I highly recommend reading a recent report released by the Missoula, Mont.-based Women’s Voices for the Earth (downloadable at the end of this column). The study, entitled “Household Hazards: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products,” documents the hidden dangers in many of the cleaning products typically used in our homes and lodging facilities. The report should be a wake-up call to any property that has not yet transitioned to green cleaning products. The report links chemicals found in commonly used cleaning fluids and sprays to asthma and reproductive harm. It identifies the specific chemicals to avoid and explains where they...

Whether you are in a leadership position in your organization or not, I highly recommend reading one of the best business books to come along in quite some time—Green to Gold—authored by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. Esty is Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University and Winston is Director of Corporate Environmental Strategy at Yale. The two provide many examples of companies they call Wave Riders that have capitalized on the Green Wave rippling throughout the economy. Even though they do not include hotel company examples, their stories about manufacturing and retail provide lessons...

When first launching Green Lodging News a little more than a year ago, there were just two lodging properties in the United States that had received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)—the Marriott-managed University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center, Adelphi, Md., and the Len Foote Hike Inn in Dawsonville, Ga. Since then, three other U.S. properties have obtained LEED certification. Given that there are many hundreds of commercial buildings outside of lodging that have been LEED certified, it would appear that our industry has been late to...

It would not be fair to all of the good manufacturers in China to go into panic mode—compact fluorescents, as well as many other good products, are produced there—but the “Made in China” label is causing a lot of concern here in the United States. Almost every day there is a report about a new product recall. That’s what happens when there are insufficient safety regulations. Last week, Gilchrist & Soames, which supplies high-end toiletries to hotels, recalled its brand of toothpaste made in China. Why? Independent tests showed some samples of the toothpaste contained diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG...

One of the strongest indicators that interest in green lodging is picking up is the number of hospitality industry events that are emerging with green building, design and operations as a focus. In the next six months alone, there are three new conferences and/or trade shows. In a span of 25 days from February 19 through March 14, 2008, there are four green events planned. It will be a challenge, if not impossible, to attend them all. Several events will even overlap. Will the lodging industry support so much green activity? I believe it will but attendance may be...

You may have missed it but last week Green Lodging News ran a press release from element Hotels—a new Westin-inspired extended-stay brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide—that concluded that most travelers (59 percent) are less environmentally conscious while on the road. Starwood’s element surveyed more than 1,000 travelers. This may come as no surprise to anyone who runs a lodging establishment but your guests are taking advantage of you. According to the survey (click here to read the article), travelers are more apt to leave the light on in a hotel as compared to at home (60 percent),...

Twenty-three cubic feet of space. That is how much room an average mattress occupies after it has been discarded in a landfill. As described in an article now appearing on Green Lodging News, the U.S. lodging industry has about a 636-mile-high pile of mattresses in use and waiting to be discarded. That is one impressive mountain of foam, wood and steel. Where do you send your mattresses once they are no longer suitable for guests? If it is a destination other than a landfill, please let me know. I would like to share that information with my readers. I suspect,...

This week, Green Lodging News will turn one year old. I launched my new publication July 15, 2006. I am excited to report that it is has done nothing but grow since its launch. More than 6,000 lodging industry representatives now subscribe to the weekly newsletter and on some days more than 1,000 visitors stop by the website. In recent weeks I have been interviewed by many different national media—all of whom were eager to learn more about the green lodging movement. A lot of hours outside of a normal 8:30 to 5 p.m. day have been spent building my...

If you do not attend trade shows, you should. It is well worth the investment to learn about technologies that can reduce expenses, increase profitability, and conserve natural resources all at the same time. At the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) in Orlando last week, there were numerous vendors on hand demonstrating the latest and greatest resource-saving technologies. You can read about them in my article currently posted on Green Lodging News. Would you pay more than $20 for a light bulb? You might if it lasts more than 34 years (based on five hours of usage/day)....

Florida is in the middle of one of its worst water shortages in recorded history. The water level of Lake Okeechobee in the southern part of the state is down to 8.91 feet. The normal level is 18 feet. Images shown recently on ABC News depicted the problem clearly: boats stuck in the mud and a pier overlooking nothing but cracked, dry earth. In Flagstaff, Ariz., a community of 62,000 people, the man-made reservoir that provides the water for 40 percent of the population is down to 18 percent of normal level. It is the eighth straight year of...