Tag Archives: Environmentally friendly hotel products

Sustainable Eco-friendly Hotels with Simple Effective Ideas

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Hotels know they need to do more for guests than simply provide a good night’s rest. Some green hotels are leading the eco-way for old and new hotels of all sizes.Hotel initiatives might not be “groundbreaking,” but these innovative and simple ideas work. Here’s what a few sustainable hotels are implementing:

green hotel newsARIA Resort & Casino – Las Vegas, Nevada
At the heart of MGM Resort International’s seventy-six acre complex on the strip, the ARIA has earned six LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certifications due to their innovative green hotel initiatives. The building is made with over two hundred thousand tons of construction waste. The hotel limos are powered with clean-burning natural gas and turned slot machine bases into mini-air conditioners, cooling the casino area with every pull of a handle or push of a button.

Emirates’ Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa – Wolgan Valley, Australia
Build in 2009, this resort has quickly achieved its goal of being a carbon neutral hotel. The interior furniture is crafted from the trees that have fallen on its almost four thousand acres of property, and the lighting fixtures are made out of fence posts that date back to colonial days. Product and meal ingredients come from the hotel’s organic garden or from within a hundred miles of the property. Wolgan Valley received a Commitment to Excellenceand the Environmental Award at the 2010 Leading Hotels of the World Awards.

Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers – Copenhagen, Denmark
Named the World’s Greenest Hotel in October 2010, it’s a 279 feet tall building covered in solar-panel installations (the biggest such installation in northern Europe). The hotel uses groundwater as both a heating and cooling source. The TVs and lighting are both low-energy, and some bathroom amenities, such as shampoo bottles and shower caps, are completely biodegradable. Guests can help reduce the hotel’s environmental impact even more by hitting the gym—the exercise bikes supply the building with electricity.

Proximity Hotel – Greensboro, North Carolina
The first hotel property to obtain a LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Its 70-plus sustainable features include 100 rooftop solar panels and an elevator that generates electricity as it travels. The hotel uses 39 percent less energy and 34 percent less water than similar hotels. Even much of the hotel’s building materials and furniture came from local, salvaged walnut trees.

About EcoGreenHotel
EcoGreenHotel LLC (Robbinsville, NJ), is a privately held company dedicated to helping lodging facilities address a broad spectrum of sustainability issues. The company provides information, tools, checklists, current news and trends to the hospitality industry through its website, www.EcoGreenHotel.com. The company also runs an online marketplace for green products and services at www.EcoGreenHotelStore.com. In addition to the online offerings, EcoGreenHotel provides customized consulting services tailored to the needs of the hospitality industry in the areas of energy efficiency and certifications, including LEED, Green Seal and Energy Star. For those properties that have reached certified levels of sustainability, EcoGreenHotel assists with marketing services to position the properties within the growing “green” space and enhance revenue. For further information, email info@EcoGreenHotel.com or call 888-229-0213.

About Author
Susan Patel, VP of Technologies & Communications received her B.S. in Economics from Rutgers College at New Brunswick and has over six years of financial and investment analyst experience. Driven by her passion for sustainability and economic development since childhood and through philanthropic adventures internationally, Susan now leads business development and operations at EcoGreenHotel and is the Site Director and Managing Editor of EcoGreenHotel online publications.

Hilton Garden Inn Knoxville West Reduces Energy Use Through Green Technologies

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green hotel newsSmall changes into daily hotel operations can lead to extraordinary results. Beginning in early 2010, the 118-room Hilton Garden Inn – Knoxville West made the commitment to reduce its daily operation costs through energy efficiency and green technologies. A wide variety of energy conservation measures (ECM) were recommended by EcoGreenHotel and approved by M. Gibson Hotels Group. The project included innovative products such as US Energy Solution’s Energy Patrol and Boiler Management System, an ozone laundry upgrade, swimming pool saltwater conversion, and a liquid pool blanket.

“As an investment and management company, we are always looking for ways to reduce our operating costs throughout our portfolio of hotels to increase the ROI for our investors, “ said Michael Gibson, Founder and CEO of M.Gibson Hotels Group. “EcoGreenHotel’s E2A (Energy Efficiency Analysis) introduced us to several energy conservation measures and, with their vendor neutral approach, together we built a comprehensive energy strategy we felt comfortable investing precious capital towards. Since installation Scott and his team continue to measure results and provide us with detailed reporting that allow us to show our investors true savings and a return on their investment.”

