Carbon Neutral Travel

We would like to acknowledge organizations who are either focused on becoming carbon neutral travel providers, offering their clients voluntary carbon offsets or both: World Wildlife Fund, Inkaterra, Adventures Incorporated / Goway.com, Pure Adventures / Discover France, Ocean Frontiers - the first carbon neutral scuba diving outfitter, and Pineapple Hospitality who manages the upcoming Green Hospitality Conference.

Travel and tourism businesses and others who are interested in setting up a carbon neutral travel program at their place of work are encouraged to contact Peter D. Krahenbuhl at peterk@sustainabletravel.com or 303-448-0967.

Your Carbon Offset Investments at Work: Greenhouses and Hydroelectric Power in India, Ladakh

STI facilitates offsets that result in environmentally friendly, sustainable community development projects across the globe. Here is another project that investments from our carbon offset partners went toward:

The population in the high Indian Himalayas live under extremely hard conditions. The vegetation period only lasts three months and the agricultural area is very small. For this reason, subsistence farming is geared towards cereal production, which barely provides enough nourishment for the long winter. Ladakh can only be reached by road for a short length of time during the year, as the passes are usually blocked by snow. As a result, most of the food required by the region has to be flown in by air.

This project is coordinated and carried out by the French development organization, GERES. An integrated approach aimed at giving the rural population the opportunity to extend the vegetation period and generate a form of income through the sale of vegetables on the market is improving their living conditions.

Through MyClimate, STI and our offset investors are supporting this project by constructing 500 solar greenhouses so that vegetables can be grown locally and no longer need to be flown in from miles away. In addition, MyClimate is supporting the construction of 20 small hydroelectric power stations each with a capacity of 10 kw. These provide remote regions with electricity and eliminate the necessity to use diesel generators.

This project greatly contributes to climate protection with emission reductions equal to 20,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents over 10 years. This equates to approximately 4,320 passenger cars not driven for a year and over 500,000 tree seedlings grown for ten years!

Beginning this month, STI is offering TravelGreen™, a carbon offset initiative designed specifically for hoteliers. Through TravelGreen, hoteliers around the world can connect their guests with the opportunity to support the development of solar and wind power while traveling.

At its most basic level, the TravelGreen program is a tool that allows for the sale of clean, renewable electricity generation through the purchase of renewable energy certificates, also called Green Tags. More broadly, it's a valuable service provided to the public by hoteliers that allow guests to participate directly in taking actions that meet their own environmental values.

Hotel guests can participate in the TravelGreen program at participating hotels by purchasing a TravelGreen Mini-Green Tag for $1.00, which is equal to offsetting 35 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and represents 25 kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied by new wind and solar power. The $1.00 Mini-Green Tag can be purchased at the hotel upon checking in or out. Each TravelGreen traveler receives information on how they can continue to support the development of renewable energy sources and a website where guests can calculate their carbon footprint.

The TravelGreen program highlights the positive impact hotels can have on global climate change. The American Hotel and Lodging Association estimates that in the U.S. alone, 17 million international travelers stayed in a hotel or motel in 2005. Conservatively, one night in a hotel generates approximately 0.01 metric tons of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, which would equate to a minimum of 170,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent being generated in the U.S. during 2005. Offsetting that amount CO2 is equal to 36,797 passenger cars not driven for one year.

Hoteliers participating in the TravelGreen Mini-Green Tag program do not incur any additional costs. STI provides each participating facility with TravelGreen Mini-Green Tags and related marketing materials. Hoteliers also have the option to offset the hotel's greenhouse gas emissions and purchase Mini-Green Tags in bulk quantities at wholesale rates, at which point they can resell the TravelGreen Mini-Green Tags for an additional profit. Hoteliers that choose this option are encouraged to reinvest in local environmental conservation and community development initiatives.

TravelGreen Mini-Green Tags are supplied by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). All of BEF's Green Tag products are from 100 percent new, renewable resources across North America, and are certified by Green-e, the leading independent voluntary certification for green power products.

For more information, contact Brian T. Mullis, visit www.travel-green.org, or call 800-276-7764.

In a three-week period, Denver, Colorado was hit with three major snowstorms unlike any the area has experienced in decades. Each one caused the city to essentially shut down. At about the same time this was happening, New Yorkers were enjoying near 70 degree weather, at least 30 degrees warmer than what is expected this time of the year.

Although global warming may indeed be playing a part in this year's crazy weather, scientists say a lot of it is because of El Niño, a weather pattern that has played havoc in North America before. In the past it has brought torrential rains, snowstorms, and unusually mild weather, which is then often followed by one or two years of lack of rain and even droughts.

For hotel properties, these weather changes and fluctuations in rainfall can cause all kinds of problems, many of which can seriously affect a hotel's bottom line, in part because some localities will raise water rates during severe dry periods. Water officials may also implement a variety of restrictions and regulations on water use, again directly impacting hotel properties.

