May 2, 2013
Dear Boston Green Tourism Members,                                                  

 

Our next Boston Green Tourism meeting will be Thursday May 9 from 2:30 to 4:00 at Hyatt Regency Boston, in the Berkshire Room on the lower level. Directions are here.

Hyatt Regency Boston is one of the city's four "Gold level" hotels recognized by TripAdvisor.

Thank you to our hosts: Brian Gorski, Laura Picken and Phil Stamm.   

 

Dan Ruben 

SPEAKERS

Jenny Rushmore        

Director of Responsible Travel, TripAdvisor

 

Jenny developed and recently launched TripAdvisor's GreenLeaders program. The program has had quite an impact already. Over 1,000 U.S. hotels applied for this recognition within a week of the product launch. Jenny will tell us what hoteliers need to know about GreenLeaders, and answer our questions.

 

See the article on the GreenLeaders program, in the News section, below.  

 

Rich Rattray  
Specification Sales Engineer - Northeast
OSRAM SYLVANIA
 

 

Companies have made recently impressive advances in lighting controls that give hotels more options to improve their lighting and reduce their costs. Rich will discuss these developments, such as smart time scheduling, task timing, variable load shedding, personal control and daylight harvesting. He will also touch on the new ASHRAE requirements that will impact lightign retrofits, and some advances in LED technology.  

 

Janie  Katz-Christy                      

Director, Green Streets Initiative

 

The Green Streets Initiative is an organization, "dedicated to celebrating and promoting the use of sustainable, active transportation in the Boston region and beyond."  

 

Their Walk/Ride Days Corporate Challenge helps Boston area companies encourage their employees to travel to work car-free--by walking, bicycling, mass transit and carpooling.  Over 50 companies now participate, including hospitals, universities, public agencies and the Charles Hotel. Janie will  tell us how hotels can benefit by joining this contest. If you want to learn more ahead of Janie's talk, see the Opportunities section below. 

NEWS

TripAdvisor Launches GreenLeaders Program; Fourteen Boston and Cambridge Hotels Recognized

TripAdvisor officially launched this program on Earth Day. Already over 1,000 U.S. hotels are recognized at the platinum, gold, silver or bronze levels, including twelve from Boston and two from Cambridge.  

 

The GreenLeaders distinction is prominent in the website's hotel listings. When one clicks on the link, a short list of the hotel's green practices pops up. Then, one can click on "See all green practices," and see how the hotel completed the TripAdvisor survey. 

 

Guests can find a list of TripAdvisor green hotels by searching for "Boston Hotels," for example, and then clicking on the "Green" tab on the top right of the page.

 

If you want to apply for the TripAdvisor Green Leaders program, go here.    

  

ASTM Publishes Its Accommodations Standards for Environmentally Sustainable Meetings  

ASTM International develops standards for thousands of products and services. They recently completed a set of nine standards for green meetings, intended for use by the convention industry. The Accommodations standard is the last one of the nine to be finalized.  

 

If your hotel serves conventioneers, I recommend that you buy a copy of the Accommodations standards. I can't tell whether the ASTM standards will catch on or not. If they do, they will have a powerful impact on the lodging industry.     

 

See: After Years of Waiting, ASTM Accommodations Standards Finally Here, Glenn Hasek, Green Lodging News, April 12.

  

Energy Star Starts to Certify Pool Pumps

Energy Star pool pumps have an ROI of under three years, run quietly and extend the lifespan of pool filtering systems. They reduce their run speeds to match the needs of each pool, See Hayward Pool Pumps Among First to Earn Energy Star, Linda Hardesty, Energy Manager Today, March 27.  

IDEAS

Important New Advances in LED Lighting

LED lighting is clearly still on the steep part of its growth curve. Several new developments were announced recently.

 

Philips declared that their new tube lights will produce 200 lumens per watt, and will be on the market in 2015 (Goodbye fluorescent bulb? Philips says yes, Toby Sterling, Associated Press, April 11.) The new bulbs double the efficiency of comparable fluorescent lights.

 

The new tube lights will help LED's overtake fluorescents in office and fitness center lighting--an area where fluorescents have maintained an advantage. LED tube lights are expected to be easier to install and maintain.

 

Another benefit of LED bulbs was recognized, because the lighting industry now has more experience with testing their products' life expectancy.  (Lighting Expert Says LEDs Have Come of Age, Randy Rodgers, Sustainable City Network, April 9.) The industry now realizes that it had underestimated the bulbs' longevity. Until recently, many bulbs were rated at 50,000 hours. Now, those same products are rated at 70,000 to 100,000 hours. (The life of LED's, or any light, is considered over when they produce only 70% of their rated lumens--the minimum amount of change that can be detected by the human eye.)

 

The author noted that there are still many low-quality LED's on the market. Purchasers can avoid them by acquiring only Energy Star approved lights, and by researching the products on the DesignLights Consortium website .

 

Scott Parisi of EcoGreenHotel wrote an interesting article about LED's, in which he explains that manufacturers have developed fixture upgrades that do not require screw in lamps (Green Hotels of the Future Featuring "No Screw in Lamps.)  This kind of "LED Luminaire is a complete lighting unit." The new fixtures simplify installation and maintenance, too.

 

Two other LED improvements were announced recently. The first 3-way LED A lamp is about the hit the market (3-Way LED A-Lamp Ships in May, Linda Hardesty, Energy Manager Today, April 17.) And, LED's can dim to almost zero with a new a driver that will be available this summer (Cirrus Logic LED Drivers Dim to Near-Zero Light, Linda Hardesty, April 24.)

 

Finally, many new LED applications are anticipated. (New Technology Inspires a Rethinking of Light, Felicity Barringer, New York Times, April 24.) For example, Philips produces a bulb that changes colors on command. It can replace an alarm clock by gradually brightening and mimicking the hue of a developing sunrise.

OPPORTUNITIES

Walk / Ride Day Corporate Challenge    

Credit: tufts.edu 

One of the biggest environmental impacts of any business is its employees' commute to work. And one the best ways to have a healthier, happier staff is for them to exercise. For many busy people, their commute is the best way for them to be active.    


The Green Street Initiative seeks to help companies simultaneously reduce negative environmental impacts and enable staff to exercise through their Walk / Ride Day Corporate Challenge. The Challenge, which is focused primarily on Boston area employers, is to get staff to commute car-free on the last Friday of every month until October. Dozens of area businesses already participate.   

 

"Once the company has registered, participation by individuals is free and simply involves "checking in" online on Walk/Ride Day. If it's a new commuting habit for them, great. If it's typical, that's fantastic, too. This Challenge is designed to celebrate both! There will be monthly and overall winners, who will be listed on an online leader board and in local media."  

 

Learn more about the Walk / Ride Day Corporate Challenge, including registration here.

ARTICLES
Sneeze-Free Zone,                                 
Tanya Mohn, New York Times, January 11, 2011.

The author discusses recent trends in how hotels accommodate and attract guests with allergies. She says that 38% of hotels have such a program. Hyatt and Fairmont started corporate-wide initiatives.


The Lenox to Celebrate Earth Day, 2013 with Month-Long "Green Dreams" Programming

Green Lodging News, April 3.

The Lenox Hotel is a leader in both green hospitality and in green marketing. They effectively use their environmental program to attract customers, and they highlight steps that their guests can adopt in their own lives.
2013 MEETINGS   

May 9: Hyatt Regency Boston
June 13 or 27   

August 1

September 12

October 24

December 5: Renaissance Boston Waterfront  

 

See you May 9 at Hyatt Regency Boston!