Many states have initiated their own green-lodging programs, each with its own set of criteria.

By Carol Brzozowski

In the past, a lodging facility was considered environmentally friendly by placing placards in rooms asking guests to consider reusing towels and linens. In more recent years, however, states throughout the nation have built upon that foundation by developing green lodging programs that seek voluntary compliance on a range of issues.

“Green lodging” now generally encompasses those entities in the hospitality industry—including hotels, motels, resorts, and bed-and-breakfast facilities—as leaders in environmental practices encompassing air quality, energy conservation, water efficiency, and waste reduction.

In recognition of those factors, many states have initiated their own green-lodging programs, each with its own set of criteria for green-lodging certification.

The reasons to do so are compelling. Consider the following 10 facts:

• The lodging industry is the second-largest employer in the United States.
• Michigan officials cite a Travel Industry Association of America statistic indicating 43 million Americans identify themselves as “eco-tourists” and are willing to pay 8.5% more to those who supply environmentally sensitive travel services. Another survey concludes 87% of US travelers would be more likely to stay at green properties.
• According to the California Green Lodging Program, the hospitality industry spends $3.7 billion on energy. Electricity use accounts for 60% to 70% of the utility costs of a typical hotel.
• California officials cite EPA statistics indicating that for every dollar invested in making a lodging facility more green through energy-efficient lighting upgrades, the facility reaps $6.27.
• Lodging is the fourth-largest energy consumer in the US commercial sector, according to Michigan statistics.
• Marketing incentives are realized through awards, events, articles, news releases, and newsletters.
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs can last 10 times as long as incandescent and use 75% less energy. A typical 60-watt incandescent bulb replaced with the compact fluorescent results in a $25 savings over the lifetime of the compact fluorescent, according to Florida officials.
• Using occupancy sensors in offices, restrooms, or reading rooms can save as much as 60% energy, say Michigan officials.
• Light-emitting-diode (LED) exit signs consume 95% less electricity than incandescent exit signs and 75% less than compact fluorescent exit signs off of a 20-year life-cycle rating, virtually eliminating maintenance and replacement, according to the same Michigan officials.
• HVAC systems typically constitute 30% or more of a lodging facility’s total energy use, a target for efficiency efforts.

There is no national umbrella program for green certification, although there are some groups, such as the International Ecotourism Association and Green Seal, that have developed their own certification standards for interested lodging facilities. Additionally, the EPA’s Web site lists a number of green-lodging initiatives.

Green Seal, an independent, nonprofit organization, works to promote the manufacture and sale of environmentally responsible consumer products through its set of environmental standards. Those products that qualify receive the “Green Seal of Approval.”

Green Seal also has formed an alliance with the lodging industry to certify participating facilities that meet its standards in green practices.

In addition to a few national certification initiatives, there also are some lodging chains, such as Hilton Hotels Corp., that have instituted corporatewide environmental initiatives regardless of whether a particular state in which the Hilton is located has a green-lodging program.

Hilton started its effort in California. The chain already had environmentally friendly practices in place when California’s Green Lodging program began.

“It made sense for us to partner with the state and start moving forward with getting all of our owned and managed [facilities involved], and if our franchises wished to participate, get them certified either in the leadership or the participation level for this program,” says Michelle Pike, corporate director of housekeeping for Hilton Hotels Corp.

All of the owned and managed Hilton properties are now certified in California as green lodges.

Hilton was one of the first corporate sponsors that committed to California’s program across the board, “and they are reaping the benefits of it,” says Roberta James-Kunisaki, a spokesperson for the California Green Lodging program.

“They are seeing reduced costs, less downtime for their staff, and health protection for their customers and workers, so they’re a perfect success story of how government and the corporate world work together to utilize what our program is all about.”

Hilton also has been among the first lodging facilities to get certified in other states’ green-lodging programs, such as Florida’s.

Some states are having problems getting green programs moving forward for lack of funding, says Pike. Hilton has offered to help advocate the program at the state level.

