(Type The Company Name) - THINK GREEN Go Green
(Type The Company Name) - THINK GREEN Go Green
Tourism is one of the leading growth sectors of the global economy, bringing in
billions of dollars annually in developing countries and transporting millions of
people internationally. But the tourism industry's growth through the years has
created an increasing amount of stress on the environment.
For example, as a result of increasing tourism in Goa, India, developers built
several hotels. The hotels soon drew up to 66,000 gallons of water per day from
wells and other local sources. Many of the wells and rivers the community had
relied on went dry. This is a common problem in many areas where tourism runs
into the limits of natural resources.
Today ecotourism—tourism that is nature-oriented and
environmentally focused—is growing rapidly. In the United States alone, 43
million tourists consider themselves to be ecotourists. This represents a growing
market for environmentally friendly options in the tourism industry. Ecotourism
aside, many in the hotel industry have recognized the negative impact their
business activities have on the environment and have taken action to alleviate those
impacts. Environmentally responsible business practices dovetail well with the
newfound popularity of ecotourism. They harmonize tourism and environmental
sustainability.
The term "green hotels" describes hotels that strive to be more environmentally
friendly through the efficient use of energy, water, and materials while providing
quality services. Green hotels conserve and preserve by saving water, reducing
energy use, and reducing solid waste. They have seen benefits such as reduced
costs and liabilities, high return and low-risk investments, increased profits, and
positive cash flows. Identifying these benefits and incentives has allowed
the popularity of green hotels to grow.Hotels are consistently becoming greener.
The most costly and wasteful use of resources in hotels are usually in the
consumption of nonrenewable energy, excessive water use, and the generation of
waste.
Energy efficiency:
Green buildings often include measures to reduce energy use. To increase the
efficiency of the building envelope, (the barrier between conditioned and
unconditioned space), they may use high-efficiency windows and insulation in
walls, ceilings, and floors. Another strategy, passive solar building design, is often
implemented in low-energy homes. Designers orient windows and walls and place
awnings, porches, and trees to shade windows and roofs during the summer while
maximizing solar gain in the winter. In addition, effective window placement
(daylighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric
lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy loads.
Onsite generation of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro
power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the
building. Power generation is generally the most expensive feature to add to a
building.
Water efficiency:
Reducing water consumption and protecting water quality are key objectives in
sustainable building. One critical issue of water consumption is that in many areas
of the country, the demands on the supplying aquifer exceed its ability to replenish
itself. To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should increase their dependence
on water that is collected, used, purified, and reused on-site. The protection and
conservation of water throughout the life of a building may be accomplished by
designing for dual plumbing that recycles water in toilet flushing. Waste-water
may be minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures such as ultra-low flush
toilets and low-flow shower heads. Bidets help eliminate the use of toilet paper,
reducing sewer traffic and increasing possibilities of re-using water on-site. Point
of use water treatment and heating improves both water quality and energy
efficiency while reducing the amount of water in circulation. The use of non
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GO GREEN
sewage and greywater for on-site use such as site-irrigation will minimize demands
on the local aquifer.
Materials efficiency:
Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable
plant materials like bamboo (because bamboo grows quickly) and straw, lumber
from forests certified to be sustainably managed, ecology blocks, dimension stone,
recycled stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable,
renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g. Trass,Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from
paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth, rammed earth, clay,
vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood
fibre plates, calcium sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance, roman
self-healing concrete[10]) , etc.[11][12]) The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
also suggests using recycled industrial goods, such as coal combustion products,
foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction projects [13] Building materials
should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the
energy embedded in their transportation. Where possible, building elements should
be manufactured off-site and delivered to site, to maximise benefits of off-site
manufacture including minimising waste, maximising recycling (because
manufacture is in one location), high quality elements, better OHS management,
less noise and dust.
LEED standards, one of the five environmental categories, was created to provide
comfort, well-being, and productivity of occupants. The LEED IEQ category
addresses design and construction guidelines especially: indoor air quality (IAQ),
thermal quality, and lighting quality. Indoor Air Quality seeks to reduce volatile
organic compounds, or VOC's, and other air impurities such as microbial
contaminants. Buildings rely on a properly designed HVAC system to provide
adequate ventilation and air filtration as well as isolate operations (kitchens, dry
cleaners, etc.) from other occupancies. During the design and construction process
choosing construction materials and interior finish products with zero or low
Waste reduction:
Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy, water and materials
used during construction. For example, in California nearly 60% of the state's
waste comes from commercial buildings[17] During the construction phase, one goal
should be to reduce the amount of material going to landfills. Well-designed
buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as well,
by providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce matter going to
landfills.
