YOUNTVILLE, CALIF.—Bardessono has just received the highest level of official recognition possible for its sustainable and environmentally friendly design. The hotel has been awarded LEED Platinum certification, an achievement reached by only two other hotels in the world, on the first anniversary of its opening.
Phil Sherburne built Bardessono with the intention of creating a hotel that provides guests with a luxurious experience while simultaneously protecting the environment. “I believe it is critical for the development community to be a leader in the effort to preserve a healthy planet,” Sherburne says. “We can’t just continue to talk about environmental problems, we have to begin to act. I hope we have provided an example from which others can benefit.”
The hotel’s design, construction and operation followed guidelines of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, the nationally accepted benchmark for high performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in six key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design. Certification levels include Platinum, Gold, Silver and Standard in descending order of the rigor of the requirements.
Many Steps Taken to Reduce Impact
Examples of some of the primary sustainable practices that qualified the hotel for LEED Platinum certification include:
• Solar power: A total of 947 solar panels are installed on the flat roofs of the buildings in a manner so as not to be visible to the neighboring community. The 200-kilowatt solar energy system provides a significant portion of the Bardessono’s electrical energy requirement.
• Geothermal: Seventy-two 300-foot geothermal wells were drilled to work with a ground source heat pump system to heat and cool rooms and heat domestic water. Consequently, the only electricity used in this system is for operation of the pumps.
• Construction: More than 93 percent of building waste was recycled.
• Reuse of materials: The stone featured on both the exterior and interior of the building was recycled from the stone blocks of an old wine cellar on the property. All of the wood visible on the exterior and interior of the buildings was milled from salvaged trees, including Monterey Cypress, Orchard Walnut, Redwood and Elm.
• Heat retention: Guestrooms are constructed to minimize solar heat gain with wide overhangs and specially designed motor-controlled exterior Venetian blinds, driven by occupation criteria delivered through the fully converged IP network developed by MTM Luxury Lodging. Large expanses of glass allow winter sunrays to naturally warm rooms and enhance daytime lighting.
• Lighting: LED and fluorescent lamps are used throughout the property and IP network driven sensors in the rooms extinguish lights when rooms are unoccupied.
• Low water use: Low water flow fixtures, dual flush toilets and waterless urinals are used. Outdoors, drought-resistant indigenous landscaping prevails, serviced by an efficient buried drip irrigation system.
• Water recycling: All grey and black water is treated and recycled for irrigation uses by the Town of Yountville.
• Creek-side protection: Buildings are set back 35 feet from Hopper Creek with native riparian plants installed to restore a hospitable natural environment for wildlife and fish while minimizing soil erosion.
• Compost: With a goal of contributing as little as possible to the waste stream, the Bardessono composts all kitchen and garden vegetable and plant waste in an “Earth Tub.”
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