EcoGreenHotel led the project implementation and scheduled the installation without upsetting the day-to-day operations of the hotel. “We evaluated, recommended and managed the installation of energy efficiency measures that are already delivering strong returns for the Hilton Garden Inn Knoxville West. EcoGreenHotel specializes in the select service market and have partnered with the best providers of technologies geared at this sector of hotels,“ notes Scott Parisi, President of EcoGreenHotel.

The difficult part of any energy conservation project is to balance the investment costs and potential cost savings with out exceeding a limited budget. EcoGreenHotel’s recommendations for this project all provided reasonable payback periods while delivering above average cost savings. Two of the most effective solutions implemented were the Guest Room Energy Management System and an Ozone Laundry system.

The Energy Patrol Energy Management system allows hotel management to gain precise control of the PTAC units in guest rooms through the use of motion sensors tied to the in-room thermostats. “More and more hoteliers are viewing sustainability projects as some of the most financially attractive investments that they can make. Our Energy Patrol System reduced HVAC waste by up to 45% per occupied room. Our system will have a great impact on the bottom line, while providing a return on investment of approximately two years,” said Kevin Hall, President US Energy Solutions.

The benefits of ozone as a powerful cleaning agent have been studied for over 100 years. Only recently have limited service hotels been able to take full advantage of its tremendous cleaning power in laundry operations. The Hilton Garden Inn Knoxville West installed a small-scale system to work with its two 75-lb washers. The results have been very positive allowing a reduction in the use of laundry chemicals and terrific energy savings. Ozone acts as a powerful oxidizer and increases the saponification effects of the wash chemicals that allow for lower washing temperatures between 95°F to 115°F instead of the traditional 140°F to 160°F, with no sacrifice in cleaning power.

Looking beyond the most common energy conservation measures, EcoGreenHotel recommended two innovative solutions for the indoor swimming pool:

The first is a liquid pool blanket. The Heatsavr system automatically applies a biodegradable liquid that floats on the surface of the water to greatly reduce heat loss by slowing the evaporation rate. The invisible liquid blanket is very effective in reducing the steam loss per hour. The Hilton Garden Inn’s pool is experiencing energy bill reductions between 15% and 30%. For every dollar spent on Heatsavr, hotel owners will see three dollars in savings.

Finally, EcoGreenHotel recommended a green technology solution that does not reduce energy use; however it did provide excellent cost savings. Converting the standard chlorine swimming pool to a saltwater pool was relatively inexpensive and took less than an hour for installation with a simple cut in to the pool equipment lines. The pay back was tremendous, allowing for pool chemical cost to be reduced from $150.00 a month for dry chlorine tablets and crystals to less than $10.00 a month for 25-lb bags of salt.

Overall the energy conservation measures have resulted in a 25% reduction in energy and natural gas usage as compared to last year. All of the energy conservation measures are projected to be paid for with the savings within 24 months. As energy prices rise over the next five years the Hilton Garden Inn Knoxville West will be well ahead of its competition.

About M. Gibson Hotels Group
M. Gibson Hotels Group is an investment, development and management company with over 36 years in the hotel and restaurant industry, building expertise through multi-unit management and conceptual development of hotels and freestanding theme restaurants. They are a franchisee with InterContinental Hotel Group, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Marriott International Inc. and offer hotel construction, development, interior design, project management, accounting, sales and marketing services through a team of dedicated professionals

About EcoGreenHotel
EcoGreenHotel LLC (Robbinsville, NJ), is a privately held company dedicated to helping lodging facilities address a broad spectrum of sustainability issues. The company provides information, tools, checklists, current news and trends to the hospitality industry through its website, www.EcoGreenHotel.com. The company also runs an online marketplace for green products and services at www.EcoGreenHotelStore.com. In addition to the online offerings, EcoGreenHotel provides customized consulting services tailored to the needs of the hospitality industry in the areas of energy efficiency and certifications, including LEED, Green Seal and Energy Star. For those properties that have reached certified levels of sustainability, EcoGreenHotel assists with marketing services to position the properties within the growing “green” space and enhance revenue. For further information, email info@EcoGreenHotel.com or call 888-229-0213.