Green Mountain State’s Hotels Go Green
One of the more established state-based green lodging initiatives was instituted a decade ago by Vermont’s “Green Hotel in the Green Mountain State” program.

The program is operated through the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership.

“We were looking for a program to encourage businesses to improve their environmental management,” says Peter Crawford, regulatory assistance program director for the Vermont Small Business Center. “There wasn’t much out there. We started with lodging because customers were right there and the feedback can be instant.”

Vermont lodging facilities can receive credit for meeting several standards, including installing energy-efficient fluorescent lighting, occupancy sensors, and recapturing and reusing the waste heat of laundry operations.

“It’s a total win-win,” Crawford says.

The program operates on two levels. The environmental partner designation is awarded for meeting a minimum level of environmental standards. A “green hotel” designation is awarded to those meeting more stringent standards, including an environmental management plan based on ISO14001.

To date, 50 out of Vermont’s approximately 700 lodging facilities are participating in the program.

Crawford says hotels got savvy about energy conservation about a decade ago.

“It’s almost impossible now to find a hotel that does not have compact fluorescents or energy-management systems for larger hotels,” says Crawford. “Those two efforts can save huge amounts of money. There are some fairly sophisticated energy-management systems I have seen that actually set the entire room by occupancy, and it’s connected with the registration computer.”

The voluntary program carries marketing incentives. The names of the lodging facilities are listed on the state’s green-hotel Web site as well as on green-hotel rest-area cards, which are distributed at the state’s welcome and information centers.

Crawford says travelers are increasingly seeking lodging facilities designated as green hotels.

“The rest-area cards disappear from the rest areas, so people are looking for hotels that might be more environmentally friendly,” he says. “In general, my gut feeling is that if there are two similarly priced hotels, there is a percentage of the market audience that would choose the more environmentally friendly one as long as price was not the discriminating
factor.”

Crawford believes that in order for a green-lodging program to be successful, there must be management and employee buy-in.

“You need to have a team and a ‘champion,’ whom we call the ‘spark plug,’” he says. “If you don’t, things will lag.”

Crawford says smaller lodging facilities tend to have more enthusiasm for the program.

“With the bigger ones, I’ve noticed with management chances, things come and go, including green initiatives,” he says. He cites one large hotel in Boston that was one of the first to start the green-lodging movement, yet after a management change, “you couldn’t tell there had ever been anything green about it.”

One of Vermont’s smaller establishments has enthusiastically embraced green lodging.

The Anchorage Inn, an 89-room hotel in Burlington, VT, came onboard as soon as the program began, notes Bob McCarroll, general manager.

“We were in the middle of a complete remodeling, and I’d love to say I did it because it was all environmentally friendly, but looking at long-term costs it made good business sense and solved problems,” McCarroll says of his energy-saving efforts. “After the program came along, [state green-lodging coordinators] saw what we had already done, and we took further suggestions.”

One of the measures the Anchorage Inn took was that of dealing with the hot-water system.

“Hot water always is a problem with a hotel with so many people using it,” McCarroll says. “We use a single boiler that heats five stone-lined storage tanks.

“It then feeds through a mixing valve—like a shower valve—so we’re heating and storing water efficiently but then mixing it with the cold water and feeding it to the rooms. We don’t run out of hot water, and it lowered our gas bills in a huge way by running one boiler.”

Another energy-efficient initiative the Anchorage Inn instituted is how it heats its swimming pool.

“When I first started here, the swimming pool was heated by an electric heater,” says McCarroll. “We switched over to gas right off the bat.”

The hotel also uses a desert-air system to dehumidify and warm up the air in the swimming pool room.

“There is no heat in our indoor heated pool,” McCarroll says. “The desert-air system heats the room and dehumidifies it without ever having a heater in there.”

Heat exchangers at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, AZ

The lobby is heated from a heat exchanger that serves as the source of heat for the hot-water boiler, reusing the heat to warm up the lobby’s air.

