The Top 10 Green Hotels in the U.S.

Gayot surveyed hospitality industry professionals to come up with this list of the top 10 green hotels in the United States. We've also included some stories to help you get started planning.

1. Bardessono, Yountville, CA

This boutique hotel in the Napa Valley is spread over six acres and uses geothermal technology to heat and cool the entire property.

2. Stowe Mountain Lodge, Stowe, VT

This is the first mountain lodge to win Audubon International's Sustainable Community award, and no wonder -- the entire lodge was built from locally quarried stone.

3. Hotel Allegro, Chicago, IL

This Kimpton boutique hotel is committed to green products, organic dining, and offering rewards to hybrid drivers.

4. Hotel Green, Nantucket, MA

This tiny ten-room hotel is the brainchild of shoe designer Vanessa Noel and boasts organic bed linens, free trade Senegalese furniture, and the use of chemical-free cleansers.

5. Zion Lodge, Zion National Park, UT
One hundred percent of this in-park lodge's electricity comes from wind power.

6. El Monte Sagrado, Taos, NM
This mountain aerie uses solar panels to power operations.

7. Element New York Times Square West, New York, NY
Starwood's budget-friendly Element hotels are known for being eco-friendly as well.

8. Hyatt at Olive 8, Seattle, WA
This property from Hyatt was actually the first LEED-certified hotel in übercrunchy Seattle.

9. The Fairmont, Washington, DC
This eco-friendly luxe hotel boats three honeybee hives (home to more than 100,000 Italian honeybees) on its rooftop.

10. Hotel Terra, Jackson Hole, WY
At this Grand Teton lodge, restaurant chairs are made from recycled seatbelts and the bathroom soap dishes are repurposed skyscraper glass.

http://www.successfulmeetings.com/Event-Planning/SM-Top-10/Articles/The-Top-10-Green-Hotels-in-the-U-S-/ 

Gastronomy Fundraising Campaign

Gastronomy Fundraising Campaign - SETE, launches a fundraising campaign to support the implementation of the marketing plan for Greek gastronomy. The scope of the project is to make gastronomy one of the key reasons for tourists choosing Greece as their holiday destination. ----Fundraising Coordinator Gastronomy Project, 6979 796194, salepoula@sete.gr

Do you want to find out more? http://www.sete.gr/

Hilton, Hyatt make room for carbon footprint standard

If you’ve ever calculated the carbon footprint of your own household, you know how complicated it can be. Imagine doing the same calculus for the 800-room behemoths that are the world’s giant hotel chains.

It’s not easy. But it is important – especially to the thousands of corporations that use those very hotels for conferences, meetings or lengthy stays all year long.

To make the process easier, more than 20 international hotel chains, including Hilton, Hyatt and InterContinental, have agreed on a standard form of measurement to calculate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and corporate meetings.

The methodology, launched last week, aims to make it easier for clients, particularly corporations, to measure the overall carbon costs of their businesses. As more companies start to factor employee travel into their carbon footprint calculations, the initiative could mean businesses will start choosing hotels based on their carbon emissions scores.

Currently, hotels use different methods to calculate their carbon footprints, which can be confusing for clients. The lack of a standardized tool also makes transparency within the hotel industry difficult to achieve.

The new methodology, called the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) 1.0, was spearheaded by the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the International Tourism Partnership (ITP).

“WTTC believes this will be a hugely welcome and long overdue initiative,” said WTTC’s Communications Director Toby Nicol. “The methodology allows customers to compare the carbon output of any given hotel property on a like-for-like basis.”

The methodology was tested by more than 50 hotels of different sizes and styles around the world, and was reviewed by the World Resources Institute before being given the green light.

Using the methodology, hotels can calculate the daily carbon footprint per occupied room and the hourly carbon footprint per area of meeting space. This information can then be used to measure the carbon footprint of a specific customer’s use of the hotel. This comes in handy during the Request For Proposals (RFP) process, which most corporate clients use when choosing a hotel for their meeting, event or overnight stay.

The measurement looks at all energy used on the hotel premises, along with some carbon emissions that may occur off-site, such as outsourced laundry services.

Nicol said the hope is that the methodology will be adopted as the industry standard. It might also prove to be a boon for hotels, as sustainability-minded businesses will likely be inclined to use hotels with lower carbon footprints.

“Corporates are under increasing pressure to report their own carbon emissions, so by this logic it does mean that this will increasingly be taken into account,” Nicol said.

Companies are already taking note. Ayako Ezaki, director of communications at the International Ecotourism Society, said her organization would likely favor hotels that use the methodology.

“In the future, our organization may consider incorporating this into the RFP requirements for our annual conference,” she said.

Implementing the methodology across thousands of properties worldwide will take time, said Nicol. The majority of hotels will release their first HCMI 1.0 emissions report during the 2014 RFP season, although some might have reports ready as early as next year.

The group plans to refine the methodology based on user feedback and new research.

