AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND—On its second anniversary, the Mercure Meetings Carbon Neutral Conference program has offset more than 3,821 tons of carbon emissions, equating to the carbon used to drive drive 1,127 times around Australia or 47 trips to the moon (if you could drive there). To put this into perspective, Mercure has effectively taken 1,803 cars off the road through this initiative over the past two years. Mercure Meetings has committed to offsetting—at a cost to Mercure, not the conference organizer—the impact of every conference held in its hotels. Since introducing the program two years ago, Mercure hotels have hosted...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s BioPreferred program announced that a final rule to initiate a voluntary product certification and labeling program for qualifying biobased products has been published in the Federal Register. This new label will clearly identify biobased products made from renewable resources, and will promote the increased sale and use of these products in the commercial market and for consumers. “Today’s consumers are increasingly interested in making educated purchasing choices for their families,” said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. “This label will make those decisions easier by identifying products as biobased. These products have enormous potential to...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mandala Research and World Footprints, leaders in travel market research and sustainable tourism, are teaming up with travel industry leaders on a Sustainable Travel and Tourism Study. The research will address the 55 million travelers who the U.S. Travel Association says have growing concerns about environmental issues.  The study will assess the value and impact of sustainability on travelers by understanding their expectations and their propensity to support destinations and travel companies that implement sustainable practices. In addition, the Sustainable Travel and Tourism Study will assess the impact of the new GSA Federal Travel Regulations on destinations, cities,...

SAN FRANCISCO—MindClick SGM, a leader in sustainability performance measurement and consulting, announced the results of a recent study to help hospitality providers understand the growing demand for green hotel rooms. Conducted among corporate travel executives from Fortune 1000 companies, the study found that sustainable purchasing of furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) is among the most important criteria for evaluating hotel sustainability. Sixty-five percent of corporate travel executives responsible for more than $10 million in annual travel budgets are in various stages of implementing green business travel guidelines. Representing a variety of industries—ranging from technology and business services to manufacturing and...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—Xanterra Parks & Resorts’ Yellowstone National Parks Lodges’ environmental initiative focused on educating visitors about the impacts of climate change and pollution in national parks has received the National Park Service 2010 Environmental Achievement Award. This award recognizes federal agencies and their contractors—including concessioners—that have demonstrated exceptional achievements in the categories “Protection of ecosystems,” “Alternative energy use,” “Reduction of solid waste and petroleum use,” “Design of sustainable buildings,” and “Climate-friendly innovations.” The most prominent component of Xanterra’s environmental initiative is the park’s newest gift store—located in the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and called,  The store emphasizes environmental impact...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In summer 2009, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced its Building Performance Partnership (BPP), a program to engage owners and managers of commercial and residential LEED-certified green buildings, optimizing the performance of buildings through data collection, analysis and action. Starting this past summer, USGBC opened the program to all current whole-building LEED-certified commercial and residential projects. BPP will further the efforts to understand how buildings perform from the moment of LEED certification and years beyond.  This partnership among USGBC and the thousands of LEED project owners will result in the population of a comprehensive green building performance...

SAN FRANCISCO—As part of its Solid-State Lighting Technology Demonstration GATEWAY Program, the U.S. Department of Energy recently released the results of a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Retrofit Lamp study conducted at the InterContinental San Francisco. The study was prepared by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. At the hotel, multi-lamp linear wall-grazing luminaires, mono-point track lights, and recessed adjustable downlights, all using either 20W or 30W halogen MR16 lamps, were retrofitted with 6W LED MR16 replacement lamps by CRS Electronics. In addition, two kinds of recessed downlights using 75W halogen PAR30 lamps were retrofitted with 11W LED PAR30 replacement lamps by Philips...

CHICAGO—A broad and diverse coalition of more than 30 organizations active in countries around the world recently announced a Call for Partners for an international alliance advocating for sustainable building practices as a key strategy for combating climate change.  The Global Leadership in Our Built Environment Alliance (GLOBE)—led in partnership by the U.S. Green Building Council together with the World Green Building Council and its members, environmental organizations, and businesses—will work around the world to educate, raise awareness and generate support from global policymakers, financial institutions and U.N. bodies for cost-effective investment in sustainable building practices. With a unified...

LEAVENWORTH, WASH.—The Washington State Department of Commerce recently announced that the nation’s first “electric highway” along Interstate 5 (I-5) will now be extended to include Highway 2—connecting the cities of Monroe, Leavenworth and Wenatchee to a network of public access electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort just announced that it will install its own on-site charging station to help support the use of electric vehicles—such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Ford Focus—along nearby Highway 2. Sleeping Lady is currently the first resort in Eastern Washington to purchase an EV charging station. “Sleeping Lady has always...

LAS VEGAS—MGM Resorts International was presented with two awards by the U.S. Green Building Council Nevada Chapter for its outstanding leadership in sustainable development and advocacy. During the awards ceremony held in Las Vegas, MGM Resorts took home the awards for “Exceptional Leadership and Advocacy—LEED Project” and for “Organizational Excellence.” “One of our strongest values is practicing sustainable development to provide our guests with an exceptional experience when they come through our doors,” said Cindy Ortega, senior vice president of the Energy and Environmental Services Division at MGM Resorts International. “For us as a company, environmental responsibility is a commitment...