I have been thinking a lot about heat waste lately and would love to know to what degree your property is capturing this “waste” for reuse. I am currently working on an article that details how several hotels in the Boston area are capturing heat from condensate that is a byproduct of the steam that is used to heat the hotel. That condensate can be as hot as 212 degrees F but is often sent down the drain after being cooled with city water—a real waste. The Boston hotels I am studying are using the waste heat, through a heat exchange process, to pre-heat domestic water or even heat areas of the property. They are saving not only energy but a lot of money as well. In solar thermal applications a heat exchanger is used to capture the heat from the solar-heated water. In laundry and kitchen washing operations waste heat is also often captured for reuse. Heat exchangers are used in ovens and even fryers to help more evenly distribute heat.

In geothermal applications heat exchangers are used and with cooling towers as well. Where cogeneration is used, excess heat is used to heat domestic water. Oftentimes heat leaving a building through ventilation can be recaptured and used to heat incoming air.

Think about any area of your hotel where heat leaves the building or a system. Ask yourself whether or not that heat can be captured and used again in a cost-effective manner. Chances are the technology exists at a reasonable cost. Perhaps even the heat from the shower water going down the drain can be used again?

In what innovative ways is your property capturing heat for reuse? I would love to learn about it. Be sure to write to editor@greenlodgingnews.com, or call me at (216) 848-1406. Be sure to search Green Lodging News using the words "heat exchange" to find examples of waste heat reuse.

A recent survey by Carroll School of Management Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and Ernst & Young LLP sheds some light on the value of sustainability reporting. Survey information was sent by e-mail to members of the Center for Corporate Citizenship and to other professionals. The survey was also sent to members of a Survey Sampling International panel. There were 579 total respondents and 391 work for an organization that issues a sustainability report. Findings support other research that suggests that companies that do sustainability reporting have higher cash flows than those that do not. Findings also support the idea that reporting can offer firms insight into potential changes in process and business. Innovative firms can employ social and environmental initiatives as opportunities for learning. In a 2012 global survey of sustainability reporters, 88 percent indicated that reporting helped make their organizations’ decision-making processes more efficient.

Findings suggest that reporting firms may be better able to predict and manage risks emanating from sustainability-related dimensions of business. Findings also suggest that reporting may prove to be a powerful tool for corporations that need to build or restore trust. A recent Ernst & Young study found that social acceptance risk was one of the Top Ten Risks for Global Business and that corporations may benefit from communicating transparently to the public. The survey revealed that more than 50 percent of respondents issuing sustainability reports reported that those reports helped improve firm reputation.

More than 30 percent of respondents in the survey saw increased employee loyalty as a result of issuing a report. The survey found that proactively communicating a firm’s corporate responsibility commitments has a positive impact on productivity, including the number of voluntary, uncompensated hours worked. A reputation for responsibility and disclosure can help recruiting efforts.

To access the entire survey report, click here.

Earlier this spring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its WaterSense program, held its first Sprinkler Spruce-Up weekend. The purpose of the activity was to encourage those using sprinklers to inspect the systems for leaks. According to EPA, a broken or missing sprinkler head could waste as much as 25,000 gallons of water over a six-month irrigation season. WaterSense provides tools to educate consumers about the importance of maintaining irrigation systems to promote healthy landscapes and water efficiency in four simple steps—inspect, connect, direct, and select. Hoteliers should inspect irrigation systems for clogged, broken or missing sprinkler heads. If you would rather not do that yourself, choose an irrigation professional certified through a WaterSense labeled program. If water pools in an area in your landscape, or if you have extra wet areas, you may have a broken pipe connection.

Even a leak about as small as the tip of a ballpoint pen (or 1/32nd of an inch) can waste about 6,300 gallons of water per month. Are you watering the driveway, hotel, or sidewalk instead of your yard? Redirect sprinklers to apply water only to the landscape. Are your sprinklers coming on at the wrong times? Even when it is raining? An improperly scheduled irrigation controller can waste a lot of water and money. Update your system’s schedule with the seasons, or select a WaterSense labeled controller to take the guesswork out of scheduling. The EPA’s WaterSense site offers more tips on how to use water wisely—through not only proper sprinkler and irrigation maintenance but also smart landscape design and plant selection as well. Click here for more information.

It has now been 11 years since the release of the highly influential book, “Cradle to Cradle,” authored by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart. In that book the authors proposed a more holistic approach to the design of products and systems—where efficiency rules and where there is zero waste, or at least a process where one system’s waste equals another’s “food.” The authors recently released a follow-up to Cradle to Cradle called “The Upcycle.” In The Upcycle, the authors suggest taking their cradle to cradle approach to another level—“not just to how people design a carpet but how they design a home, a workplace, an industry, a city.” “We can upcycle to talk about not how human industry can be ‘less bad,’ but how it can be more good, an extraordinary positive in our world,” the authors say. In their book the authors suggest that we should not just protect the planet from ourselves but should redesign our activity to improve the planet.

