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Boston Green Tourism
...advancing the green hotel movement
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Dear Boston Green Tourism Members,
Our next meeting will be Thursday December 1, from 2:30 to 4:00 at the Seaport Hotel in the Magnum Room B, floor 1.
I thank our hosts: James Carmody, Tom Taylor and Robert Nichols.
I hope you can come!
Dan
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James Carmody, VP & General Manager at Seaport Hotel & Seaport World Trade 
Center
Tom Taylor, Chief Engineer, Seaport Companies
Bob Nichols, Director of Parking and Transportation, Seaport Companies
The speakers will discuss some of the hotel's recent projects and achievements: their new energy-saving elevators, stairwell motion detectors that cut lighting levels by 90%, sending their food waste to an anaerobic digestion facility, extensive purchase of locally-grown food, green transportation program, exterior LED's, 1 million bees on their roof and rooftop vegetable garden.
The speakers will also show off Seaport's impressive " green resume" marketing document, which portrays their sustainability program and helps attract meetings.
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Mr. Fritz will discuss the value of applying variable frequency drives to most hotel motors. His company often provides VFD's at no cost to their customers by accepting the Mass Save incentives as payment-in-full. (Some properties do incur non-equipment costs.)
VFD's reduce energy bills and extend equipment life. See the article below.
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Paul Wessel, Market Development Director for Parksmart, 
U.S. Green Building Council
Commercial properties are moving from a narrow "Where do we put the cars?" approach to an integrated vision of "How do we move more people, more efficiently?" The Seaport Hotel's transportation program (in this newsletter) is a good example.
Mr. Wessel will discuss practices, strategies and tools that hotels can use, and the Parksmart parking and transportation certification program.
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Program Offers Variable Frequency Drives for Free in Commercial Buildings; 
Hotels Benefit by installing them on Motors Large and Small
ICS Corp installs variable frequency drives (VFD's) in commercial buildings in MA and RI. Typically, they accept the Mass Save incentive from Eversource as payment-in-full!
Some properties incur an expense if they program the units to mesh with their building management system.
VFD's, also called VSD's (variable speed drives), adjust motor speeds and torque to match output requirements. With VFD's, motors that have only two speeds ("on" and "off") become units that use only the amount of energy necessary to do a particular job. VFD's cut equipment energy use by up to 70%.
Besides cutting electricity bills, VFD's extend equipment and motor life by reducing wear and tear, and they help engineers diagnose equipment problems.
Here are case studies of two recent ICS projects:
- Peabody Properties' high-rise condominiums, The Metropolitan: 35 VFD's, 429,000 kWh saved per year, $60,000 annual savings, $0 cost to Peabody Properties.
- CBRE's Cross Point Associates office complex in Lowell, formerly Wang Towers: 61 VFD's, 1,862,000 kWh saved per year, $223,500 annual savings, $0 cost to CBRE.
Most Boston hotels have VFD's on major pieces of equipment. But some properties don't have them on all of the medium and small motors that could use them. The Mass Save incentive offered by Eversource covers motors as small as one HP (horsepower).
Tom Taylor, the Seaport Hotel's Chief Engineer, said that his property is researching a major VFD acquisition. They're considering VFD's for their cooling tower fan, water supply pump, process exhaust and make up fans, chilled / condensed water pumps, hot water pumps, return air fans, supply air fans, make up air fans, building exhaust fans and garage exhaust and supply fans.
If you want to learn about adding VFD's to your hotel, come to the December 1 BGT meeting, described above. Roger Fritz will make a presentation and answer your questions. You can also contact ICS's Scott MacLauchlan directly (smaclauchlan@kwhsaved.com, 978-437-7009). He can set up a free VFD demo and facility review.
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Hotels Can Buy Electric Vehicles at a Big Discount;
So Can Everybody Else
Hotels, hotel employees and everybody else can buy electric cars at a big discount from certain MA and RI auto dealers.
Battery prices have declined 80% in the last three years, making EV's much more affordable. Federal and state tax credits ($7,500 and $2,500) make them cheaper still. Now, another program cuts the price by up to $9200 more. It's called Drive Green with Mass Energy, and it runs through February.
Mass Energy (I'm a board member) has partnered with auto dealers to sell electric vehicles at a deep discount.
The cars in the program:
- 2017 Chevy Volt: Plug-in hybrid. Range of 53 miles electric, then switches to gas for 420 miles total. Best price, $17,555.
- 2016 Ford C-Max Energi: Plug-in hybrid. Range of 21 miles electric, then switches to gas for 600 miles total range. Best price, $23,391.
- 2017 Ford Fusion Energi: Plug-in hybrid. Range of 21 miles electric, then switches to gas for 600 miles total range. Best price, $22,502.
- 2016 Nissan Leaf: Pure electric. Range of 83 or 107 mile range, depending on model. Best price, $11,930.
- 2017 Chevy Bolt: Pure electric. Range of 238 miles. It will be available late this year or early 2017. The discount has not been determined yet. Drive Green participants can be placed on the waiting list.
Compared to the average U.S. car, plug-in hybrids emit � the greenhouse gases; pure electrics emit 1/3 as much. Pure electrics powered by wind or solar energy produce zero GHG's.
EV's are cheap to run. At today's electricity price, electricity costs the equivalent of $1.88 per gallon. EV's are also quiet. Pure EV's require much less maintenance than gasoline cars--and no oil changes.
Here are links with more information:
I encourage you to communicate this promotion to your staff and friends, and to consider an EV for your property and yourself!
If you have questions, contact Mass Energy: drivegreen@massenergy.org or 800-287-3950 x5.
If you plan to research a purchase, I'd be delighted to know.
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InterContinental Boston's Fabienne Eliacin Keeps Hotel on Path of Continuous Improvement 
Under Ms. Eliacin's leadership, InterContinental Boston has achieved a 72% recycling rate.
The article discusses the hotel's waste management program, its community engagement and other aspects of its green program.
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The following meeting will be 2:30 to 4:00. Soon, I will announce the 2017 meeting schedule.
See you December 1 at the Seaport!
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