Green Hotels and Reclaimed Materials

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green hotel newsTime and time again we hear hotel project managers and developers embarking on “greening” projects comment, “If only I thought of reclaimed materials before…” Although the project might have already been completed, it might not be too late to help you save time, money and help with your sustainable hotel initiatives. Who knows, you might still have some old furniture, carpeting, or other materials sitting in your storeroom from your recent renovation that you still need to discard.

Waste is piling up everywhere, billions of tons annually. What is worse, global waste production is expected to double by 2013. Much of that ends up in landfills with 40% coming from construction and renovation projects.

This year, PlanetReuse, like many other similar organizations, has taken a more active approach when it comes to reducing waste by focusing on reclaimed materials. Not only do they maintain a database of reclaimed and request listings, they also find the best way to make the connection whether you want materials for your green hotel project or have reclaimed materials to share.

Organizations like PlanetReuse take all the hard work out of incorporating reclaimed building material into green hotel projects around the globe. Each organization works differently, whether it be at a local or global level and has it’s own process. However, they work efficiently on your schedule, saving your green hotel both time and money, and – the planet by reducing landfill waste.

Click here to view Planet Reuse’s reclaimed materials listing page.

Next time you’re working on a construction or renovation project, don’t forget to discuss your reclaimed material options. You can also contact local municipalities or state for references.

Green Lodging, Get Certified Before Your Competition

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The 411 on Top Green Hotel Certifications

The race continues as hotels strive to one-up their competition. In January we had published an investigative article on green hotel certifications exploring various anglesof “why certify” and details of major certification programs. As the number of green certification programs continues to grow, we want to revisit some of the prominent certifications that continue to lead the hospitality lodging industry on the green trend.

Compared to the beginning of the year, hoteliers have more options than ever when it comes to selecting which green lodging certification program to participate and obtain. From established worldwide green certification programs to the recent state versions, analyzing the options could be overwhelming. The key factor in selecting the appropriate program is to ensure it provides absolute value through quantifiable results (ie. energy usage, cost reduction, guest satisfaction, etc). We recommend our clients to start with a hotel energy benchmarking and tracking system.

Are you in? Standing on the sidelines can cost you money in the long run. While obtaining a green certification is not mandatory, it could mean you are missing out on some great benefits, which include:

green hotel news

  • Reduced operating costs
  • Improve the bottom line
  • Demonstrate leadership in sustainability
  • Enhanced reputation, brand and market value
  • Federal and state tax benefits
  • Reduction of green house emissions
  • Attract eco-conscious travelers
  • Healthier environment for employees and guests
  • Attraction and retraction of talent

There are a variety of green certifications that can denote that a hotel is implementing specific green practices, however each program has a different focus, different priorities and different standards — no two are alike. In a recent article published by Hotel & Leisure Advisors, four aspects have been identified to distinguish the focus of green certification programs: “These broad categories consist of certifications for overall building structures, the building fixtures themselves, building operations, and overall management practices.”

Keeping these categories in mind, the following are top green lodging certification programs (in alphabetical order):

  • Audubon Green Leaf™ Eco-Rating Program: (www.greenleaf.auduboninternational.org) This program works with hotels to ensure that they are using green practices in their upkeep and everyday running of the establishment.A tiered certification program where environmental measures are evaluated according to: water quality, water conservation, waste minimization, resource conservation, and energy efficiency.

    • Rating: One to Five ‘Green Leafs’

    Recognized/Chosen by: The State of New York as statewide hospitality ‘greening’ goal.

  • EcoRooms® & EcoSuites™: (www.ecorooms.com) Certified properties must meet eight strict eco-criteria for membership and certification. The criteria includes: use of Green Seal certified cleaning and paper products, towel and linen reuse program, recyclable waste program, energy efficient lighting, high efficiency plumbing, and 100% smoke-free properties.

    • Rating: Must meet all eight program requirements

    Recognized/Chosen by: American Hotel and Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA).

  • EPA’s Energy Star label: (www.energystar.gov) The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program enables buildings to qualify through meeting strict energy performance standards. Energy Star labeled properties use less energy, have reduced operating expenses, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. To be certified, the property mustattain a minimum score of 75, the top 25%, based on EPA’s National Energy Performance Rating System. As of November 2010, there are 426Energy Star labeled U.S. hotels.

