SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.—The California Hotel & Lodging Assn. (CH&LA) recently announced its Stars of the Industry award winners at the Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort Hotel in Santa Barbara. Among the Stars of the Industry awards, presented by USA Today, were two in the environmental category for Good Earthkeeping. These awards were presented to the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square, San Francisco, and the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, San Diego.
Good Earthkeeping awards recognize lodging properties that have developed a culture toward integrating environmental management practices that improve everyday operations and the bottom line, while maintaining quality service and meeting guest expectations. The program must demonstrate success in one or more of the following areas: energy conservation, solid waste reduction, effluents and emissions, water conservation, purchasing and business issues.
“The California Hotel & Lodging Association is very proud of these award winning members,” says James O. Abrams, President and CEO of CH&LA. “Our congratulations go out to these employees and properties for their excellent and noteworthy contributions to the industry.”
At the 137-room Chancellor Hotel on Union Square, many green initiatives have been launched. Some of them include:
• The banning of Styrofoam on property.
• The use of compact fluorescents throughout the hotel.
• Motion detector light switches are used in locker rooms and closets.
• Anything that can be recycled/reused on property is.
• Linens, towels, furniture and other items are donated to charities instead of being thrown away.
• Unused soap is collected by a recycler.
• Low-flow toilets and showerheads have been installed.
At the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has installed Direct FuelCell Power Plants with the capacity to generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply 70 percent of the hotel’s base load power demand.
The molten carbonate fuel cells Starwood has implemented use natural gas for fuel. The fuel cells extract hydrogen from the fuel and use it to generate electricity and heat. The emissions are near zero in terms of greenhouse gases. In regard to stationary fuel cells of the size used by Starwood, molten carbonate technology provides the most efficient and cleanest generation of power.
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