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Small changes, big difference; Office buildings, hotels make changes to improve green footprint

By Kristyn Schiavone, Source: Tribune Media Services

Environmental activists often have a simple goal: Encourage people and organizations to make sustainable choices.

Wasting energy and other resources is even simpler, and involves little more than putting a person in a building. That’s why entities that house a lot of people – namely, office buildings and hotels – are making changes that reduce their negative impact on the environment.

Do not disturb (the Earth)

Just recently, consumers have begun to notice small changes in hotels to improve sustainability. For example, it’s only in the last few years that you can make the choice not to have your towels and linens washed every night. Some hotels, like Kimpton’s, the first hotel company to be completely Green Seal Certified, are going several steps further. Nabil Moubayed, general manager of Kimpton’s Hotel Palomar Chicago, has helped pioneer many of the hotel’s most unique green changes.

On the 17th floor, the hotel has what Moubayed calls a “green roof space” filled with vegitation. It’s not accessible to the public, but it helps with climate control and improves air quality, as well as retaining rainwater. In addition, guests will find in-room recycling bins, low-flow toilets, showers and faucets, organic products in the mini bar and energy efficient lighting. And if you go to breakfast, don’t expect to find individual plastic containers of jam, honey and butter.

Hotel Palomar Chicago is in phase five of Kimpton’s EarthCare program, which encourages Kimpton hotels to implement changes like these. After one Kimpton employee noticed that the hangers from guests’ dry-cleaning could be recycled, all the hotels worked to improve on it – and also adopted nylon dry-cleaning bags. “I think one of the beauties of our program is it’s ground-up,” Moubayed said. “We’re driving the program from what we’re seeing and feeling.”

The hotel is also working to reduce its carbon footprint. Guests who drive hybrid vehicles get a 25 percent discount on parking, and Moubayed is working to build hybrid plug-in stations in the parking structure, since it’s owned by the hotel. He’s looking at installing a Bike and Roll station, to encourage guests to bike to attractions like Navy Pier instead of taking a cab. And the hotel’s restaurant, Sable Kitchen & Bar, almost exclusively uses vendors within a hundred-mile radius of Chicago.

“I think we’re beyond the point five years ago where people thought this was a fad,” he said. “We as business people realize that it’s an ongoing commitment. It’s the right thing to do as an industry, because there’s a lot of waste that goes on.”

A survey revealed that 20-25 percent of customers choose the hotel due to its green initiatives. However, Moubayed said he’s constantly trying to strike a balance between “what’s right and what’s practical.” For example, LED lighting doesn’t yet allow a nice enough ambiance to be used front-of-house.

“Some of our hotels use soap dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and body gel, and I’m sort of torn [because individual bottles] give you that luxurious feel,” Moubayed said.

Green office space

According to Steve Castle, chief advocate for Green Tech Advocates and managing editor of Electronic House Magazine, energy efficiency is the easiest and most cost-effective way to combat global warming today. And yet, we’re terrible at it – just count the electrical cords under your desk at work.

“We’re wasteful of energy as a culture because it’s always been cheap,” Castle said.

One easy change for offices to make, Castle says, is to use LED lighting, which is up to 90 percent more efficient than incandescent. Many office buildings also need upgrades to their heating and cooling systems, he said.

Larger offices have started to streamline their energy consumption through building automation.

“We’re seeing a big movement afoot to have BMS [building management system] or building automation, where the heating system, cooling system and lighting system are all controlled together,” Castle said. “[These systems have] built-in efficiency. If there’s too much light coming in a window, lights can automatically go down. It’s becoming a best-business practice.”

At Millipore Corporation in Billerica, Mass., a sustainability program was introduced about five years ago. In addition to several awareness programs, it also includes employee incentives for making green choices like driving hybrid cars.

“Millipore has a pretty big fleet of vehicles around the U.S., and it offered those employees the chance to drive a hybrid car,” said David Newman, Millipore’s Head of EHS, Sustainability & Facilities. “If they picked one they got a cash reward, which is paid for by the savings in gas.”

In terms of energy efficiency, each desk has a motion sensor that shuts off power to your desk when you leave – so when employees are on their lunch breaks, their lamps and computer monitors aren’t sucking up energy. As soon as they return, everything comes back on.

Millipore also has a flexible scheduling policy that encourages employees to work from home sometimes, which reduces commutes. Instead of having their own desks in the office, they just grab a desk that’s available. This more efficient use of space is allowing the company to eliminate a whole building, Newman said.

© 2011, Tribune Media Services