Jose Duarte, Chef/Owner, Taranta Restaurant is one  of the City's leading chefs and one of the foremost green restaurant experts. He will discuss his North End restaurant's green achievements, and provide advice for other restaurants.

Mr. Duarte has been cited as the 2011 Massachusetts Chef of the Year and Top 100 "Most Influential" Latinos in MA. His restaurant is certified by the Green Restaurant Association, it has earned the 2008 City of Boston Green Business Award and it received a MassRecycle Award in 2010.

Taranta's Going Green web page, including its extensive archives, is a fabulous resource for restaurateurs. I encourage you and your chefs to visit it--and to attend Mr. Duarte's presentation.

Bruce Buckbee, Vice President of Operations, World Energy Solutions, will           

discuss why it makes sense to manage your property's energy efficiency,  

procurement and monitoring activities together. Doing so may allow your hotel  

to take advantage of on-bill financing--enabling it to pay for projects on its  

electricity bill a portion at a time, and perhaps totally with the savings that you  

get from the project.       

Sarandis Karathanasis is co-founder and Director of Business Development for        

American Energy Independence Company (AMENICO). He will discuss how hotel restaurants can help achieve their corporate sustainability mandates by using AMENICO's cooking oil collection service. AMENICO serves over 1,000 restaurants from Boston metro to all points in New England.        

Boston, Cambridge and MA Start Planning for Sea Level                   

Rise; Should Hotels Do the Same?

Scientists predict that climate change will bring higher sea levels to Boston, particularly during storm surges. In fact, a few buildings are already impacted when coastal waters peak. Coastal flooding events are expected to happen every two to three years by 2050--with some events occurring much sooner.

Boston and Cambridge hotels located right at the sea are most vulnerable, but some models indicate that flooding will occur considerably inland.

The cities of Boston and Cambridge and the State of Massachusetts have begun to plan for sea level rise. Perhaps some of our most vulnerable hotels should consider looking at this issue, too.

See Boston Plans For 'Near-Term Risk' Of Rising Tides, Monica Brady-Myerov, August 21. The reporter quotes Tedd Saunders of the Saunders Hotel Group.

Johnson & Johnson's Commits to Reducing Cancer-Causing Chemicals from their Personal Care Products; Will Others Follow?  

Under pressure from public health advocates, Johnson and Johnson's announced that it will reformulate hundreds of their personal care products by the end of 2015. The company makes Aveeno, Neutrogena and Johnson's Baby Shampoo products. They will replace ingredients linked to cancer and other health problems, including formaldehyde-releasers, papabens, triclosan, DEP and 1,4 dioxane.

I think that Johnson and Johnson's action will spur their competitors to follow their lead. In a similar shift, many sunscreen makers have made their products safer in 2012, after a campaign that revealed their chemical make-up.

This might be a time to review the ingredients in your facility's personal care products. See Ray Burger's (Pineapple Hospitality) presentation on greener hotel amenities, in case you want a refresher.

EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager Update

The EPA is on track to upgrade Portfolio Manager (PM) in June 2013. PM will have a new interface, streamlined functionality, and improved usability. It is particularly relevant for City of Boston hotels because the energy disclosure ordinance, to be announced this fall, will require all commercial buildings to use it.  

Before the EPA transitions to the new version of PM, I will publicize the training sessions that will teach us how to use it. More information about the PM upgrade is on the EPA website.

If you want to start using the current version of PM, as many BGT hotels do, you can attend the webinars, "The Basics of Benchmarking in Portfolio Manager," on September 18, 1:00 to 2:00; and "Beyond the Basics: Advanced Features of Portfolio Manager," September 25, 2:00 to 3:00. If you use the current version of PM, your data will be transferred when PM is updated in June 2013.  

Hostel's Education Approach Relies on Smartphones, Quick Response Codes  

Glenn Hasek, Green Lodging News, August 27.

QR Codes Make It Easier to Convey Your Property's Green Story

Glenn Hasek, Green Lodging News, August 24.

This author explains how Hostelling International Boston uses QR bar codes to communicate its green qualities to smart phone users. Congratulations to Kelly Smith, Director of Marketing and Sales, and other HI-Boston leaders for introducing this innovation!

Window Film Pays Off in Energy, Financial, Other Savings

September 20: Boston Marriott Copley Place  

November 1: Hostelling International Boston