To weather the storms, hotel owners and managers should look for ways to reduce water consumption and make water awareness and conservation an ongoing priority. This not only helps save money but protects this valuable resource.

Baselines and Benchmarks

The first step hotel owners/managers should take in water conservation is to learn how much water their hotel property uses. This varies, but most studies indicate hotels use between 100 and 200 gallons of fresh water per occupied guestroom per day. This averages out to about 36,500 to 73,000 gallons of water per room per year. With water charges in the United States ranging from two dollars to more than five dollars per 1,000 gallons, it becomes clear how efforts to reduce water use can potentially and significantly lower hotel operating costs.

To determine your actual water use, average three or four months of water bills and divide the average expense by the total number of rooms occupied during this same time period. If possible, select months during different times of the year - summer, winter, spring, fall - so that the average of water use and occupancy better reflects annual usage.

It is often a wise idea to try and compare your figures with comparable hotel properties in the same area. If your property is using 250 gallons of water per occupied room while other, similar properties are using about 150, it is an indication that some serious steps must be taken soon. Sometimes local hotel associations or water departments will already have undertaken these evaluations so that you can compare your water usage - and costs - with many other local properties.

With figures in hand, establish a water reduction target goal. This can be in stages with the first-stage reduction achieved just with repairs to existing plumbing fixtures and the implementation of opt-in water conservation measures. The next change can involve the purchase of devices and fixtures that can reduce water usage more substantially.

Stage One: Repairs and Opt-In Measures

Leaking sinks, tubs, and showers can waste tens of thousands of gallons of water per year. It is estimated that one water leak, which might be nothing more than a slow constant drip from a faucet, can waste more than 40 gallons of water per day.

Usually, these fixtures can be repaired relatively quickly and inexpensively. Toilets can be tested by placing a drop or two of food coloring in the tank and then inspecting after a couple of hours. If there is colored water in the bowl or no colored water in the tank, it is an indication that the flapper and flush valve need to be replaced. This test should be repeated regularly, about every three months.

Opt-in water conservation measures include such things as increasing staff awareness of the conservation steps taken at your property. Turn your housekeeping staff into water misers. They are often the most attuned to how water is being used - and wasted - in your hotel. Many properties provide financial incentives for staff members that help achieve water reduction and conservation goals. In addition, they can help by reducing the amount of water they use in the cleaning process.

Guests can participate as well by deciding if they can go an extra day or two before their linens and towels need washing. These programs, now found in large numbers of hotels, have proved surprisingly successful.

Additionally, a lot of water is used and can be conserved in the laundry. Reduce water levels where possible and program machines to minimize rinse and prewash cycles. Maximize all laundry loads to use water most effectively.

Stage Two: New Devices and Fixtures

If your hotel's toilets and urinals are more than 15 years old, some of the most significant water conservation measures will take affect once these fixtures have been replaced. Older toilets and urinals use 3 or more gallons of water per flush. New, more efficient toilets use 1.6 gallons of water or less per flush, and urinals use about 1 gallon of water per flush.

To conserve even more water, many facilities are replacing conventional urinals with waterless systems. As the name implies, these urinals use absolutely no water at all. Because they do not need to be connected to a water source, they often cost considerably less to install and, because electricity is necessary to pump water in and out of a facility, they are not dependent on water delivery in emergencies or brown out.

Additionally, all sinks and showers should be fitted with water-flow controls. Some 20 years ago, when these devices were first introduced, guests often complained about these controls because they hampered the flow of water so noticeably. However, those made today are even more effective and rarely cause complaints.

Exterior Areas

No discussion of water conservation would be complete without a look at hotel landscaping. To maximize water conservation, especially in dry areas of the country, hotel landscaping should fit the local climate. When the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas was first built, the hotel's landscaping included acres of lush green lawns that required thousand of gallons of water every day. More than half of these lawn areas have since been replaced with plants and landscaping more typical of a desert climate, reducing water usage dramatically.

Additional steps that can be incorporated include:

• Reduce watering frequency wherever possible.
  
• Stop hosing down sidewalks, entries, parking lots, etc.
  
• Install irrigation systems on timers to better control water use.
  
• Place mulch around plants to reduce evaporation and discourage weeds.
  
• Remove weeds and unhealthy plants so remaining plants can benefit from irrigation.
  
• Adjust sprinklers so that they cover just lawn and plant areas and not sidewalks and driveways.
  

Climate fluctuations and growing water demands are taxing water supplies, especially in the western part of the United States. Traditionally, increased water demands have been met by developing additional water supplies using dams, impoundment reservoirs, and canal systems.

However, the dam building era is over due to a combination of financial, environmental, and political factors. What is necessary now for all of us, including hotel properties throughout North America, is to begin to conserve water. Finding ways to protect this natural resource are many and will benefit us for years to come.

Klaus Reichardt is managing partner of Waterless Co., LCC, a manufacturer of waterless urinal systems and other plumbing supplies and fixtures. He can be reached at klaus@waterless.com.