 million in federal and state grant money will be going to Chicago for energy efficiency work according to Chicago’s Department of Environment.
Good news for the future, but what about now? Not only are resources needed, but money is needed. With banks virtually putting a freeze on grants to small businesses including hotels, more and more hotels are struggling to either meet budget goals, or even sustain their financing, forget about trying to fund an energy project.
So what can green hotels do now with limited funds? Aside from the simple measures such as replacing incandescent lighting to CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) or LEDs, we, at EcoGreenHotel,also recommend green hotels to prepare for an energy efficiency project.
Energy Usage & Benchmarking
It is astonishing to see how many properties are still not tracking their energy/utility usage. As a company focused on helping hotels stay in business, we don’t start any hotel energy projects without benchmarking it in ENERY STAR Portfolio Manager. Tracking and managing your energy performance is critical.
It is very simple, if you do not know where you are starting, the baseline, how do you know how far you have gone? How do you quantify energy savings or monitor your energy usage? How do you know if your most recent energy conservation measure reduced your usage? You have to evaluate progress, measure results and benchmark against your competition to know exactly where you stand. Otherwise it is going to cost you.
The key action hotels seem to overlook is they can start benchmarking and tracking energy usage anytime – even today. Hotels don’t have to wait until they have secured funds for an energy efficiency project or wait for senior management approval or new budgets. On the contrary, understanding current and past energy use is how many organizations identify opportunities to improve hotel energy performance and gain financial benefits. It can pay for itself by highlighting which hotels use the most energy, pointing to areas of greatest opportunity, and even identifying errors in utility bills, such as overcharges, that might have otherwise gone unnoticed and paid.
Assessing your energy performance helps you to:
- Categorize current energy use by fuel type, operating division, facility, product line, etc.
- Identify high performing hotels for recognition and replicable practices.
- Prioritize poor performing hotels for immediate improvement.
- Understand the contribution of energy expenditures to operating costs.
- Develop a historical perspective and context for future actions and decisions.
- Establish reference points for measuring and rewarding good performance.
In the end, starting sooner than later is going to benefit in the long run. Not only will the tracking system for maintaining the ENERGY STAR portfolio be established, but it will also become a standard process that your staff will be familiar with when you do start implementing your hotel’s energy efficiency projects, which will then allow free time for other things.
Five Robust Steps to Prepare and Ensure Energy Success
Whatever the driving force, energy efficiency will be an integral part of staying successful in this competitive business environment. The phrase, “going ‘green’ to make ‘green’” holds true. Global Business Network (GBN) in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and with the help of twenty major U.S. company senior executives have identified a set of strategies that will help businesses act now to prepare for future energy-related risks.
Plan for the Future
Scenario planning is a strategic planning tool that has been in existence for a while. Industry leaders have implemented this strategy to identify and develop plans for coping with some of the major risks the future might hold. The aim is to highlight the risks and uncertainties of the future that one should be starting to deal with now.
For example, Shell used scenario development as a basis for formulating strategies to cope with the possibility of OPEC reducing oil supply and raising prices, an eventuality no other oil company foresaw. When this happened in 1973, within two years Shell went from the world’s eight largest oil company to the second largest.
The executive group participating in GBN’s workshops created the following four plausible “roads” ahead, each posing a specific challenge:
- The Same Road – where the world continues much in the same direction it appears to be going now in regard to energy and environmental concerns around climate change
- The Long Road – where the world undergoes a significant shift in the economic, geopolitical and energy centers of gravity
- The Broken Road – where the world continues much in the same way as today, but is then hit by a severe event that overturns established systems and rules
- The Fast Road – where reasoned decisions and investments about energy efficiency and climate risk are made early enough to make a difference
Take Action Now
All twenty-business leaders were asked to explore the impacts of these four “road” scenarios in regards to energy strategy and management in their companies. “Our group of business executives looked to the scenarios and considered the strategies that would enable a company to successfully travel along whichever future actually emerges,” write Erik Smith and Peter Schwartz, authors of GBN’s ‘Energy Strategy for the Road Ahead’ article.
The group concluded all businesses should take the following five robust steps to prepare and ensure energy success regardless of the future:
- Master the fundamentals of energy efficiency.
Build the culture through leadership and with the help of experts. Set goals, measure and track energy performance, establish accountability and other systems across the business. - Take both a longer and broader view of investments and strategic decisions about energy.
Make major strategic decisions (e.g. technology choices, facility location for new builds) with energy cost, use and supply in mind. See the entire Energy Value Chain, including upstream inputs from suppliers (into internal operations) and downstream outputs to customers (from internal operations). - Search out business transformation opportunities in the way the business manages, procures and uses energy.
Frame energy as a lever for positive growth and change within the business, not simply a cost. Be innovative and aggressive in pursuing and publicizing new product and service offerings based on new energy technologies and supplies. - Prepare contingent strategies for emergent future scenarios.
Rehearse specific aspects of the “road ahead”, including substantial and sustained swings in energy price and supply, severe weather events and penalties or incentives around energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Actively manage exposure to risks and ready plans. Monitor for signs of which “road ahead” is emerging. - Take personal action.
Both corporate leaders and employees can take numerous green actions today whether at work our outside.
Content and information retrieved from the following source (credited to):
Smith, Erik & Schwartz, Peter. (2007). Energy Strategy for the Road Ahead (Global Business Network, a member of the Monitor Group). Retrieved from http://gbn.com/articles/pdfs/GBN_EPA_Energy%20Strategy%20Scenarios.pdf.
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