I have written about window film before. (See article.) I have also had a guest columnist write about the window product. (See article.) Low-E window films can reduce heat loss by up to 30 percent and air-conditioning costs by blocking more than 70 percent of the sun’s heat. Of course window film makes the most sense where the sun beats down the hardest. After reading an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the Vdara Hotel at CityCenter, one has to wonder what kind of window film they are using (they are using some). Perhaps they need something a little thicker? Or, perhaps they need a lot more than window film? Turns out guests who sit in certain spots around the hotel's pool risk being roasted a bit. How so?

Because of the way the hotel was designed, the sun's rays bounce off of the hotel's south-facing tower and are focused to become what some employees are calling the "Vdara death ray." Ouch! That's not the kind of phrase you want tossed about in the same sentence as your hotel. One guest recently told the Review Journal that he was "effectively being cooked" one day earlier in September while "relaxing" by the hotel pool. His hair was actually scorched. The rays bouncing off of the building even melted the plastic bag holding the guest's newspaper. According to the Review Journal, the hotel guest's theory is that Vdara's curved southern wall acts as a parabola to collect and intensify the afternoon rays, which it then reflects. A spokesman for the LEED certified hotel said solutions under review include adding more foliage to the pool deck, offering larger sun umbrellas, and building a shade structure.

Perhaps the Vdara should install some solar panels next to the pool? Or, roast some weenies there when the sun is the strongest?

For architects and designers, there is certainly a lesson to be learned here: Pay much closer attention to the way the sun reflects off of a building early on. Don't wait until your guests feel like kindling in a fire pit.

National Public Radio recently aired a two-part series on the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system. (Click here for part one. Click here for part two.) I recommend listening to the report. The reporter addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the program and provides some interesting data about green building and LEED. Did you know, for example, that one-third of all new construction in the United States today is considered green building? That is up from just 2 percent in 2005, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. NPR’s reporter does not talk about hotels but the content of his reports are relevant for those in lodging. He visits the University of Michigan and an elementary school in Washington, D.C.

He also chats with Rick Fedrizzi, president and CEO of USGBC.

LEED has certainly taken off not only in the lodging industry but all other commercial sectors as well. There are now more than 12,000 LEED certified buildings and more than 155,000 professionals have earned LEED accreditation. Last year, USGBC brought in $107 million, $42 million related to accreditation, according to the NPR report.

Be sure to check out the NPR series and then let me know what you think by leaving a comment here.

Do green hotels please travelers more than non-green hotels? In case you missed it, this summer Travelocity reported that those properties noted as eco-friendly on its website got higher consumer reviews than their non-green counterparts. Does that surprise you? Travelocity allows consumers to rate its hotels on a scale of 1 to 5 smiley faces. When the company studied the reviews for its green hotels, a fascinating trend emerged. Consumers gave 83 percent of non-green hotels three smiley faces or more, but they gave 94 percent of green hotels three smiley faces or more. The difference between 83 percent and 94 percent is certainly not huge but it is significant. "This data confirms something we have long suspected," says Alison Presley, manager of Travelocity's Travel for Good program.

"Our eco-friendly hotels care deeply about the entire experience they provide and that attention to detail translates into an awesome stay overall," she adds.

Travelocity has more than 2,000 hotels in its Green Hotel Directory and the company works with an elite group of certification programs to ensure that each hotel in its program is making significant strides in sustainability. Travelocity is the only major online travel company that flags green hotels site-wide with an eco-friendly tag and the company holds the line against "greenwashing" by not accepting "self-certified" hotels. Travelocity recently offered an "It's Good to Be Green" sale where travelers could save up to 30 percent on more than 160 eco-friendly hotels around the world that have an average rating of 3.5 smiley faces or higher.

Within your brand or collection of hotels, have you surveyed your customers to see if your green hotels are perceived as a better value than your non-green hotels? Perhaps you should. I am pretty confident your findings will be similar to Travelocity's. Your thoughts?

Is your hotel bird friendly? If it is a low-rise building, chances are your building poses little threat to birds. If your hotel is a high-rise, however, you should understand the danger your building poses to our feathered friends. During periods of migration, birds get confused when tall buildings are bathed in light at night. They confuse the tall buildings with starlight--the light they primarily use to navigate at night. The effect on birds is exaggerated in foggy or rainy weather and especially after midnight, when the birds begin to descend from their peak migration altitude. Once disoriented, many birds collide with the buildings and fall to the sidewalks below. Others, like moths attracted to light, flutter around the lighted windows until they are exhausted.

Birds by the hundreds and even thousands can be injured or killed in a single night at just one building. The problem is greatest in cities along flyways and along large bodies of water (lakes, rivers, etc.), which birds follow during migration.

Earlier this month, on the evening of the ninth anniversary of 9/11, twin columns of light were projected as a memorial over the World Trade Center site. Approximately 10,000 birds entered the lights and became confused, circling until the lights were shut down for 20 minutes.

In May of this year, four environmental groups sued the St. Regis Princeville Resort on Kaua'i, saying the resort's lights contribute to the deaths of seabirds. The lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Hui Ho'omalu i Ka 'aina, the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy. They say the resort's lights confuse Newell's shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels, which follow moonlight out to sea, leading to the seabirds' deaths. The suit accuses the resort of violating the federal Endangered Species Act by failing to prevent the ongoing deaths of rare native seabirds. St. Regis Princeville general manager Milton Sgarbi said in March that the hotel has been taking steps to allow the birds to reach the ocean safely since 2005.

The best way to avoid confusing and ultimately tiring and possibly killing birds is to implement a lights out policy at night (at least as many lights as you can safely turn off). This will help keep birds pointed in the right direction during migration and possibly even keep your hotel free of lawsuits from bird advocacy groups.