The Upcycle includes a foreward by President Bill Clinton. In the foreward Clinton says, “In the pages that follow, Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart invite you to think about the future we share; to imagine what could be and how to make it so. We are all in this together, and we’ll need a global commitment to sustainability if we want our children to inherit a world of shared opportunity, shared responsibility, and shared prosperity. Let’s get to work.” The Upcycle, published by North Point, includes a collection of observations and stories of continuous improvement. Click here to learn more.

Those of you considering a green renovation for your interior spaces should read a case study recently released by SERA Architects with input from Benjamin West and a number of product manufacturers. This is the second case study from SERA Architects that I have written about in Green Lodging News. (Click here to read my column linking to the first case study.) SERA Architects’ latest case study focuses on the Courtyard by Marriott Denver Downtown and all of the steps that were taken during the renovation to reduce waste, energy consumption, and improve indoor air quality. Specifying green products for 70 percent of the FF&E for the guestroom and corridor refresh resulted in a 4 percent project cost increase over standard products. While the team behind the renovation did not have to pay more for local art and sustainable carpet, lamping, paint and seating, it did have to pay more for green fabric (7 percent more), casegoods (8 percent more), outdoor furniture (15 percent more) and wallcoverings (40 percent).

Some of the specific green products used in the renovation included: Green Label Plus rated carpeting, low VOC paint, 100 percent spun polyester PVC-free wallcovering, and guestroom furniture manufactured to low E0 finish levels of urea-formaldehyde (< 0.05 parts per million), and used FSC certified wood stock and veneers. The faux leathers used on the headboard, task chair and ottoman are all PVC-free polyurethane. Even the shower curtain, with its snap-on 100 percent nylon (and non-vinyl) liner keeps guest health in mind. The custom duvet cover has 100 percent post-consumer recycled content polyester. The bed skirt and red accent pillows on the bed are also made of 100 percent recycled content fabric, while the majority of fibers used in the striped accent pillow are natural wool and cotton. Guests staying in one of the presidential suites with a skyline view patio sit on bold, brightly colored furniture that is made completely out of recycled soda bottles. All lighting in the room is fluorescent and the in-room refrigerator provided to the guest is only plugged in when needed.

To read the entire case study, click here.

Standing 48 feet below ground level at The Palazzo in Las Vegas—part of a Las Vegas Sands Corp. complex that includes The Venetian and Sands Expo—I was fascinated by the lesson in geology told to me by Jim Albers, assistant chief engineer. Turns out, when geological testing was done prior to construction of the complex, an aquifer was discovered 20 feet below ground level. What do you do with tens of thousands of gallons of water a day that has to go somewhere? At first, once the complex was built, that water—90,000 gallons a day—was sent to the municipal water system via the storm drain. Quickly realizing that was water that could be used on property, Las Vegas Sands invested in an on-site nano-filtration system. The filtration system removes salt and any other impurities from the water and allows the company to pump up to 70,000 gallons of water daily for irrigation use, street sweeping, and even the fountain that welcomes guests at the property’s entrance.

Now, all of the water needed for irrigation on the property comes from the filtered aquifer water. (Las Vegas Sands has zero real turf on the property—only artificial—and plants are watered using a subterranean irrigation system and a central irrigation control system that optimizes water use according to weather conditions.) The fountain uses 12,000 gallons of the water each day.

“[The nano-filtration system] wasn’t the financially smart thing to do but it is the right thing to do,” Albers told me.

Initially, the horticulture folks at Las Vegas Sands were concerned that the filtered water might somehow harm the plants but the water has worked out fine and “now they are really proud” of the filtration system, Albers said.

The implementation of the filtration system has reduced the burden on the municipal water system and reduced the amount of energy needed to move water from place to place. The system is just one of many green investments that helped the complex’s buildings earn LEED certification. To learn more about Las Vegas Sands’ Eco 360 program, click here.

Is your lodging establishment bicycle-friendly? For your employees as well as your guests? Over the past year I have learned about many hotels that offer bike racks for employees, bike racks and bicycle-lending programs for guests, and, in some cases, even showers for employees who bicycle to work. For example, the 120-suite TownePlace Suites by Marriott, Frederick, Md., which opened last fall, offers a fleet of bicycles for guest use and the 221-room Hampton Inn & Suites Miami Brickell-Downtown, which opened in 2011, offers bicycle racks, showers and changing facilities for employees who bike and walk to work. Those offering bicycle-friendly hotels are smart. An increasing number of people bicycle to work and increasingly health-conscious travelers seek out two wheels instead of four when wanting to tour around a city. Green Lodging News has run a couple of articles about bicycle-lending programs in the past. (Click here and here.)

