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Dear Boston Green Tourism Members,
The minutes from the March 6 meeting are below, with links to the presentations. See the other sections, too.
In the next newsletter, I will announce the location of our April 17 meeting.
Dan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston Green Tourism Meeting
March 6, 2014
Location: Lenox Hotel
Hosts: Tedd Saunders, Scot Hopps, Marcella MacKenzie
Present: Tedd Saunders, Scot Hopps, Marcella MacKenzie, Jeff Hanulec, Ganga Singh, David Alcaraz, Bre Gaetze, Rui Rego, Ryan Parker, Kaitlin Mailliot, Jennifer Dean, Michael Borey, Dan Buker, Brandon Barber, Andrew Laliberte, Fabienne Eliacin, Donna Sheeran, Pamela St. Aimee, Michelle Lee Guiney, Bill Scherer, Charlie Lord, Stephen Pritchard, Jack Fellman, Alex Alexandrovich, Jeff Mann, Cameron Ritzenthaler, Kevin Lubinger, Philp LoRicco, Mihir Parkih Dan Ruben. I missed several people.
Saunders Hotel Group: Engaging Owners, Staff, Suppliers and Guests; Recent and Upcoming Projects
Tedd Saunders, President, EcoLogical Solutions & Chief Sustainability Officer, The Saunders Hotel Group
Scot Hopps, Director of Sustainability, Saunders Hotel Group
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Managing Universal Waste: Tips for Safety and Compliance
Philip LoRicco, Regional Account Manager, Veolia ES Technical Solutions
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Mass Save Incentives, 2014
Kevin Lubinger, Program Manager, Energy Efficiency, NSTAR Electric and Gas
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Challenge for Sustainability
Mihir Parikh, Sustainability Coordinator at A Better City
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NEWS |
The Langham Hotel Boston Buys 100% Green Power through Online Energy Auctions
For the third straight year, The Langham Boston entered into a 12-month electricity contract powered solely by renewable energy. To help get the best price, the hotel teamed with World Energy Solutions, which runs online auctions to help customers procure energy.
The competitive online event attracted seven suppliers, who, over the course of one hour, bid more than 50 times on five different energy products and term lengths. The resulting fixed-price contract secured 100% renewable energy at only a 2% premium to the available 'brown power' options.
Boston Funded to Get More Protected Bike Lanes
Boston will invest heavily in protected bike lanes, thanks to a grant from PeopleForBikes Green Lane Project. Mayor Walsh said that his project is consistent with the recently completed Bike Network Plan. He also plans to expand Hubway into more neighborhoods.
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IDEAS |
InterContinental Boston to Celebrate Earth Hour in Style
The InterContinental Green Team knows how to have a good time. They go on field trips to see how their discarded material is recycled, they have an apiary with 150,000 bees, they watch the apiary on their Bee TV, they make cocktails and beer from the honey that they harvest, and every year they celebrate Earth Hour.
This year, Earth Hour is March 29, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
To celebrate, the InterContinental will shut off their lights and air conditioning in certain areas. In their lobby, they will post their beautiful Earth Hour poster; dim or turn off their lights--and use candles instead; give guests a card about how they can participate in Earth Hour; and provide LED flashlights to the hotel's VIP Club guests.
The hotel will serve a special Earth Hour drink in their Rumba and Miel restaurants.
While we're on the subject of InterContinental Boston, I encourage you to visit the their attractive green page.
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OPPORTUNITIES |
Green Hotel Webinar Series
On behalf of the U.S. EPA, I organized a six-session webinar series designed to help hoteliers cut their properties' operating costs, attract customers and improve environmental performance. It has been marketed to hoteliers in 17 states. Many of the topics and speakers are familiar to BGT members, though some are new.
You can register for each session by clicking on the links below. I encourage you to register for as many sessions as you can, and forward this invitation to people who would benefit.
Session 1: March 26, 1:00 - 2:15
- How U.S. Hotels Benefit by Going Green, Dan Ruben, Boston Green Tourism
- Water Efficiency Opportunities for Hotels, Dan Cook, Conservation Solutions Corporation
- Energy Efficient Motors for Hotels, Michael Rosenkranz, GEXPRO
Session 3: April 16, 1:00 - 2:15
- Toxic Use Reduction in Hotels, Peter Cooke, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
- Window Film: How it Benefits Hotels, Steve DeBusk, Eastman Chemical Company
- Stormwater Management for Hotels, Peter Goren, American Green Lodging and Hospitality Association
Session 4: April 30, 1:00 - 2:15
- Energy Management Systems for Guest Rooms and Function Rooms, Jim Schivley, Schneider Electric
- Green Procurement for Hotels, Scot Hopps, Saunders Hotel Group
- Green Hotel Case Study: Saybrook Point Inn & Spa, Abbie McAllister, Saybrook Point Inn & Spa
- How Hotels Reduce Their Natural Gas Bills, Greg Hofstetter, Director of Development. EcoGreenHotel
- Green Hotel Case Study: Holiday Inn and Suites Columbia-Airport, Hemalata Patel, Courtesy Management, Inc.
- Sustainable Bottled Water, Dave Flanders, Vivreau Advanced Water Systems
- Waste Management for Hotels, Dan Ruben, Boston Green Tourism
- Green Cleaning for Hotels, Steve Ashkin, President, The Ashkin Group
- LED Lighting for Hotels, George Tregay, Waste Reduction Partners
Forum: Preparing for Compliance with BERDO
As you know, Boston's commercial buildings must report their Portfolio Manager scores to the City by May 15 in order to comply with the BERDO (Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance) ordinance. For some hotels, including properties with condos or other tenants, this task is complex.
If your hotel is struggling to comply with the ordinance, then I recommend this forum. It's produced by A Better City, and will take place on April 3, from 8:30 to 10:00 at Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Blvd, Floor 13.
"Representatives from the utility companies, the City of Boston and the EPA Portfolio Manager team will give brief presentations on how to effectively meet the BERDO requirements and implement online utility management. Participants will learn:
Requirements for reporting.
How to access whole building data from utilities.
Data points being shared with the City.
How to provide contextual information with your report.
How to gather data from tenants.
How to report your data to the City."
New WaterSense H2otel Webinars are Announced
Registration is open for two more webinars in this series:
If you have any questions, contact the WaterSense Helpline at [email protected], or 866-WTR-SENS (987-7367).
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ARTICLES
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The 12 Things You Need to Know about Monitoring-Based Commissioning (MBCx)
Jim Butler, Craig Engelbrecht, Jim Lee, Jim Sinopoli, July 2013.
This Siemens white paper makes the point that monitoring-based commissioning delivers improved building performance and energy efficiency. This technology is, "a sophisticated package of software applications that combines building data from a wide variety of sources to better manage building performance and efficiency." It helps identify issues early on and prioritize them.
I think that MBCx will become a common and important tool for managing complex, multifaceted hotels. This summer, at a BGT meeting, we will have a speaker on this subject.
Green M&M's & Hotel Sustainability
Scot Hopps, Green Lodging News, April 24
Scot talks about how the Lenox Hotel strives to see sustainability through the eyes of their customers. He offers an interesting perspective about how a hotel green team or sustainability manager can satisfy their guests, and still pay attention to the aspects of the green program that guests never see.
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The following meetings will be 2:30 to 4:00.
April 17
June 5
July 24
September 18
October 30
December 4
See you on April 17! |
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