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Dear Boston Green Tourism Members,
The presentations from the March 19 meeting are linked below. See the other sections, too.
Our next meeting will by Thursday April 9 at Sheraton Boston. I will announce the speakers later this week.
Dan
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Boston Green Tourism Meeting
March 19, 2015
Location: InterContinental Boston
Hosts: Bradford Rice, Fabienne Eliacin, Joe Kreis, Arlete Burgo and Vasco Foster
Present: Bradford Rice, Fabienne Eliacin, Arlete Burgo, Vasco Foster, Charlie Mooskian, Brooke Lizotte, Fouad Harajim, Samantha Sorrin, Alex Alexandrovich, Mike Savage, Gerri Weiner, Adam Mitchell, Michelle Lee Guiney, Michelle Blakemore, Cameron Ritzenthaler, Dinesh Wadhwani, Chris Mulvey, Karen Weber, Pamela St. Aimee, Hugh Leahy, Galen Mook, Kevin Lubinger, Rebecca Baturin, Donna Hunnewell, Dan Ruben. I missed a few people.
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InterContinental Boston's Recent Green Initiatives: Lets Engage
Arlete Burgo, Executive Housekeeper
Fabienne Eliacin, Engineering Coordinator
The speakers discussed the hotel's waste management program, including:
- how they have achieved a 64% recycling rate in 2015;
- progress and challenges regarding their food waste management system, in which they pulp their waste and have the remaining solids hauled to a compost facility;
- their donation program for amenities and other used goods.
They speakers also talked about the hotel's Earth Hour plans: dimmed lights, 
flameless candles in the lobby and a sustainable candlelight dinner, including
Blue Tahoe drinks (pictured).
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Why and How Hotels Can Become Bike-Friendly for Staff and Guests
Biking for commuting and recreation has increased dramatically in recent years. Boston and Cambridge have plans to accelerate this trend
Hotels stand to attract business and satisfy their employees by being more bike-friendly:
- offering bikes to guests,
- providing safe and protected bike parking,
- partnering with bike-friendly businesses and associations,
- being a bike ambassador for visitors and
- making biking safer and better for employees.
This presentation has a wealth of ideas on these topics.
Landry's Bicycles helps businesses become bicycle-friendly.
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2015 Mass Save Incentives for Hotels; Success Stories
Kevin Lubinger, Program Manager, Energy Efficiency, Eversource
Mr. Lubinger presented the 2015 Mass Save incentives. He also listed Eversource's top nine hotel energy efficiency projects of 2014 and five technologies with great potential for 2015.
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Hotels and Furniture Banks: Working Together to Help the Planet and the Homeless
Donna Hunnewell, Owner, The Wish Project Furniture Bank
Furniture banks, like The Wish Project in Lowell, have big warehouses where they receive, sort, process and distribute furniture and furnishings to needy people. They help homeless families establish themselves in new homes.
Furniture banks also help hotels and other businesses. They sharply reduce the cost of furniture disposal; they take most goods that hotels dispose; they offer good PR opportunities; and they coordinate with recyclers when necessary.
The Wish Project heat-treats their mattresses and furniture to assure that they are pest and egg free.
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| IDEAS | |
Is Your Property Reusing its Waste Heat?
Heat recovery is becoming a common way to cut energy bills. In past newsletters, BGT has shown how hotels reuse waste heat from steam condensate, kitchen ventilation hoods and the hot water emanating from dishwashers.
This Green Lodging New article shows how two Fairmont hotels reuse waste heat from their refrigeration plant and their chiller system.
"At The Savoy in London...a centralized compressor plant was installed for all kitchen walk-in fridges and freezers. The hotel's refrigeration plant reclaims waste heat to preheat domestic hot water by 5 degrees Celsius. Reclaiming waste heat produces an [annual]...savings of $59,500...and reduces the loading and firing rate of the boilers which...extends [their] life and reduces maintenance costs.
The Fairmont Orchid in Kohala Coast, Hawaii, heats its pool using waste heat from a chiller system at no cost. If the hotel were to heat its pool using conventional heating methods (like propane) it would cost more than $90,000 per year."
I will soon report on more heat recovery opportunities.
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
Training Program: How U.S. Hotels Save Money and Attract Business by Going Green
This past year, I have given this training program to 17 hotel green teams and management teams.
The program is free for BGT members. I share practical strategies gleaned from the 90+ green hotel workshops that I have organized, the green hotel literature and advice from hoteliers. Even the greenest hotels that I trained come away with useful ideas.
If I made this presentation to your facility over two years ago, consider having me out again because there is much new material.
Please contact me if you want more information or to schedule this program.
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ARTICLES
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Natalie Chadwick, ConServe, National Restaurant Association, March 18.
The author says that restaurants wanting to reduce their food purchasing costs and waste disposal bills should:
- Incorporate waste management practices into their staff training programs.
- Monitor plates that come back to the dish room and meal prep trays. If they have food on them, there may be an opportunity to reduce waste.
- Assign a program champion.
- Deploy effective bins, bin placement, signs, hauling schedules and purchasing practices.
Glenn Hasek, Green Lodging News, March 19.
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The following meetings will be 2:30 to 4:00.
March 19: InterContinental Boston
April 9: Sheraton Boston
May 21:
July 16: Mandarin Oriental Boston
September 17: Hyatt Regency Boston
October 22: Taj Boston
December 10: Le Méridien Cambridge-MIT
See you April 9 at Sheraton Boston!
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