“We still have wall units in the individual rooms, but we’re trying the heat pumps, which are a lot more efficient,” says McCarroll.

The hotel also utilizes low-wattage lighting.

Reaction from the guests to the green initiatives has been positive, too, McCarroll notes.

Michigan Gets With the Program
Michigan is a newcomer to the green-lodging certification process, having launched the program in October 2006. By early 2007, there were six lodging facilities on Michigan’s certification list. The state’s goal for the end of the year is to have 25 certified facilities.

Roger Doherty is the program coordinator for Michigan’s green-lodging program. The program is operated by the state’s energy office, which is part of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

Michigan sought to develop a program that was win-win: The state would move toward its goal of reducing energy and protecting the environment, and the lodging industry would benefit from cost savings and positive marketing exposure, says Doherty.

In order to be certified as green, a lodging facility must meet 10 requirements.

Points are awarded for each environmentally friendly practice. Based on the scoring, certification is awarded at three levels: partner, steward, and leader.

Participating facilities are eligible for a free energy audit to help them identify areas where energy improvements can be instituted.

Michigan lodging facilities are assessed for sound environmental practices with respect to communication, education, air quality, energy-efficiency, solid waste reduction, toxic/hazardous waste, purchasing, and water conservation.

Included on Michigan’s self-assessment list on energy efficiency are such measures as having an energy audit; using LED or Energy Star-qualified exit signs; programmable thermostats (including those that use guest key cards for lighting, air conditioning, and heating in each room); such lighting controls as photo sensors, time clocks, or occupancy/motion sensors; and Energy Star appliances and fixtures such as light bulbs, vending machines, air conditioners, furnaces, boilers, heaters, fans, dehumidifiers, laundry washers, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, or office equipment.

Other measures include having energy-efficient water heaters with an Energy Factor of .65 for natural gas or .95 for electric, a computerized energy management system, an onsite renewable energy power source, and insulated pipes. Facilities also get credit for having documented a 5% or higher decrease in energy use within the previous year.

To date, Michigan’s green-lodging program has focused on educating lodging facilities on green practices. Doherty has traveled throughout the state giving presentations and helping lodging facilities assess their environmental practices.

 Future plans call for the state to print educational materials directed to the public on ways lodging guests can make their travel stays more green.

Green lodging is attracting all types of price-point facilities, from the chains to bed-and-breakfast establishments.

Such is the case with The Wren’s Nest Bed & Breakfast in Bloomfield, MI, a six-bedroom former farmhouse built in the 1840s on acreage within an undeveloped piece of property owned by proprietor Irene Scheel.

Scheel had grown up on a farm, where she learned conservation practices as a way of life. But when Doherty contacted her with details about Michigan’s green-lodging program, she considered it too complicated.

Doherty helped Scheel assess her situation, though, and she realized she qualified for the program through her own conservation methods and by adding a few more, such as energy-saving lighting.

Although she does not have the buying power of large independent and chain hotels, Scheel’s bed-and-breakfast was given “partner” status and became one of the earliest facilities in Michigan to qualify for the program.

“Not only do you conserve energy, but with the economy you certainly have to conserve where it is money-wise to do so,” she points out.

The Sunshine State
Meanwhile, one of the nation’s biggest tourism states—Florida—is taking off with its relatively new green-lodging program, which was launched in March 2004. In 2005, more than 50% of 83 million visitors to Florida stayed in one of the state’s green facilities.

“This is a very large industry. It has the potential to impact many individuals and help the environment a great deal,” says Niki Pocock, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“It was another way to help the environment and get a large industry involved,” she says.

In an effort to obtain green-lodging certification, Florida’s hotels undergo an environmental self-assessment and planning checklist to help lodging facilities evaluate current practices and identify areas for improvement.

