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HEISTERKAMP |
The hotel industry is no stranger to environmental issues and conservation strategies, yet the landscape has changed due to an unprecedented increase in consumer awareness and demand.
Well-intended conservation strategies such as linen and towel reuse programs no longer meet the customer expectation of what constitutes a green hotel. Consumers and other stakeholders now expect hoteliers to be responsible for a wide variety of performance-based measurements of environmental impact, including energy efficiency, waste diversion, procurement, indoor air quality and water conservation.
When used in concert, these green building concepts form the framework for measuring and improving environmental performance in both new and existing hotels.
Green building, a relatively new concept to the hospitality market, is the hallmark of the U.S. Green Building Council’s work. Developed by the council and its membership in 2000, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design provides a framework and definition for green building and recognizes verified achievement and leadership in the market.
Early adopters of LEED included local governments, corporate office owners and forward-thinking developers of all sorts. Today, a wide range of hotel properties are pursuing LEED certification as a way to validate to consumers that their hotel building and operations are truly green and certified by a third party.
Prominent properties in Las Vegas and New York, convention hotels in major cities and limited-service properties around the country are all starting down the path of measuring true environmental performance in their hotels. In addition, several large hoteliers are evaluating LEED certification for many of their properties.
These industry leaders are pursuing LEED for many reasons, but principally because green building delivers performance, both environmental and financial. Linen and towel reuse can be an effective strategy for reducing energy and water consumption, but if the program isn’t effective, it saves neither resources nor money.
The green hotel of today uses many different strategies to accomplish its goals and measures the aggregate impact in actual performance—where it matters. Examples of the types of performance levels we see in LEED certified hotels include:
- 15 percent to 40 percent reduced energy consumption;
- 50 percent to 90 percent of waste diverted from landfills (construction and daily operations);
- and 10 percent to 30 percent less water use.
Green building is a global trend and very little else can say as much to the customer about a hotel’s environmental commitment and accomplishments.
In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, hoteliers are being held accountable for actions and are wary of compromising their brands with green-washing claims. These hoteliers are turning to green building strategies and the LEED program to demonstrate and support their corporate social responsibility commitments, educate their customers and verify their accomplishments through third-party certification.
Regardless of the motivation, the critical outcome remains the same: These hoteliers are improving their environmental footprint in a measurable and verifiable way as well as reducing operating expenses and demonstrating leadership to their peers and customers.
To learn more, visit www.usgbc.org/leed.
hmm@questex.com
Marc Heisterkamp is the director of commercial real estate at the U.S. Green Building Council where he manages the market outreach and resource development for the hospitality, retail, commercial office and industrial real estate market sectors. He can be reached at mheisterkamp@usgbc.org.
