How far will you go to stay green? More than 5 percent of Hilton New York guests will forgo all housekeeping services as part of the resource-saving program Opt Out. InterContinental Bora Bora reaches 3,000 feet under the sea for a frigid stream of water to power the resort's air-conditioning system, and Denver International Airport has set up two solar "farms" that provide the lion's share of power for its fuel storage and distribution facility.
As business travelers become more eco-conscious in their personal lives, they are taking a closer look at how hotels, airlines, airports, and car rental companies treat the environment. "In today's eco-savvy world, hotels need to be able to do more than say they are green," said Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. "They need to prove it. So in addition to the eco amenities we've offered for years, such as in-room recycling bins and organic mini-bar snacks, we are inviting Green Seal"—an organization that certifies over 3,600 sustainable products and services— "to evaluate our environmental program, EarthCare."
More than half of this boutique chain's 50 hotels have already received Green Seal credentials, with the rest on track to qualify by the end of 2010.
Kimpton can attest, however, that the road to green is not always smooth. "When we first introduced nontoxic cleaning products, our housekeeping staff didn't think the chemicals were working properly because they didn't foam," Leondakis said. "In response, we hosted training sessions across the country to demonstrate that the cleaners did in fact work, but needed to be used in a different way."
For many companies like Kimpton, sustainable practices are part of their DNA. Starwood's Element hotels build green from the ground up and require every property to pursue the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. "Our eco-friendly, intuitive approach makes it effortless for guests to maintain their green lifestyle on the road," said Brian McGuinness, senior vice president of specialty select brands for Starwood.
Beyond essential services like an easy-to-use recycling program and energy-efficient kitchen appliances, Element also offers complimentary bicycles, uses low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paints to improve indoor air quality, mounts wall art on bases made from recycled tires, and even replaces the "Do Not Disturb" sign with an environmentally-friendly magnet. To encourage the use of electric cars, the hotels have installed ChargePoint networked charging stations and give priority parking to hybrid and zero-emissions vehicles.
As these charging stations become more ubiquitous, Hertz will be doing its part, too, by introducing the battery-powered Nissan LEAF, a five-passenger hatchback with a 100-mile range, to select rental sites in the U.S. and Europe by early 2011.
Two newly-opened Hotel Indigo properties, the boutique brand of InterContinental Hotels Group, have received LEED certification. Hotel Indigo San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, the city's first LEED hotel, has a green roof covered with drought-tolerant plants that reduces the need for heating and air conditioning, as well as a meditation deck made from recycled wood fibers and recycled polyethylene plastic: materials like grocery bags and milk jugs. The Hotel Indigo Athens (Georgia) University Area, opened in September 2009, has received LEED's third-level Gold certification for features like an outdoor water cistern that uses air conditioning condensation to irrigate courtyard foliage, for building with recycled and locally-manufactured materials, and for sourcing guest room furniture from within 500 miles of the hotel.
Denver International Airport established sustainability goals in 2003 by implementing an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system. Along with having high-tech innovations like solar arrays and recycled de-icing fluids, Denver Airport also runs low-tech programs such as "Sustainability with Altitude," which collects plastic bags, recycles CDs and DVDs, and discourages idling vehicles.
Since its 2007 launch, Virgin America has used earth-friendly techniques, such as single-engine taxiing, idle-reverse landings, and cost-index flying, which regulates cruising speed to reduce fuel burn. These and other practices, said company spokeswoman Abby Lunardini, "are not only good for the environment, but are ultimately good for fuel efficiency and our bottom line."
Still, the most significant contribution to a lower carbon future will be developing economically viable biofuels, according to the Virgin Group, which is reinvesting profits into research and aims to make biofuels 10 percent of its fuel mix by 2020. In the second half of 2010, TAM Airlines plans to use one of its Airbus 320s to test a biofuel made from Jatropha, a plant farmed only in the hinterlands of Brazil, which promises 80 percent less carbon emissions than petroleum-based fuels.
"At Southwest Airlines, we believe green decisions also make good business sense," spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said. "Who can argue with using less and doing so more effectively? Every time we save fuel, we save emissions." Since lighter planes are crucial to saving fuel, Southwest is flying an experimental Green Plane to test a host of lightweight products, which together could save almost 5 pounds per seat, such as a life vest pouch that also leaves more room for carry-on items and a lighter, yet more comfortable seat back.