    • Rating: Must obtain a score of 75 or higher

  • Green Globe Certification: (www.greenglobecertification.com) This is a certification label for sustainability in both management and operations. Certification criteria cover several areas, including sustainable management and social economic, cultural heritage, and environmental aspects of sustainability.The program’s criteria are also updated annually to ensure international compliance.

    • Rating: Must achieve threshold of at least 35% of the total 1,000 points

  • Green Key®: (www.green-key.org) The is an international eco-label for leisure organizations including hotels, conference centers, youth hostels, and campsites. As a graduated rating system, hotels are given guidance on how to “unlock” opportunities to the next level. The program assesses the five main operational areas of a property and covers nine sustainable practices.

    • Rating: One to Five Green Keys

    Recognized/Chosen by: Carlson Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Motel 6, and Accor North America. The state of Indiana as statewide green initiatives program.

  • Green Seal certification: (www.greenseal.org) This tiered certification is presented to those lodging properties that achieve various levels of compliance with GS-33, Green Seal Environmental Leadership Standard for Lodging Properties. Properties must demonstrate science-based evaluation of sustainable practices in following areas: waste minimization, energy efficiency, conservation and management, management of fresh water resources, wastewater management, hazardous substances, and environmentally conscious purchasing.

    • Rating: Bronze, Silver or Gold Levels

    Recognized/Chosen by: The city of Los Angeles through its Green Business Initiative, as well as Chicago through its Green Hotels Initiative.

  • USGBC LEED® certification: (www.usbgc.org/leed) The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. Promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

    • Rating: Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum Levels

About Author
Susan Patel, VP of Technologies & Communications. Leads business development and operations and is the Site Director and Managing Editor of EcoGreenHotel online publications.

Foundation for Successful Energy Management

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energy managementNationwide 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 starEnergy 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.

A Small Business Case: The Merits of Energy Efficient T8 Tube Lights

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Today’s new generation of optimized, “high-efficiency” T8 lamps and electronic ballasts are available in a range of energy-saving models. Energy efficient lamp and ballast systems contribute significantly to reducing energy consumption and costs by nearly 30%. Paybacks of one to three years are common.

Upgrading your hotel’s fluorescent lamps and ballasts will:

  • Reduce energy consumption
  • Lower the hotel’s energy cost
  • Simplify maintenance and stocking requirements (low life-cycle costs), and
  • Provide illumination that closely resembles natural light

According to one property installation conducted by Cushman & Wakefield, “these products can reduce total system wattage by over 45% relative to the use of older T12 fluorescent systems driven by magnetic ballasts.”

Description
T8 lamps: Slim profile enables them to function more efficiently including longer lamp life, better lumen maintenance and higher color rendering capability.

Electronic ballasts: Designed to provide right voltage and current to lamp (programmable model). Use high frequency and solid-state circuitry instead of heavy copper. Save one watt of energy and product more light for each watt, run cooler and last longer.

Business Case
Installing new high performance T8 lamps along with electronic ballasts in guest bathrooms and the back-of-house of a 300-room hotel.

In guest bathrooms, two 40-watt fluorescent lights can be replaced with 25-watt T8 lamps and electronic ballast. The 290 back-of-house lamps, which run on average of 18 hours, can be converted to 25-watt T8 lamps.

Energy and Cost Analysis

[Assumptions: occupancy gathered from P&L, hours of lamps based on national average, and one electronic ballast for two T8 lamps installed]

Cost per kWh as stated on electric bills is approximately $0.144.
Cost per T8 lamp and half of electronic ballast including installation is $14.25.

