For many people summer means traveling. And many of these weekenders and vacationers will end up in hotels whether they’re hitting the road or flying abroad. Hotels are often needlessly wasteful, and they add significantly to the already hefty toll traveling takes on the environment. But if guests do their research and ask a few questions before deciding where to post up for the night, they’ll find a wide selection of hotels that cater to customers who want environmentally sustainable accommodations. CAP has the story in this cross-post.
Hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and motels can adopt a host of practices to green themselves. Washing towels and linens after every single use, for example, wastes water and increases energy costs. But hotels that allow their guests to reuse such items multiple times before washing them are cutting down on water and energy consumption. Hotels can further cut their water usage by installing low-flow showers and toilets, and they can slash energy costs by using compact fluorescent light bulbs in all rooms or timers or sensors for lights.
They can also store soap, shampoo, and other hygienic amenities in bulk dispensers rather than tiny, individualized bottles in order to cut down on the huge amount of packaging waste involved in lodging. And they can adopt recycling or composting programs to reduce waste or serve locally sourced food to cut transportation costs.
There’s no silver bullet for a making a hotel “green,” but many guides exist to help the eco-conscious lodger find what they’re looking for. The Green Hotels Association promotes and facilitates environmentally friendly practices at hotels throughout the United States and beyond. Their website has a handy member hotels section for finding green accommodations wherever you’re traveling.
The Green Hotels Association doesn’t list information about what makes their member hotels green, but environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com has pretty exhaustive information on an impressive number of hotels throughout the world. They feature a checklist of green practices adopted by each hotel and rate the hotels on a scale of one to seven green trees””similar to the restaurant five-star system. The site also contains a search function and reviews from travelers who’ve stayed at the hotels.
Keep an eye out, too, for hotels that publicize their sustainability credentials such as the Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco, which is certified by the San Francisco Green Business Program, U.S. Green Business Council, and was the first California hotel to be LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certified.
Finally, if you’re feeling adventurous you could always ditch the hotel outright. Consider staying at a hostel, where the paired-down accommodations and communal living style cut down on energy consumption and wastefulness. If your destination is sufficiently outdoorsy, camping also makes for a fun alternative to the hotel. And Couchsurfing.org is a nonprofit organization that connects travelers with locals who are willing to let visitors stay in their houses and apartments. Since you’ll be staying in a place in where someone is already living you’ll be creating less demand for new energy and resources.
Searching for lodging in your travels doesn’t have to mean being complicit with wastefulness or environmentally harmful practices. Eco-conscious travelers can find the perfect fit for their green sensibilities with a little bit of education, attention, and research.
This is a CAP cross-post.
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You missed the most important thing: room energy management microprocessor controls, with temperature setbacks for unoccupied mode. The whole world uses them except here in the US, usually with the keycard system- the room key goes into a holster, which sends a signal to the HVAC thermostat that the room is occupied. When he leaves the room, he takes the key with him, turning the HVAC way down. Energy savings: 35%. Payback time: 18 months. Rebates and tax deductions: huge.
It’s outrageous that hotel room heaters and AC units are blasting away all day when the guest is gone. So it can be at the perfect temperature when he returns? It’s like leaving your car running in the garage.
Disclosure: I’m a wholesale distributor for a US version of this technology, which was originally developed in Germany. Interested hotels can email me at mike.greenframe@aol.com. So can companies who want to specify that their business travelers stay in hotels that use this feature.
Climate Progress:
Please correct the above email address to read:
mike.greenframe@gmail.com, or greenframe@aol.com
The challenge with greening the hotel industry in the US has less to do with the property owners/operators and more to do with the attitudes of their guests. As Mike mentions, in-room energy management devices are quite common in other parts of the world, but rarely found here. I’ve spoken with hotel operators about this and consistently heard the same feedback: “hotel guests expect their room to be comfortable when they return.” In other words, a family vacation at the beach, for instance, won’t tolerate coming back to a hot room after spending all day in the sun. They expect their room to be the same temperature as it was when they left for the day. Even if that means running the AC while the room is unoccupied. In general, the US consumer lacks a sense of urgency to reduce global warming, especially when the hotel is paying the energy bill.
A white roof radiant barrier or just a radiant
barrier tacked to the underside of the rafters
could help solve the problem.
Mike,
A possible solution to the “guests in the US expect rooms to be comfortable when they return” problem:
Add a feature to your system so that it is configurable whether the heating/AC is reduced when guests are out. Hotels can then provide a “$1 cashback for power savings” program. If guests opt in, then the system is configured to turn down the AC or heating when they are out, and they get a cash refund at checkout.
Of course, it doesn’t really work if the cost of power saved this way is less than a dollar a day…
Energy Manager and Swami,
Thanks for the feedback. Actually, we provide hotel guests with an option: if they have to have a perfect room temperature when they return, we (and hotel management) just tell them with a smile to leave the key in the slot, inactivating the energy saving function.
In our experience, hotel guests like to save energy anyway, and less than 10% actually leave the key in the slot. It’s kind of like cheating in Vegas- a few people will chisel, but the house (in this case energy savings) overcomes it.
Hotel managers are actually the problem. They are way behind the public- just as car companies and homebuilders tend to be.
Potentially better than couch surfing, check out this Social Bed and Breakfast networking article in the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html
Green hotel means no chemicals for bedbugs and pest control.
Use Natural, Non-Toxic Pest Control without Resorting to Dangerous Pesticides http://www.naturalnews.com/028070_natural_pest_control.html