SAINT CHARLES, MO.—EcoRooms & EcoSuites has added Peter Goren to its Board of Advisors as its newest advisor. Goren is currently the president of the American Green Lodging and Hospitality Association (AGLHA), a newly established not-for-profit organization which conducts research, provides technical assistance and training, and promotes educational activities on issues that affect the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the hospitality industry. Prior to this, Peter was the co-founder and director of Florida’s Green Lodging Program.
“I am honored to be joining the Board of Advisors,” Goren says. “As a member, I hope to convey the importance of educating the industry about green practices. Each day across this country, the hospitality industry consumes as much water as 1.6 million families consume in a year; they generate garbage each day equal to what 4 million families generate each year; and they account for greenhouse gas equivalent to that produced by almost 4 million vehicles.
“I know the industry can do better and consume less,” Goren adds. “I know because I’ve assessed hundreds of properties and seen the huge amount of resources and money wasted each day because no one was able or willing to say ‘stop, let’s do things differently.’”
Over the past 30 years, Goren has worked in both the public and private sectors in many areas of environmental and natural resource protection including aquatic toxicology, recycling, waste reduction and green lodging. In the last few years, he has been a speaker at various meetings and conferences dealing with “greening” the hospitality industries.
Eight Green Standards
EcoRooms & EcoSuites has developed a set of eight green standards a hotel must meet to become a member. These ever-evolving standards are amongst the most stringent in the industry, and are often looked to as a guidepost for other hotels and green lodging programs. EcoRooms & EcoSuites members must be certified to meet 100 percent of these standards, passing a comprehensive audit performed by experts from either the Board of Advisors or EcoGreenHotel.
“While there are a number of green certification programs available, I believe there are only a handful of organizations that do a good job of recognizing properties that have implemented sustainable programs,” Goren says. “As I see it, certification programs are only worthwhile if the criteria are sufficiently robust, there are on-site inspections and there is continuous follow-up, which includes monitoring. Without follow-ups and guidance, the certification is only a piece of paper.”
“We’re certainly excited to have Peter join the team,” says Ray Burger, chairman and founder of EcoRooms & EcoSuites. “While our current roster of advisors is already filled with all stars, Peter gives us an added dimension with his focus on education, training and technical assistance.”
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