You might remember our playful interview in the Fall 2007 issue of Organic Spa with Dennis Quaintance of the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time, Quaintance was about to finish construction on the first LEED-certified hotel in America. A year later LEED upped its certification to Platinum, making the Proximity Hotel and its restaurant, the Print Works Bistro, the first hotel and restaurant in America to be certified LEED.
How’d they do it? Among many other things: Installed 100 solar rooftop panels, recycled 87 percent of the construction debris (1,535 tons), sourced over 40 percent of the building materials locally, used over 20 percent recycled content, restored 700 feet of an adjacent stream, installed the first regenerative drive elevators in North America, generating electricity on the descent for the ascent, provided natural lighting (day-lighting) to 97 percent of the occupied space, used elaborate energy recovery systems to provide large amounts of fresh outside air to all guests, and sourced 90 percent of the furniture locally. To learn more or book a room and see it for yourself, go to www.proximityhotel.com.
Meanwhile, on the west coast, Starwood debuted its latest property, a boutique hotel called the Nines that they hope to have certified LEED Silver by Spring 2009. The 331-room hotel, housed on the top nine floors of a landmark building in Portland, Oregon (the rest is occupied by Macy’s), will draw from 100 percent renewable energy, including wind power and carbon offsets.
Ninety percent of the 24 million pounds of material removed during the building’s renovation was recycled; the hotel used only low-emitting adhesives, sealants, paints, and carpets; guest bathrooms have dual-flush toilets and low-flow faucets (they anticipate this will save 500,000 gallons of water yearly); and the hotel’s setting in the Meier & Frank building counts toward certification, earning credits for reuse and for maintaining at least 75 percent of the building’s shell. As if these weren’t enough, it’s walking (or bicycling) distance to Stumptown Coffee Roasters, our favorite place to get a caffeine fix when in Portland. www.thenines.com
Comments
Hi there, Nice write up from earlier this year or late last year on hotel greening. Yes, it's amazing what dual flush toilets can do for us... nice to see firm raw numbers around the water savings. Every building we have in America should have dual flush toilets. Most toilets in Japan haven dual flush for years, and they don't have drought problems over there. It just makes sense, frees up water for fish in rivers, less water that needs to be piped and treated at both ends, etc. USGBC has really led the way with its LEED standard, even if it's not perfect it's pretty good for commercial needs. Increasingly what we need is residential "LEED" type systems. (Built Green, BuildItGreen Green Point Rated, cities' own green building checklists, state requirements...) And of course regional planning. But that's beyond the scope of this article. Keep up the good reporting! Ken
By Ken on 10/30/2009I think it makes perfect sense for businesses to make these decisions themselves for the purpose of saving money. I don't think it makes sense for the government to impose new taxes to combat "climate change" when it has recently become clear the scientists claiming global warming exists have a clear profit interest and have been manipulating the data. <a href="http://www.howtosaveelectricity.net/cat/residential-wind-power/">Residential Wind Power</a>
By Residential Wind Power on 12/08/2009It's great that the hotels take the lead. Think of all those guests visiting the hotel and start to think about to install a dual flush toilet at home. Those 200 toilets in a hotel can lead to thousands or more
By Goedkope hotelkamers on 12/21/2009