I will be chatting soon with someone from Dyson about the importance of handwashing and, just as important, proper hand drying—both extremely important in this new COVID-19 world. According to the PR person who contacted me about handwashing and Dyson, damp hands can transfer up to 1,000 times more bacteria than dry hands. I found a press release from 2009 that backs this up. The hand dryer versus paper towel for public restrooms debate has been going on a long time. I have written about it previously for Green Lodging News. With COVID-19 everything is about touch points and of...

Malaysia’s Echo Resorts, the owning company for Gayana Marine Resort, Bunga Raya Island Resort and Borneo Eagle Resort, is keeping busy amidst the worldwide pandemic caused by the corona virus. While its hotel division is not operating due to global travel restrictions and the Movement Control Order imposed by the Malaysian government, it’s business as usual, if not more, for the other divisions. Organic Food Supply Its Borneo Eco Fish Farm by Bayu Aquaculture Sdn Bhd and Green-Os organic vegetable farm are seeing rising orders from consumers and restaurants since the pandemic began. Borneo Eco Fish Farm rears an assortment of...

One of my favorite events of the year, the HD Expo + Conference, originally slated to be held early next month in Las Vegas but canceled due to COVID-19, is going virtual from Tuesday, May 5 to Thursday, May 7. Via webcast there will be 12 free sessions and 40 presenters. A+D professionals can earn up to 12 CEU/LU credits. Among the sessions: “Emerging Trends: Leading-Edge Concepts in Wellbeing,” and “NEWH Green Voice: Technology for Healthy Buildings.” Speakers for the wellbeing session include: Kevin Boehm, Co-CEO, Co-Founder, Boka Restaurant Group; Kane Sarhan, Co-Founder & CCO, THE WELL; Aaron Richter, Senior Vice...

A while back I heard from Aly Valiani, President of Houston-based New Horizons Hospitality, Inc. regarding his company’s two LEED certified hotels. I finally had a chance to chat with him about the properties this past week. The first hotel is the 172-room LEED Silver certified Hilton Garden Inn Houston NW/America Plaza. The second is the 146-room Hyatt Place The Woodlands. I was curious to know how Valiani’s company had benefited from the LEED certification. First, Valiani told me his company’s seven Houston area hotels are currently averaging just 5 to 10 percent occupancy. Business has been hurt not only...

Amanda Davis, the Community Director for Going Solar LLC, recently wrote with some very helpful information on solar rebates and incentives available in the United States. Be sure to check out her company’s resource page. According to Going Solar, solar energy provides positive impacts for the environment and cuts energy costs significantly. Although solar is about 90 percent cheaper than 10 years ago, to promote its continued growth, many states, counties, municipalities and utilities are providing solar tax breaks and financial incentives to make solar more affordable. State solar incentives differ between states and utility providers. Going Solar says...

The COVID-19 crisis has certainly made cleaning and disinfection a top of mind topic in the hotel industry and everywhere else. Green Seal has put together an excellent list of resources on how to “Stay Healthy During the COVID-19 crisis.” Be sure to check out their site which includes a "How to Safely Disinfect for Coronavirus" page. Other topic groups include: “Resources for Healthy Homes,” “Resources for Healthy Schools and Workplaces,” “Resources for Green Seal Certified Producers,” “Resources for Green Seal Certified Cleaning Service Providers,” and “Resources from Our Stakeholders.” Under “Resources for Healthy Schools and Workplaces,” there are links...

Greenbuild just released its 2019 Sustainability Report. For those of you not familiar with Greenbuild, it is the world’s largest conference and expo for the green building industry. The report summarizes the environmental impact of the 2019 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo that was held in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. One of the goals for Greenbuild in 2019 was to move it toward a Zero Waste Event. For the third year in a row Greenbuild achieved TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification, which is awarded to tradeshows with a TRUE waste diversion rate of 90 percent or...

This guest blog was co-authored by Kim Cheslak of the New Buildings Institute and Lauren Urbanek, Senior Energy Policy Advocate, Climate & Clean Energy Program, NRDC. Better building codes mean lower energy bills, which results in lower costs for consumers and fewer carbon emissions for the planet. Sounds like a winning combination, right? That’s why we were delighted when the initial results of voting on the next national model building energy code indicated an estimated 10 percent improvement in energy efficiency, ensuring delivery on that combination of benefits. Unfortunately, opponents are now trying to reverse that progress. Groups primarily from the...

For the first time, Newsweek and Statista are honoring America’s Most Responsible Companies based on publicly available key performance indicators (KPI’s) derived from CSR Reports, Sustainability Reports, and Corporate Citizenship Reports as well as an independent survey of 6,500 U.S. citizens. The analysis was carried out in a four-phase process, starting with a pool of over 2,000 companies that were screened by different criteria. All the companies that passed the pre-screening (carried out in June 2019) have been analyzed in detail. The independent survey was administered using an online access panel. The survey took an average of 10 minutes...

How do you know what plastic is recyclable and really recycled in the U.S.? I strongly suggest reading a new Greenpeace report entitled, “Circular Claims Fall Flat: Comprehensive U.S. Survey of Plastics Recyclability.” A comprehensive survey of plastic product waste collection, sortation and reprocessing in the U.S. was performed to determine the legitimacy of “recyclable” claims and labels on consumer plastic products. Key results of the survey include: 1. Only some PET #1 and HDPE #2 plastic bottles and jugs can be legitimately labeled as recyclable in the U.S. today. 2. Common plastic pollution items, including single use plastic food service and...