Some of the practices for which Florida lodging facilities can receive credit include the use of an energy-management system; a PC program to analyze data collected from the property’s major energy-consuming appliances; applying time-of-day practices for energy-consumer electronics; a preventative maintenance plan; the use of Energy Star appliances and equipment; programmable thermostats; high-efficiency lighting; sensor lighting; and double-paned or tinted windows.

The first step a lodging facility takes is to identify an environmentally conscious person who can be a liaison between the facility and the green-lodging program.

Then, after lodging management is onboard with the idea, the facility forms a “green team”—a group of lodging employees who will ensure an environmental plan is carried out.

Next, the facility conducts an environmental assessment that identifies best management practices the green team can implement. The lodging facility submits a form and is recognized as a green-lodging candidate. Those who qualify are awarded one, two, or three palms, depending on the level of adherence to environmental standards.

By the end of 2006, the state had 19 one-palm facilities, one two-palm facility, and 21 candidates, with a few three-palm facilities on the horizon. Those that do not achieve two-palm status within 24 months are removed from the list.

Lodging facilities are a business just as intent on making money as any other business. While some may see a green-lodging initiative as costing money to implement, “It actually does save the facility money and that is another point we highlight in talking to our lodges and partners,” says Pocock.

Another benefit for participating facilities is the marketing factor. Those designated as green-lodging facilities are listed on the state’s Web site. The state recommends such facilities when organizations call looking to book conferences. Another aspect of the program are the partners—those companies that offer designated green-lodging facilities such incentives as discounts on environmentally friendly products or services.

“We’ve seen a positive influence by having this program,” says Pocock. “It’s been very well received.”

One of the first lodging facilities in Florida to receive green-lodging certification is The Breakers, a posh hotel in Palm Beach. It has a “one palm” certification.

Rick Hawkins, director of materials management for The Breakers, says the hotel’s owners, management, and staff readily bought into the program for its dual benefits of making a positive environmental impact and a profitability factor.

“Everything we do requires up-front investments,” he says. “Every green-lodging initiative we implement has a direct impact on the environment, but over the long term these things also make sense for our business because they eventually reduce our operating costs.

“When we started this, we understood no one is going to do this for us—not the government or anybody else. People and businesses have to take a stand and do something. That’s why we went after this certification.”

To reduce energy demand, The Breakers utilizes an energy-management system to control air conditioning, chillers, boilers, and lighting to reduce electricity, power plant energy, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, the hotel uses energy-efficient light bulbs, which use only one-fourth of the electricity.

The Breakers communicates its green efforts extensively to its guests through placing placards in each room, marketing its green-lodging certification, and asking for guests’ cooperation with the energy-saving initiatives.

The guest folios and the in-room magazine also convey information about the program.

Hawkins points out that for the lodging facilities, some initiatives recoup the cost in months, while other initiatives can take far longer to achieve a return on the investment.

Savings in lighting changes can take place within months, according to Hawkins.

“The newest version of the compact fluorescent bulbs gives an equal light spectrum to that of a standard incandescent, but the cost is four to six times higher compared to the incandescent counterpart. People might think that is too much money to invest, but these can have a return on investment in several months.”

The Golden State
Another state that’s hot on tourism is California.

California started its program about four years ago in response to a state statute to reduce solid waste by 50%. Lodging facilities seemed to be a logical sector to target, with California being a key tourist destination where lodging guests frequently left an immense amount of solid waste behind after a stay or a trade show, says James-Kunisaki. “We found lodging materials to be a great additional resource to find ways to meet our mandate of reducing our waste,” she says.

By the time California’s program rolled out, there already had been a number of hotels engaged in their own green-lodging initiatives.

“But there wasn’t a cohesive program—it was a mixed patchwork of different jurisdictions and different hotel corporations doing their own thing,” James-Kunisaki says. “We wanted a statewide cohesive plan and have some standards.”

In putting its program together, California also took into account Green Seal cleaning products standards, introducing them to its lodging facilities as alternatives for cleaning products.