GUEST BATHROOM

Equation:
Guest Rooms X Occupancy Rate X Number of Lamps X Reduction in Wattage X Number of Hours Used X Total Days X Kwhr Multiplier = Total kWh Saved

300     X         67%    X         2          X         15w     X         6          X         365     X         .001    = 13,205.7 kWh

BACK-OF-HOUSE

Equation:
Number of Lamps X Reduction in Wattage X Number of Hours Used X Total Days X Kwhr Multiplier = Total kWh Saved

290     X         15w     X         18        X         365     X         .001    =       28,579.5 kWh

Energy & Cost Savings Annual Electric Savings No. Lamps
Guest Bathroom 13,206 kWh 600
Back-of-House 28,580 kWh 290
Total Annual kWh Savings 41,786 kWh  
Annual kWh Electric Savings($0.144) $6,017  

 

Investment Payback (ROI) Investment ($14.25 ea) No. Lamps
Guest Bathroom $8,550 600
Back-of-House $4,133 290
Total Investment $12,683  
Return on Investment 2.1 years  

The numbers speak for themselves. You can easily calculate your green hotel’s custom lighting project’s ROI and savings by simply using the above equations.For more information on T8 lamps or to reach EcoGreenHotel’s recommended lighting specialists click here to contact us.

Overall, lighting represents almost a quarter (sometimes even more) of all electricity consumed in a typical hotel, not including its effect on cooling loads. According to ENERGY STAR, lighting retrofits can reduce lighting electricity use by 50 percent or more, depending on the starting point, and cut cooling energy requirements by 10 to 20 percent as well.

Even if your hotel’s budget is small you can still reduce your costs by upgrading to compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) – if you haven’t already. A Michigan Marriott replaced its public-space incandescent lights with CFLs and saved more than $40,000 in energy and maintenance costs. The historic Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C., installed CFLs in common areas and guest rooms. The investment resulted in few complaints about lighting quality and a six-month payback based on energy savings.

In conclusion, whether you call them energy efficient, energy saving, high performance or high efficiency lighting, upgrading your hotel lights to the new generation technology makes cents!

GREEN TEAMS Final Part 6: Align Green Teams with Corporate Sustainability Goals

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Integrating sustainability through employee and guest involvement is essential for the success of your hotel’s ongoing green operations and programs. We have covered numerous topics in this GREEN TEAM series including focusing on internal operations, engaging employees to capture ideas, best practices to engaging employees to be part of the solution, using art to raise awareness and creating a toolkit to support and guide green teams. Our final focus ties everything back to corporate sustainability goals to take your green teams to the next level.

Align Green Teams with Corporate Sustainability Goals

To take your green team to the next level your hotel should link them to the corporate sustainability goals. One way to incorporate this is to have a staff person from the corporate sustainability program lead the green team, which will provide synergies between the corporate objectives and the green team programs.

Other strategies to help link green teams to corporate sustainability goals include:

  • Create a paid in-house position to oversee the green team or hire a consultant to help
  • Integrate sustainability metrics into employee’s performance goals
  • Link bonuses/compensation to sustainability goals
  • Create a senior-level, cross-functional team that brings department heads from key departments together to link sustainability intitiatives to green team initiatives
  • Train employees to understand which sustainability issues are important to the business by setting the context and help employees understand that their small actions can make a difference

Intel is a good example of company-wide support for environmental performance. They have tied a component of every employee’s bonus to the company’s environmental performance. One year, a portion of the bonus, was tied to reducing their carbon footprint.

Intel found that their green teams were active enough that it made sense to have a corporate convening structure to help align their activities with corporate initiatives. “We aren’t trying to dictate everything that they do, because so much of what is important to them is what is important at their locale,”  explains Carrie Freeman, Corporate Sustainability Strategist at Intel.

“We didn’t want to hamper the green team efforts, but we also wanted some alignment with our corporate initiatives,” continues Freeman.

The hotel industry should refer to the pioneers of “greening” even if the companies are not in the hospitality industry.They have spend countless hours and funds into research and development of sustainability programs and structures. It is a good place to start and play ideas off of.

The green teams at Intel still have the latitude to focus issues of interest, such as planting on-site organic gardens or reduce shopping bag use, but for 2009 they were also asked to help incorporate awareness, communication and education on reducing office energy use, providing some alignment with their carbon reduction goal.

Sustainable hotel business expert Scott Parisi stresses that getting your employees to green your hotel operations is where the greatest value lies. Along with Andrew Winston author of Green Recovery, Scott also challenges hoteliers to, “Ask your employees to focus team efforts on innovating to reduce energy use or to design new products that satisfy green-minded customers. Green teams, if used right, can morph from mainly engagement tools to something even more fundamentally valuable to the business.”

Green teams can be a great ally and resource for creating excitement around new green ways of doing business.

