Home Green Hotel Focus

Green Hotel Focus

In Green Hotel Focus, Green Lodging News features those properties that deserve just a little bit more attention than your typical green hotel—those properties that have invested in green building design and technologies, energy and water conservation, indoor air quality, and much more. Would you like to nominate a property for coverage? Contact Glenn Hasek, editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Green Hotel Focus

Home Green Hotel Focus
In Green Hotel Focus, Green Lodging News features those properties that deserve just a little bit more attention than your typical green hotel—those properties that have invested in green building design and technologies, energy and water conservation, indoor air quality, and much more. Would you like to nominate a property for coverage? Contact Glenn Hasek, editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

It’s Official: Proximity Hotel is First LEED Platinum Hotel

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels announced that The Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro have been awarded LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is the USGBC’s rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings. Opened in late 2007, the Proximity is the first hotel and Print Works is the first restaurant to obtain the USGBC’s top level of certification. “When we started the design process four years ago, I would have never believed that we could use 41 percent less energy and 33 percent less water without...

Emory Conference Center Takes Big Chunk Out of its Waste Stream

ATLANTA—The Emory Conference Center Hotel (ECCH) in Atlanta is continuing its commitment to the environment and its “green” guests. The property has recently been re-certified by Green Seal, converted to a new food waste elimination system, began recycling its waste cooking oil into fuel, and introduced single stream recycling. ECCH is the only Green Seal-certified hotel in Georgia, meeting rigorous environmental standards for U.S. lodging properties that include waste minimization, water and energy efficiency, and environmentally responsible purchasing. Certification must be renewed annually and ECCH has been certified since 2004. The hotel’s new food composting system is...

Lodge at The Amee Farm Opens Powered by Geothermal

PITTSFIELD, VT.—A two-year restoration that included relocating a farmhouse dating to the mid 1800s has created a new, highly eco-friendly, 16-room lodge called The Amee Farm, one mile north of Pittsfield, Vt. The Amee Farm restoration was undertaken by Michael Halovatch of New York City. Amee Farm is managed by Becky Mcmillian, chef/caretaker, and also by Chris Orosz, farm manager. Amee Farm is designed for sustainable yet luxurious living with such touches as hand-selected antiques in guestrooms that are dressed with plush bed and bath linens. Amee Farm offers scenic views of The Green Mountains and surrounding Amee Farm’s hillsides...

Q Hotel & Spa’s 38-Point Plan Keeps Green Efforts on Track

KANSAS CITY, MO.—Doug Gamble, managing partner of the Q Hotel + Spa, is on a mission to make his 123-room hotel as sustainable as possible—even to the point of turning off lights in the lobby during the day and hanging clotheslines to help dry washed linens. Gamble’s company has owned the hotel since April 2007. It was originally built in 1986. Renovations began in July 2007 and were completed in March of this year. It formally opened as the Q Hotel + Spa on April 1. “It was a cool little boutique hotel,” says Gamble of the Kansas City, Mo.-based...

1.5-Megawatt Wind Turbine at Jiminy Peak Passes One-Year Mark

HANCOCK, MASS.—After the price of electricity jumped 50 percent during the 2005-2006 ski season at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, management knew it had to do something significant. It could not just keep passing along rising costs to its customers; it would lose market share. According to Jim Van Dyke, vice president of sustainability at the Hancock, Mass.-based property, the resort had already installed compact fluorescent bulbs and taken other simple steps to reduce costs. “We had exhausted the low-hanging fruit,” he says. The resort was already using more than 2 million kilowatt-hours less of power annually thanks to its...

Biltmore Farms to Install Solar Water Heating System Atop New Hilton

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—Biltmore Farms SM Hotels announced that it will install a large-scale solar water heating system atop its new Hilton Hotel in Biltmore Park Town Square. The system will provide the 165-room hotel with more than 2,000 gallons of hot water a day, and it’s expected that the system will save approximately $10,000 annually in fossil fuel costs at current rates. The hot water system is one of the many environmentally friendly measures the community developer and its partner, Crosland, LLC, are undertaking at Biltmore Park Town Square to promote a healthy environment, reduce energy costs, and help it achieve...

Seaview, a Dolce Resort, Helping to Protect Diamondback Terrapins

GALLOWAY, N.J.—Seaview, a Dolce Resort, a resort in New Jersey, is taking environmentally friendly actions to become a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary and help preserve the Diamondback Terrapins. As part of a recent mandate program whereby 34 managed golf properties throughout North America and the Caribbean will become Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries by the end of 2008, Seaview, a Dolce Resort, is doing its part to help preserve the environment by protecting a species of special concern in the State of New Jersey. Each year, Seaview, a Dolce Resort’s famed Bay Course is inhabited by nesting Diamondback Terrapins, a...

New Rhode Island NYLO to Be Powered by Renewable Energy

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The NYLO Providence/Warwick is setting a new standard for living a loft lifestyle in Rhode Island—while using renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and hydro to better meet the demands of its guests in an environmentally-friendly climate. Through a unique partnership with People’s Power & Light in Rhode Island, NYLO Providence/Warwick has become the first hotel in the state to open completely powered by renewable energy from local resources such as the Portsmouth Abbey wind turbine, solar panels on Scituate High School, low-impact hydro from Pawtucket Hydro, and dozens of other installations throughout Rhode Island. “NYLO Hotels is...

Hotels Among EPA Performance Track Members Renewing Commitments

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Seven lodging properties and several Fortune 100 companies, including Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, and Xerox, are among the 96 facilities that have renewed their membership in EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program. The lodging properties include: Pinewood Cove Resort, Trinity Center, Calif.; Trinity Lake Resort & Marina, Trinity Center, Calif.; Callville Bay Resort & Marina, Las Vegas; Big Bend Resorts/Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend, Texas; Lake Amistad Resort and Marina, Del Rio, Texas; Mammoth Cave Hotel, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; Hurricane Ridge Lodge, Port Angeles, Wash.; Lake Crescent Lodge, Port Angeles, Wash.; and Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone...

Philadelphia Airport Marriott Earns Green Seal Certification

PHILADELPHIA—The Philadelphia Airport Marriott hotel has earned Green Seal certification, an organization recognized and approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, according to Sandy LeBlanc, the hotel’s general manager. The Marriott hotel near the Philly airport is the only property in Philadelphia to have this green certification. The Philadelphia Airport Marriott had to undergo an inspection and meet a checklist of criteria which included procedures such as environmental compliance, waste minimization and recycling, bulk product purchasing, use of energy efficient equipment, utilization of compact fluorescent bulbs, indoor air quality measurements, use of water conservation fixtures, use of organic...