It is awards season again. Two announcements this past week highlighted examples of sustainability in both design and operations. First, finalists have been announced for HX: The Hotel Experience’s 36th annual Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design, which is sponsored by Boutique Design magazine. Winners in 21 categories will be announced at the Gold Key Awards Gala, to be held November 14 at the Waldorf Astoria, New York. The Designer of the Year will also be honored during this special evening. In the Best Eco-Conscious or Socially Conscious Hotel category, finalists for the 2016 Gold Key Awards...

The list of solar powered hotels listed on Green Lodging News just keeps getting longer. I just added the Olas Verdes Hotel to the Solar Powered page included in our Renewable Energy All Stars section. The Olas Verdes Hotel, located in Costa Rica, is a LEED Platinum property with five casitas. Each casita has from two to four suites. Solar PV and hot water systems provide nearly 20 percent of the energy needed to run the hotel. The Olas Verdes Hotel fits well in Costa Rica, a country now running off of about 98 percent clean energy. I will...

If you happen to own or operate larger hotels, or even if you do not, you should pay attention to a new and emerging technology being developed and tested by a company called 10xHydro. I just spoke with Vladimir M Petrovic, the company’s Founder & CEO. He is excited about his company’s compact bladeless turbine that, when placed in pipes carrying hot and cold water, drinking water, natural gas or refrigerant, can regenerate 40 percent of the available energy of the fluid flowing through the pipes. The energy is extracted from pressure reducing devices such as: balancing valves in...

With summer winding down it is a good time to take a look at the fall conference season. There will be many events at which sustainability will be a focus. The most significant green-focused event will be the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. This year’s event will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from October 5 to 7. Greenbuild will include a trade show, many educational sessions, building tours and even a Water Summit. Author Sebastian Junger will be the plenary speaker. His recent book is entitled “Tribe.” According to Junger’s website, the book is about why...

News from the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center often crosses my desk. It usually has to do with good things the Center is doing in the community or in other areas of sustainability. One recent example was a canned food drive. Each Center department recently was challenged to come up with the most creative representation of a Louisiana icon or landmark, using only non-perishable food cans. Employees donated from their personal pantries and pooled their own money and resources together in order to build their canned goods masterpieces. Some of the creative ideas included a replica of...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Zero Waste Challenge recently wrapped up with six hotels participating. The Zero Waste Challenge is part of the administration’s comprehensive OneNYC plan to send Zero Waste to landfill by 2030. Collectively, 31 businesses diverted 36,910 tons of waste that would have otherwise been sent to landfill or incineration. This was done by composting over 24,500 tons of organic material and donating 322 tons of food to New Yorkers in need. “With the Mayor’s Zero Waste Challenge, the new commercial recycling rules and commercial organics law, we aim to help businesses make choices that...

For the second year running, HX: The Hotel Experience will be held in November (13 to 15 this year) at the Javits Center in New York City. Also for the second year running, I will be moderating sessions on the show floor. Be sure to make your plans now so that you can attend my two green sessions as well as the many other educational sessions. The first topic I chose for this year’s HX: “Greenwashing or Nothing But the Truth—The Untold Story of the Greening of Amenities.” I have followed the greening of amenities for many years now...

It is an old management adage still true today: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Fortunately, the lodging industry is getting better all of the time at managing its environmental impact. One sure proof of this is the just-released “Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2016: Energy, Water, and Carbon.” The report was produced by Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research. Eric Ricaurte, Founder & CEO of Greenview, was the lead researcher and compiled 2014 data from 11 global hotel firms. I spoke with Ricaurte and he told me the data set grew by 40 percent—from 3,250 properties to 4,457 properties...

Legionellosis is a respiratory disease caused by Legionella bacteria. Sometimes the bacteria cause a serious type of pneumonia (lung infection) called Legionnaires’ disease. The bacteria can also cause a less serious infection called Pontiac fever that has symptoms similar to a mild case of the flu. Unfortunately, Legionella bacteria make frequent appearances in hotels. Legionella was discovered after an outbreak in 1976 among people who went to a Philadelphia convention of the American Legion. The convention took place at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel and 34 people died. Last year there was an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease in New York City...

The 100th birthday of the National Park Service is just a little more than one month away—August 25. The anniversary will be marked in many ways this year at the parks and by businesses that support and benefit from the parks. Our industry benefits greatly from these parks. It is difficult to even imagine how many room nights each year are attributable to the parks. The National Park Service was created by an act signed by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916. The system includes 412 areas covering more than 84 million acres in every state, the District...