Conclusion

Engaging employees is not an easy territory with a simple formula for success, but rather an art than science. Harnessing the power of green teams and aligning their efforts with corporate goals is a learning edge for most hotels.

While the best practices outlined through the series provides ideas to get started, challenges do exist. Some key challenges a hotel might face as they dive into green teams include:

  • Metrics: It is critical as a business to track what success looks like. However, it is not always easy to gather data on progress. Software tools are becoming available to help green teams track results.
  • Engaging business units/departments: This is a key challenge especially when they are not interested in sustainability issues. It is important to articulate the business case in terms that are meaningful to them.
  • Strategic versus grassroots: Corporate needs to decide if it makes sense to link employee activities to the corporate strategy or give them the flexibility to address issue at individual hotel locations.
  • Volunteer or paid time: Do employees implement ideas on their own time or is it part of the job? In these strained economic times, what is the best way to reassure employees that they will not be penalized for participating in a green team?
  • Corporate structure without losing the grassroots passion: Another challenge is how to manage the tensions between providing enough structure to link green team activities to a corporate strategy, without losing their grassroots energy, creativity and passion.

Taking the Next Step in Creating Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

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Last month EcoGreenHotel highlighted the hospitality industry’s role in helping to build the infrastructure to make electric vehicles a common site on streets and highways throughout the country. This month we are going to explore the concept at greater length and offer a vision for the very near future.

If you have read the headlines over the last three months, it is clear that momentum is building for 2011 to be the year for full-scale launch of electric vehicles in the US. Here are just a few highlights:

  • Enterprise Rent-A-Car will offer 500 Leaf all-electric cars to customers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Knoxville/Nashville, and Seattle beginning January 2011.
  • President Obama pledges to bring 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to U.S. Highways by 2015.
  • CNN reports Coulomb Technologies said it will build 4,600 electric vehicle-charging stations in nine regions of the U.S., funded by $37 million in grants.
  • Chicago gets geared up for electric vehicles.
  • Texas State Fair will feature an Electric Vehicle Showcase, sponsored by General Motors, US Green Building Council, North Central Texas Council Of Governments and North Texas Clean Air Coalition.

How can the hospitality industry participate and capitalize on the momentum? It’s easier than you think. Charging stations take up very little space in the parking lot with the typical two parking space arrangement. More importantly in these tough economic times, they are eligible to receive Federal Tax Credits for up to 50% of the installation cost until the end of 2010. In addition there are numerous state and local rebates and incentives to reduce the initial costs.  www.pluginamerica.org/incentives.shtm

Hotels make for ideal charging spots in a regional charging infrastructure since typical ‘fill-ups’ can take up to 8 hours using 220-volt and 20 hours using 110-volt. Let’s be honest, travelers aren’t going to spend 4 to 5 hours at a gas station even with the worst case of “range anxiety”.  Hotel lobbies, restaurants and pools provide a welcome retreat for long distance travelers and local EV owners looking for a place to recharge their batteries.

As an example of forward thinking in North Texas, the Sheraton in downtown Dallas converted three garage parking spaces into electric vehicle plug-in charging stations using standard electric conduit at the beginning of this summer. “We’ve had 15-20 guests use the charging station for their electric vehicles since we’ve installed them. It’s more than we initially expected.  Plus, when guests are not using the stations, we lease the spaces to a local mobile advertising company to charge their EV mobile billboards overnight. The small investment has already paid for itself” Steve White, Sheraton Dallas Hotel Manager.

Looking further into the future, electric vehicle manufacturers are rolling out larger vehicles that can be used as shuttle vans. Electric Mobile Cars’ 7-Passenger mini-van has a maximum 220-mile range at 75mph. It’s ‘Fill-up’ is 75% less expensive than its combustion engine cousins. With inexpensive fuel costs and large space, it is an ideal no-emissions green airport shuttle for a hotel to reduce operational costs.  www.emc4u.com

Heading into the next decade of the new millennium, pioneering green hotels will be at the forefront to provide a source of power to create a more sustainable future than their competitors. If you have any questions on charging stations, electric vehicles or green hotels, please contact info@ecogreenhotel.com

GREEN TEAMS Part 5: Engage Customers to be Part of the Solution

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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!

National Building Competition Midpoint Update

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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