Still, Southwest knows that environmental change is a slow process. "The airline industry is incredibly regulated, and safety has to be our foremost concern," said McInnis, who noted it took more than a year to test and approve cabin products for the Green Plane. "We wouldn't have it any other way, but new practices and procedures just seem to take longer to implement in our industry."
Taiwan's EVA Air has also been working on environmental change, employing large-scale efforts—such as reducing jet-fuel use—as well as encouraging its employees to turn off lights, completely close faucets, set computer screen savers to default, and take the stairs. The airline calculates these measures have been equivalent to planting 9.6 million trees over the last three years. Now passengers can help, too, by buying e-tickets, selecting seats and pre-ordering inflight meals on EVA's new website
eco.evaair.com.
Indeed, it's the rank-and-file workers at companies like EVA Air and the Eco Champions at Kimpton that often spot opportunities for change. It was Southwest's Green Team, a volunteer group mandated to put a green filter on business decisions, that suggested converting diesel-powered pushback tractors and other ground equipment to electric power, "showing once again that environmental decisions also make good business sense," McInnis said.
The possibility that Congress will upgrade the nation's aging air-control system with the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen program is another source of hope. According to Virgin America, NextGen's procedures, which allow airlines to fly more precisely, with more direct routing and closer spacing, could reduce delays by one-third and save almost 1 billion gallons of fuel by 2018.
Some companies committed to green practices are taking on the challenge of retrofitting historic buildings. New York's The Pierre, built in 1930, has made sustainability part of its recent $100-million renovation by placing organic mattresses in guest rooms, using eco-friendly Molton Brown bathroom amenities, and establishing a 100-percent recycling policy for paper, plastic, glass and cardboard.
The hotel's efforts have been rewarded with a certification from Green Globe, a sustainability organization for the travel and tourism industry. "Not only does this save money on energy and fuel costs," said hotel spokeswoman Nora Walsh, "but it also attracts guests who will only stay at sustainable hotels."
The 1960s-era Hilton New York took a major step toward sustainability in 2007 by installing PureCell, a virtually pollution-free electricity and hot-water source, which it calculates reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions equivalent to planting 160 acres of forest or removing 145 cars from the road each year.
Now, beyond its program that lets guests "Opt Out" of housekeeping services, this Hilton has added an organic waste decomposition system that eradicates approximately 400 bags of garbage per day, and uses a Natura Water purification system to create chilled, high-quality still and sparkling water on site, which eliminates shipping and excess bottles. The hotel also introduced biodegradable guest room key cards with environmental messages, a measure Hilton estimates will prevent 250 pounds of plastic from clogging landfills over the next five years.
In April 2010, Hilton Worldwide unveiled LightStay, a proprietary system to measure each hotel's sustainable efforts by looking at 200 operational practices, including housekeeping, paper product usage, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation. LightStay also has a meeting impact calculator that predicts the environmental effect of each meeting or conference.
Hilton maintains that with over two years of testing at 1,300 properties, LightStay has saved enough energy to power 5,700 homes for a year, enough water to fill more than 650 Olympic-size pools, reduced carbon output equivalent to taking 34,865 cars off the road, and at the same time, saved property owners more than $29 million in utility costs.
In the next few years, travel and hospitality companies plan to be even greener. The stately Pierre hopes to make its own electricity using natural gas, and Element runs a Green Innovation Lab at its Lexington, Mass. property to test new measures, from hosting farmers markets to installing Bright Rooms, which use wireless motion sensors to regulate energy use based on the presence of guests.
To Element, this investment in sustainability is crucial for several reasons. "Not only are we lessening the detrimental impact we leave on the environment," McGuinness said, "but we are also minimizing consumption costs and hopefully influencing the actions of our guests beyond their stay at Element."
At Denver International Airport, Janell Barrilleaux, head of environmental programs, is looking even further ahead to a time when "green" and "sustainable" won't be buzzwords at all: "My goal is that someday businesses won't have to talk about sustainability anymore; they'll just do it."
