Last month saw the official powering up and blessing of one of our industry’s largest single-property solar photovoltaic installations—a 500 kilowatt, 1,528 panel system at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui in Hawaii. The panels will generate 845,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough electricity to power 139 homes on Maui. The project is expected to reduce the resort’s current energy demand by more than 10 percent and reduce CO2e emissions by 462 metric tons of CO2e annually. This reduction in CO2e emissions is the equivalent of removing 97 passenger cars from local roads per year. I spoke with...

As I have learned over the years I have been publishing Green Lodging News, the kitchen can be a hub for inefficiency. Leaky freezers, fans that don’t stop running, and wasted food are just a few examples. Of course the kitchen is also a place with plenty of potential for significant water waste. Where there is a faucet, there is waste just waiting to happen. This past week I posted an article about a study that was conducted by Pacific Gas and Electric Company Food Service Technology Center (FSTC). The study, entitled “Conveyor Dishwasher Performance Field Evaluation Report,” documents...

Last week was an important one for the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and our industry. ITP, a membership organization with the mission of facilitating collaboration between some of the world’s leading hotel companies, unveiled the Hotel Water Measurement Initiative (HWMI). The result of 18 months of work by 18 global hotel groups, ITP and others, HWMI is the industry’s first jointly developed and consistent water measurement tool. It will enable hotel companies and individual properties to measure and report on water consumption in a consistent way. The tool is free for you to use. The problem with water measurement in...

August 31, 2016 marks the deadline for the first annual Green Lodging Survey. Have you completed it? You certainly still have time. Just click here to access it. The survey is a production of Green Lodging News and Greenview and is being conducted with the support of Travelife, Green Key Global, Mekong Tourism Office, Horwath HTL Asia Pacific and Clean the World. The Green Lodging Survey is sponsored by The Arbor Day Foundation at the Silver level and Pineapple Hospitality, Aquawing Ozone Laundry Systems, PragmaTech Ltd. and reCollect2 Co. at the Bronze level. Once the survey closes, the analysis of...

“Is there science to back it all up?” That was a question posed by one of the company spokespersons interviewed for the article I recently posted on guestrooms sold at a premium for being healthier, “green” or allergy-friendly in one way or another. Many of you are probably at least somewhat familiar with Stay Well rooms, PURE Rooms, and maybe even EcoRooms. I explore these as well as a new room package called the Elite Room in my article. I trust that there was indeed a good amount of scientific research done in preparation for the rollout of these...

During attempts to arrange interviews for articles, I am occasionally asked—usually by suppliers—if they will have an opportunity to review the article before it is published online. I always tell them no and if I should happen to make an error I will gladly correct it. That is the great thing about the Internet—you can make changes after the fact. After hearing my “no,” in most cases the person will agree to move forward with the interview. Such was not the case the past couple of weeks when I attempted to get Ecolab to participate in an article on...

It was about two years ago at a conference that I first met Jessica Blotter, CEO & Co-Founder of the just launched booking website Kind Traveler. At the time I was impressed by her idea and still am—a booking website that allows one to donate funds to a charity local to the hotel in which one will be staying. I know it took a lot of hard work and patience to get www.kindtraveler.com up and running. I encourage you to check out the website and to work with Kind Traveler to get your property listed. I did a test run...

Back in 2009, the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia (now The Logan) installed three C65 microturbines from Capstone Turbine Corp. The goal of the combined heat and power system (CHP), according to Marvin Dixon, now V.P. of Engineering at the Valley Forge Casino Resort, who was at the hotel at the time, was to take care of all of the hotel’s water heating. The microturbines—the same ones that have been in place since 2009—have also been meeting 20 percent of the hotel’s electricity needs. Dixon says it is doing that cheaper than if the hotel were generating electricity off the...

“It provides a high sense of pride.” That is how Cindy Ortega, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of MGM Resorts International described the massive solar array atop the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. I spoke with Cindy this past week in regard to the 8.3 MW dc array that includes more than 26,000 photovoltaic panels. The array, certainly one of the largest rooftop arrays in the United States, was recently completed after three years in the making. The array represents one of the most significant, if not the most significant, investments in renewable energy connected...

Losing your job can be the best thing that ever happens to you—if you strategically move on from that separation, do not feel sorry for yourself, and use your imagination to create something positive and fulfilling. It was almost 15 years ago that I did lose my job with a well-known industry trade publication. It took me several years to figure out what I wanted to do and in July 2006 Green Lodging News was born. So yes, this month I celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Green Lodging News website and e-newsletter.What a ride it has been over...