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Dear Boston Green Tourism Members,
Our next meeting will be Thursday May 21, from 2:30 to 4:00 at
I thank our hosts: Paul Tormey, Ellen Ryan, Eric Ulvila, Brooke Lizotte and Charlie Mooskian.
I hope you can come!
Dan
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SPEAKERS
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Kathryn Wright, Consultant, Meister Consultants Group, Inc.
Ms. Wright will present strategies that Boston's commercial real estate sector, including hotels, can use to increase resilience to climate change. Her presentation is based on the recent report Enhancing Resilience in Boston: A Guide for Large Buildings and Institutions and the accompanying online toolkit , which were prepared at the request of the City of Boston and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission. These resources help building managers prepare for flooding and heat waves, and properly manage storm-water.
Dinesh Wadwhani, Chief Executive Officer, ThinkLite
Mr. Wadwhani will discuss LED Retrofit Kits for T5, T8 and U bend lamps. He will show us how hotels that replace only the lamps and ballasts--not the entire fixtures, achieve the best returns on investment. ThinkLite's products are eligible for Mass Save 2015 incentives.
Inc. Magazine recognized Mr. Whadwhani by including him in their "30 under 30," award, and featured the company in this article: ThinkLite's founders invented a way for big companies to convert to more energy-efficient LED lighting, reducing upfront costs and improving ROI.
Noah Wilson-Rich, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, The Best Bees Company
Mr. Wilson-Rich will discuss bee-keeping for hotels--how to get started, how to use bee-keeping to your property's advantage and more.
Best Bees has delivered, installed and managed beehives for Fairmont Copley Plaza, Battery Wharf, Four Seasons Boston, Intercontinental Boston, Sheraton Boston, Taj Boston and The Liberty.
Karen Weber, Director, Boston GreenFest
Boston GreenFest is the large, exciting, annual multicultural environmental music festival that takes place at Boston City Hall Plaza every August. It's an excellent opportunity for hotel employees to learn about new sustainable products, services and ideas that can help hotel green teams prosper. Find out what's on tap for this year (August 21-23)!
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| NEWS | |
Tesla Introduces Batteries for Commercial Businesses, Industry, Homes:
What Does it Mean for Hotels?
Tesla Motors announced that they are selling "Powerwall" batteries to homeowners and "Powerpack" batteries to commercial businesses and utilities, at prices far below competing batteries. Their declaration brings us closer to the time when batteries will be a significant part of our energy infrastructure.
The energy storage market has been burgeoning while prices have been falling. Tesla's new products accelerate the downward trajectory in battery prices. Competition from other companies and rival technologies will further improve the price and capability of energy storage products.
Hotels and other businesses use batteries to reduce the demand charge on their electricity bills. They charge their batteries at night, and release the energy during periods of peak demand. The battery charge and discharge schedule is managed by software designed to reduce businesses' electricity bills.
Batteries can also be used to provide electricity during power outages. They have several advantages over generators: they work seamlessly, they don't use on-site fuel and they require less maintenance.
A 100 kWh Tesla Powerpack module costs $25,000, and is scale-able.
The volume of pre-orders for Powerpack and Powerwall is so great, that Tesla might not be able to satisfy demand, even when the gigafactory opens next year. (The gigafactory will produce batteries for Tesla cars, too.)
These developments raise the following questions. Are batteries now economically attractive for MA hotels? Does it make sense for MA hotels to invest in battery storage now, or wait several years for further price declines? Given the demand for Tesla batteries, how long will buyers have to wait to receive them? Will MA begin to provide incentives for energy storage, like California, New York and Hawaii?
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OPPORTUNITIES
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Westin Copley Place, June 23 I encourage you to attend this annual event, organized by Eversource. The speakers, the educational sessions and the exhibit floor will be outstanding. It's an opportunity to learn about new innovations, meet high-quality vendors and exchange ideas with colleagues.
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ARTICLES
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Amy Zipkin, The New York Times, April 27
The author discusses why and how hotels engage their guests by deploying green practices.
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The following BGT meetings will be 2:30 to 4:00.
May 21: Fairmont Copley Plaza
July 16: Mandarin Oriental Boston
September 17: Hyatt Regency Boston
October 22: Taj Boston
December 10: Le Méridien Cambridge-MIT
See you May 21 at Fairmont Copley Plaza!
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