Every Hotel who wants to declare itself as a Green Hotels has to meet some
standards. some of the international standards for environmentally friendly
facilities:
GREEN KEY:
The Green Key is an international eco-label tourism facilities that aims to
contribute to prevention of climate change and sustainable tourism by awarding
and promoting good initiatives. The Green Key aims to change the practices and
behaviors of actors including guests, enterprices, authorities, local communities
and to involve them in increasing their responsibility towards their own
environment. Currently 17 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia and 1123
accommodations are involved in the Green Key Programme.
History:
The Green Key was originated for hotels in Denmark in 1994 and in 1998
France joined the Green Key and started labelling camping sites. In 2002 the Green
Key became the 5th programme of Foundation for Environmental Education.
Criteria:
The criteria for being awarded with the Green Key are fields
covering: water, waste, energy, Involvement and Awareness of Guests,
Environmental Management, Staff Involvement, Use of Chemicals, Open Spaces
and Food and Beverages.
GREEN GLOBE:
A worldwide benchmarking, certification, and improvement
system, Green Globe bestows “benchmarked” status to buildings in the tourism
industry that commit to a standard of excellence in energy and water consumption,
total waste reduction, and community commitment, as determined by its EARTH
GREEN LEAF :
The Audubon Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program for all types of
accommodations facilities is an education and eco-rating program offered
jointly by Audubon International and TerraChoice Environmental Marketing
Inc.
LEED:
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design was developed by
the U.S. Green Building Council; certifications now available for existing
buildings. The gold standard in the U.S., it certifies that buildings meet
standards of energy efficiency, conservation, and sensitivity to locale.
GREEN STAR:
Green Star is a voluntary environmental rating system for buildings
in Australia. It was launched in 2003 by the Green Building Council of Australia.
The system considers a broad range of practices for reducing the environmental
impact of buildings and to showcase innovation in sustainable building practices,
while also considering occupant health and productivity and cost savings.
Nine categories are assessed with the Green Star tools:]
Management
Indoor environment quality
Energy
Transport
Water
Materials
Land Use & Ecology
Emissions
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Innovation
ENERGY STAR:
Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient
consumer products. It was first created as a United States government
program by the Clinton Administration in 1992, but Australia, Canada,
Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted the
program. Devices carrying the Energy Star logo, such as computer products
and peripherals, kitchen appliances, buildings and other products, generally
use 20%–30% less energy than required by federal standards.
LEED has evolved since its original inception in 1998 to more accurately represent
and incorporate emerging green building technologies. LEED NCv1.0 was a pilot
version. These projects helped inform the USGBC of the requirements for such a
rating system, and this knowledge was incorporated into LEED NCv2.0. LEED
NCv2.2 was released in 2005. Today, LEED consists of a suite of nine rating
systems for the design, construction and operation of buildings, homes and
neighborhoods. Five overarching categories correspond to the specialties available
under the LEED Accredited Professional program. That suite currently consists of:
Green Building Design & Construction
LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations
LEED for Core & Shell Development
LEED for Schools
LEED for Retail New Construction
Green Interior Design & Construction
LEED for Commercial Interiors
LEED for Retail Interiors (planned 2010)
Green Building Operations & Maintenance
LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
Green Neighborhood Development
LEED for Neighborhood Development
Green Home Design and Construction
LEED for Homes
Certified - 40 - 49 points
Silver - 50 - 59 points
Gold - 60 - 79 points
Platinum - 80 points and above
Credit Distribution:
Points are distributed across major credit categories such as Sustainable Sites,
Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor
Environmental Quality.
A majority of the projects also enhanced the daylight levels and views in
their facilities through the use of more and high performance glazing,
interior glazing, light shelves and shading.
All projects noted greater occupant satisfaction and the public relations
value of having a LEED certified building.
LEED 2009 for New Construction and Major Renovations Project
Checklist
Sustainable Sites 26 Possible Points
Credit 1.1 Building Reuse—Maintain Existing Walls, Floors and Roof 1-3
Credit 1.2 Building Reuse—Maintain Existing Interior Nonstructural Elements 1
Credit 2 Construction Waste Management 1-2
Credit 3 Materials Reuse 1-
2
Credit 4 Recycled Content 1-
2
Credit 5 Regional Materials 1-
2
Credit 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials 1
Credit 7 Certified Wood 1
Conclusion
For a hotel to change its traditional ways of operating takes time and the ability to
look past the expectation that if something is sustainable is will be more costly and
will have a slow payback rate. A hotel can begin its green hotel process by
something as simple as setting out recycling bins or asking guests to turn off the
lights in their rooms when they leave. The staff may ask guests if they would like
their room to be cleaned daily if their stay is longer than one day. These steps are
simple, and are less costly than many other green approaches, and they do make a
Bibliography
www.usgbc.org
www.mybuildingsuccess.com
http://meetingsnet.com/international/meetings_green_hotel/