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June 26, 2007
Enjoy Your Green Stay
Remember when all a hotel had to do to show its concern for the environment was to ask its guests to reuse their towels?Hotels now are rolling out all sorts of green programs, in part because their business guests in particular are demanding it, and in part because the hotels are finding that going green saves money.
“Environmental issues are one of the hottest issues within the travel industry right now,” said Bill Connors, the executive director of the National Business Travel Association. The association is addressing the topic of eco-friendly elements in hotel design and operations for the first time at its annual convention in July.
Mr. Connors’s view is borne out by the rise in hotels registering to be certified under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, a commercial-building rating system. “I think it’s a really noticeable trend,” said Max Zahniser, a program manager.
There are currently two certified hotels in the United States — a Marriott in Maryland and a Hilton in Washington — and several more are on the way. “At least three-quarters of the projects that have registered are in the last year or two,” Mr. Zahniser said.
I'm always amused (ok irritated) when people who don't know what they are talking about start yelling about how being green costs more, when in reality it can save you money. Turn your thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter you save money. Use CFL bulbs and you'll save money. Buy a car that gets better gas mileage, or look at how to cut down the miles you drive and you'll save money. The examples go on and on, but you get the picture.
Anyway now businesses, and in this particular case the travel industry, are catching on to just that! There are some really neat green ideas they put forth. You will see more and more of this sort of thing as time passes, but it's interesting that one of the first certified hotels is right here in Maryland!
Go green and save money. If you happen to be a business, you might just make some too.
Found via The New York Times.
Posted by Dianne at June 26, 2007 3:59 PM
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