“Some have gone to organic sheets, organic wine, and free-trade coffee and such, but in general we were looking for a cohesive plan across the board that an average 150-room hotel could abide by and save money doing it.”

California’s program is organized under the state’s Integrated Waste Management Board. Part of that strategy is to offer to the lodging industry recycled products—such as mulch from recycled tires—to align with the industry’s ongoing remodeling and upgrading practices.

James-Kunisaki points out that while the state’s waste-reduction goal focuses on solid waste, the green-lodging program identifies a variety of conservation measures, including energy.

Among the measures California addresses in its green-lodging program are indoor air quality, sustainable purchasing, shampoo dispensers rather than individual amenity bottles (and if individual bottles are used, donating half-used bottles to a homeless shelter), using coffee cups instead of disposable cups, and using water pitchers instead of bottles.

Foodwaste reduction is encouraged through composting, buying locally grown products, donating leftover food from events (California has a “Good Samaritan” law that protects the donor from a lawsuit should the recipient get ill).

With respect to energy issues, the state asks lodging facilities to look for ways to increase energy efficiency through delamping, changing the corporate culture to not turn on the air-conditioning full blast, and installing energy-efficient curtains.

Other efforts for which lodging facilities receive credit include having energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment; having energy-efficient kitchen and laundry equipment; having energy-efficient equipment such as fax machines, copiers, computers, printers, monitors, televisions, and audiovisual equipment; installing sensors on HVAC in low-traffic areas; instituting a regular preventative maintenance schedule for HVAC equipment; having energy-efficient and film-covered windows; having energy-efficient lighting in all indoor areas illuminated for more than eight hours a day; and installing programmable sensors/timers for lighting in low-traffic areas.

“There are a lot of variables here,” says James-Kunisaki. “We have a comprehensive plan where people who are trying to start up a program—even if they just recycle their paper in their back office—it was a step. They’d find they saved money and decide to take it further. Our goal is to plant the seed and get them thinking green.”

California has a leadership level and a participation level. Lodging facilities document compliance through accumulating points from an extensive checklist.

The participation level is entry level. The leadership level is given to those facilities that go above and beyond in changing the corporate culture, instituting innovations, establishing a continuous improvement plan, and “going beyond the low-hanging fruit,” says James-Kunisaki.

The Crown Plaza Cabana Palo Alto is the only hotel in California powered by solar energy, says general manager Adam Hamdy.

Hamdy says the hotel’s owners wanted a green hotel and installed 68 solar panels to tap into the sun’s energy to provide electricity for heat, light, and hot water.

Guests offer positive comments about the hotel’s environmental policies, according to Hamdy.

James-Kunisaki says while California’s program is extensive, programs such as those that exist in Florida, Virginia, and Hawaii are exemplary.

“When I did my research, I found that Hawaii is really the exception,” James-Kunisaki says. “They have a governor’s award that offers good recognition. It’s very competitive. Hawaii’s totally dependent on tourism, so its program cannot fail. They have limited resources in landfill space and water supply. Much like California, they want to protect their resources, because without those wonderful beaches and destinations they have nothing. We all want to protect our resources so everyone can enjoy it.”

Doherty concurs, pointing out that the bottom line of green-lodging programs is to protect that for which tourists travel.

“Tourism is a pretty big deal in Michigan,” Doherty says. “A lot of people come to Michigan to see the nature and the lakes. A big part of this program is protecting all of that, too, because if that were to go away, so would the tourists.”

It’s difficult for many states to assess how much buy-in they’re getting into green-lodging programs.

“The hotel business changes,” James-Kunisaki says. “They merge, they sell, they get new general managers, they get new corporate entities that either want to be green or don’t want to be green or they are held by a foreign company. The turnover is unbelievable.

“That’s why we try to encourage them to have more than one person be actively involved, so if one person is to move on to a different location, it doesn’t start all over again.”

Coral Springs, FL-based journalist Carol Brzozowski writes on environmental topics.

DE - July/August 2007