March 25, 2014

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

 

Managing Universal Waste: Tips for Safety and Compliance

Philip LoRicco, Regional Account Manager, Veolia ES Technical Solutions

  

Mass Save Incentives, 2014

Kevin Lubinger, Program Manager, Energy Efficiency, NSTAR Electric and Gas

 

Challenge for Sustainability

Mihir Parikh, Sustainability Coordinator at A Better City


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. 
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. 

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
  • How U.S. Hotels Reduce Energy Use, Dan Ruben, Boston Green Tourism
  • Green Up Your Food Service, Eric Cartwright, University of Missouri 
  • Green Hotel Renovations, Craig Nicholson, Ajax Partners

Session 3:  April 16, 1:00 - 2:15

  • Toxic Use Reduction in HotelsPeter Cooke, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
  • Window Film: How it Benefits HotelsSteve DeBusk, Eastman Chemical Company
  • Stormwater Management for HotelsPeter Goren, American Green Lodging and Hospitality Association 

Session 4:  April 30, 1:00 - 2:15

  • Energy Management Systems for Guest Rooms and Function RoomsJim Schivley, Schneider Electric  
  • Green Procurement for HotelsScot Hopps, Saunders Hotel Group
  • Green Hotel Case Study: Saybrook Point Inn & SpaAbbie McAllister, Saybrook Point Inn & Spa
  • How Hotels Reduce Their Natural Gas BillsGreg Hofstetter, Director of Development. EcoGreenHotel 
  • Green Hotel Case Study: Holiday Inn and Suites Columbia-AirportHemalata Patel, Courtesy Management, Inc.
  • Sustainable Bottled WaterDave Flanders, Vivreau Advanced Water Systems 
  • Waste Management for HotelsDan Ruben, Boston Green Tourism
  • Green Cleaning for HotelsSteve Ashkin, President, The Ashkin Group
  • LED Lighting for HotelsGeorge 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).

ARTICLES 

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.  

2014 MEETINGS

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!