Whether just learning about green building or an expert, you will want to attend this year's Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. It will be held November 17 to 19 at McCormick Place West in Chicago. I would not be surprised at all if at least 25,000 to 30,000 people attend this year. I was fortunate to attend Greenbuild twice before--in Chicago and Boston. It is definitely a challenge fighting the crowds but well worth the effort. This year's event will feature speakers including Shaun Donovan, who previously headed New York City's Department of Housing Prevention and Development and who served as the Clinton administration's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing, and Paul Hawken, who has founded several successful companies, including Erewhon Trading Company, America's first natural foods company.

Additional speakers will include Arlene Blum, founder and executive director, Green Science Policy Institute, Martha N. Johnson, Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration, and Kevin and Hannah Salwen, co-authors of "The Power of Half."

Greenbuild attendees will have an opportunity to take part in many educational sessions and participate in numerous tours as well. Workshops will range from "LEED 101: Green Building Basics and LEED," to "Practical Strategies for Calculating & Reducing Your Carbon Footprint." The trade show will feature more than 800 exhibitors (more than the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show). Exhibitors will include companies from Bentley Prince Street to Excel Dryer to Osram Sylvania--some of the same companies you might expect to see at lodging industry trade shows.

For some odd reason, Greenbuild always seems to fall immediately after the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show, which is scheduled for November 13 to 16 in New York City. This year I am going to try to attend both. Are you planning to attend either event? If so, I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment here or e-mail me at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.    

Almost every week now, I read about a hotel or other type of lodging establishment that has invested in a solar system, whether for generating electricity or heating water. Learning how to use solar can be a challenge. If you are looking to learn more about solar and how it works, I recommend participating in the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour. The majority of this year's tours will take place on or about October 2. Last year, 150,000 people, across 49 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico participated. This year there are 648 tours planned--nearly triple the number in 2009. This year's National Solar Tour features open house tours of thousands of solar-powered homes, businesses, and public agencies.

Among the menu of solar solutions showcased in this year's National Solar Tour are investments that have helped a couple beat Wall Street with their green ROI, a veteran of the Iraq war who is passionate about renewable energy, solar-powered homes, schools, public agencies, condo complexes, and businesses that run the gamut from solar-powered poultry farms to funeral homes.

"Interest in the solar industry is cooking, and consumers across the nation are eager to sample its wares, which bring enticing tax credits, cash rebates, improved proper values and cleaner communities to home and business owners across America," said ASES National Solar Tour manager Richard Burns.

To find a tour in your area, click here.

To learn more about hotels already using solar systems, go to Green Lodging News and search on "solar."

Last week I had an opportunity to read through the American Hotel & Lodging Association's 2010 Lodging Survey. If you have not read my two articles based on the survey, please do so. (Click here for article. Click here for my weekly column.) An incredible amount of work was put into the survey as almost 49,000 lodging properties were contacted. More than 8,500 properties responded. That is a pretty healthy response rate. I already hit the high points of the survey in my previous articles but there were a few things I missed--survey discoveries that provide an extra glimpse of where the industry is headed when it comes to sustainability.

For example, 62 percent of hotels now offer flat screen TVs in the guestroom. That is up from just 12 percent in 2006 and 43 percent in 2008. Flat screen TVs use more energy than those TVs they are replacing and their purchase creates an electronics disposal challenge (see related article) as the old TVs must be disposed of somewhere. Also according to the survey, 25 percent of hotel guestrooms now include air purifiers, up from 12 percent in 2008. Assuming the number is accurate, it certainly indicates our industry is beginning to recognize the challenges that indoor air pollution creates, especially for those with allergy and chemical sensitivities. Fewer hotels are apparently including a mini-refrigerator in the guestroom. In 2008 a total of 82 percent reported offering them in guestrooms; this year that number dropped to 72 percent. If there are indeed fewer refrigerators running in guestrooms, that is good news for the environment.

The number of properties with water saving programs jumped from 46 percent in 2008 to 69 percent this year. Those hotels in the upper upscale segment are most likely to have these types of programs (85 percent). Good news for the obesity crisis in our country: 83 percent of respondents reported offering an exercise room or fitness facility, up from 63 percent in 2004. Fewer hotels (68 percent in 2010) are delivering free newspapers to guestrooms (83 percent in 2006). That is good news for the environment as fewer trees need to be harvested and less waste needs to be dealt with.

AH&LA members can download a copy of the 2010 Lodging Survey via the Members Only section of the AH&LA website, www.ahla.com. Individual data points are available for sale from the AH&LA Information Center at (888) 743-2515.

Clean the World, an Orlando, Fla.-based organization focused on collecting partially used soap and shampoo for those in need, is in the hunt for a $25,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Everything project. How can you help? Click here to cast your vote. You can also text 101319 to Pepsi (73774) one time a day. I do not typically endorse organizations here at Green Lodging News but I have been impressed with the work of Clean the World since their start last year. They are a perfect match for the lodging industry. Through their soap and shampoo collection efforts, they are reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills.

Clean the World is also helping the homeless and others in need here in the United States and around the world.

With the $25,000 it would receive as a result of the grant, Clean the World would be able to expand its recycling efforts and improve its educational outreach to schools on the topic of proper hand washing to prevent disease.

In the article I wrote this past May, I updated readers on the progress of Clean the World. It is in the process of expanding its recycling centers throughout the United States and also into Canada (Vancouver, B.C.).

Why are soap and shampoo programs important? According to the World Health Organization, 3.5 million children die from treatable illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrheal disease each year. That is the equivalent of 9,000 children daily. Up to 65 percent of the deaths could be prevented by simple hand washing with soap and water.