“We recognize that this is the first step in developing the methodology, hence its working title of ‘HCMI 1.0,’ which implies further revisions to come,” Nicol said.

This is one of a number of initiatives recently launched to help companies make informed choices regarding their hotel stays and meetings. Earlier this month, Accor, one of the hotel operators involved in HCMI 1.0, created a calculator designed to help companies track the carbon impact of conferences, based on the number of participants, the number of nights they stay and even what type of food is served.

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/06/20/hilton-hyatt-carbon-footprint-standard?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz+Feed%29

ΡΙΟ +20 – Θέτοντας υψηλούς στόχους για την αειφορία

Η φετινή διάσκεψη ΡΙΟ +20 των Ηνωμένων Εθνών για την αειφόρο ανάπτυξη φέτος τον Ιούνιο (20-22 Ιουνίου) καθιστά φέτος την πιο επείγουσα ανάγκη για την μεταβίβαση προς μια παγκόσμια πράσινη οικονομία, την εξάλειψη της φτώχειας και την καλύτερη διακυβέρνηση.

Η φετινή φιλόδοξη παγκόσμια διάσκεψη θα ασχοληθεί με τους επτά βασικούς τομείς στοχεύοντας σε συγκεκριμένα αποτελέσματα. Οι τομείς αυτοί αναλυτικά είναι

·         - Η παραγωγική εργασία

·        -  Η βιώσιμη ενέργεια

·        -  Οι βιώσιμες πόλης

·        -  Η δυνατότητα διατροφής σε όλους

·        -  Η αποδοτική χρήση του νερού  

·        -  Η προστασία των ωκεανών

·        -  Η πρόβλεψη και η διαχείριση των καταστροφών (πλημμύρες, ξηρασίες, τσουνάμι κ.α.)

Σύμφωνα με τον επίτροπο περιβάλλοντος της Ευρωπαϊκές Ένωσης κ. Janez Potocnik «υπάρχουν πολλά που πρέπει να γίνουν κατά τους προσεχείς μήνες για να εξασφαλιστεί ένα σαφές και ενιαίο σχέδιο δράσης». Η ενίσχυση της αειφορίας δεν είναι απλή υπόθεση. Προϋποθέτει τη συνεργασία όλων, συγκεκριμένους στόχους και πάνω από όλα όραμα.

Καλή επιτυχία στο ΡΙΟ+20

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες www.uncsd2012.org

More green hotels to be encouraged to go organic

The Commerce Ministry plans to promote Thailand as a regional wellness and retreat hub in the medium term, starting with upgrading green hotels and resorts to organic hospitality centres. Piramol Charoenpao, the commerce deputy permanent secretary, said some Thai hotel and resort operators have branded themselves as green hotels and resorts by investing in green energy, waste management and waste-water treatment. But these establishments can be dubbed organic hotels and resorts only when they use organic products from local networks.

"A few resorts in Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Phuket have already gone organic. They cater mainly to foreigners and have met with some success, so the ministry will try to encourage more operators to become organic," said Ms Piramol. The ministry will work with other government agencies to help upgrade the production standard of organic products, training and product development. The target is both upscale hotels and resorts catering to foreigners and mid-level resorts serving locals.

The ministry hopes to reach the organic standard within three years.

Such systematic development will help create opportunities for a franchise system that will generate more revenue for the country, said Ms Piramol. She said wellness resorts in foreign countries charge very high service fees, offering the possibility for Thailand to develop its knowledge about holistic health care and expand in this market segment. The main obstacle to organic development in Thailand is inconsistent supply and logistics costs keeping prices high. Ms Piramol said her ministry has worked with farm networks to increase supplies, organising about 4,000 communities that produce organic vegetables to supply people with health problems. It also tries to promote organic farming in schools to increase the number of households that go organic. The government wants to increase the organic produce supply from neighbouring countries for processing in Thailand, making the country an organic hub. There has been a national strategy to promote organic farming the past three years, but little progress has been made. It is expected the new secretariat from the Agriculture Ministry will drive efforts to increase supply.

Some 90% of organic produce in Thailand is supplied to local markets, while the rest is for export such as organic rice. A report called "The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends" indicated 218.7 million rai of organic farmland globally produced commodities worth US$50.9 billion in 2008. The market is projected to grow by 50% a year. Areas with a high proportion of organic agriculture _ 20-30% of the total _ are the EU, the US, Australia and Japan.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/294342/more-green-hotels-to-be-encouraged-to-go-organic

TUI launches new green office

TUI Nederland office in Enschede has been specially designed to minimise its impact on the environment and is leading the way as one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the Netherlands. Designed and constructed with energy saving and energy efficiency in mind, the new building uses green electricity which produces no CO2. It also has cold and heat storage, solar panels, intelligent lighting and rainwater collection for water conservation. The building is expected to be rated ‘Excellent’ by BREEAM

http://www.tuinederland.nl/nl/duurzaamtoerisme/englishversion.html

Olympic flame