Yesterday I had a chance to chat with Timothy Ericson, CEO and co-founder of Zagster, a company that sets up bicycle-lending programs at hotels and resorts. He told me that lodging establishments are increasingly offering bicycles as an amenity and eventually it will become a standard—especially at urban hotels.

Running a bicycle-lending program comes with its challenges. Tim told me that some hotel managers have underestimated what it takes to run such a program. That is why his company has come up with a business model that relieves hoteliers of most of the administration work involved as well as the maintenance. I will be writing about Zagster in an upcoming article for Green Lodging News. Be sure to watch for it.

Tim told me some hotels are using bicycle-lending as part of promotions and some hotels are making money from the service. Have you tried a bicycle-lending program? What challenges did you face? What successes have you had? Are you thinking about starting a program but hesitant to do so? I would love to hear from you. Please be sure to leave your comments here.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is currently under review and a new version of LEED, LEED v4, should be up and running as early as this November. LEED v4 began beta testing last November and will continue until November this year. The public comment period on LEED v4 was from March 1 to 31, 2013 and the consensus body opt-in period—a sampling of USGBC members that vote on the passage of LEED v4—was from April 1 to 30, 2013. This summer is the ballot period for LEED v4. Only USGBC members can vote on technical changes to LEED. Changes in LEED v4 will impact the hotel sector in many different ways. There are 23 credit areas in which substantive changes are proposed. Click here to see those areas.

Some examples of categories in which changes have been proposed include: Heat Island Reduction, Ongoing Purchasing and Waste Policy, Green Cleaning—Equipment, and Purchasing—facility and maintenance. In the category of Purchasing—facility and maintenance, where two points can be accumulated, one can achieve one point if 75 percent of furniture and furnishings meet one or more of numerous criteria. One criterion: Wood products must be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council or USGBC-approved equivalent. Another criterion: Low emissions of volatile organic compounds. Products must have been tested, following ANSI/BIFMA Standard Method M7.1–2011, and must comply with BIFMA e3-2010 Furniture Sustainability Standard, Sections 7.6.1 and 7.6.2, using either the concentration modeling approach or the emissions factor approach.

Yes, figuring out whether or not one qualifies for points can get pretty technical. That is one of the reasons consultants are hired. LEED v4 was built to be more hotel project friendly. It will be interesting to see whether or not the pace of projects registering for LEED certification will accelerate after the release of LEED v4. Be sure to continue to follow Green Lodging News for more updates on the progress of LEED v4.

If you are looking to green up your lodging establishment and are looking for ideas, you may want to visit homes in your area that are known to employ the latest green products and technologies. I had a chance to do that recently when I was invited to visit the home of Organic Spa Magazine founder and publisher Beverly Maloney-Fischback. Beverly and her husband, David Fischback, recently completed the renovation of their eco-luxury home in Northeast Ohio. David is the president of the Cleveland, Ohio-based construction firm, The Krill Co. The home features just about every green-build design element available to homeowners today. Here are just some of the green features of the home: natural wool carpet, on-demand water heating, solar photovoltaic panels on the roof, bamboo flooring and paneling, and bamboo sinks.

Also included: a built-in recycling storage area, FSC lumber, low VOC paints and coatings, fireplace that uses non-toxic bioethanol as a fuel source, solar-powered attic exhaust fan, and solar power shades. The home also has a multi-zone heating and cooling system with integrated smart thermostats that sense when the home is unoccupied, white EPDM roofing on the flat roof area, energy-efficient windows, Energy Star appliances, radiant heat sauna, LED lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, whole house water purification system, and high-efficiency insulation.

Two of the most interesting features are a grey water plumbing system for the second floor bathrooms and a rainwater harvesting system. Water is captured from hand sinks and showers and then filtered and reused in the irrigation system and in the first floor toilet. The rainwater harvesting system collects rainwater from the roof gutters and downspouts and then stores it for later use for irrigation. I thought the home was just incredible and I know the owners invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in it. To access a blog detailing the home’s progress, click here. To access photos of the home, click here.

Especially for anyone considering developing a green B&B or inn, the eco-luxury home provides some great examples of what is possible. Oh, if I could only afford such luxury.

If you would like to contact Beverly Maloney-Fischback directly, her e-mail address is bev@organicspamagazine.com.

Here’s to the power of the pen. In February of last year I published an article entitled, “There’s Much to Consider When Pondering Purchase of Amenity Dispensers.” Last October, a graduate student at Harvard University, Jaime Pepper, came across that article and decided to write her final paper for her Eco-tourism course on the barriers stopping hotels from switching to dispensers. When presenting her final paper as part of her online course, a fellow student, Sola Adenekan, was watching from Baja, Mexico. Sola informed Jaime that she makes biodegradable eco-friendly products and was looking to start a dispenser amenities business. Because Jaime’s paper analyzed the cost and environmental benefits of switching to a dispenser solution, Sola was able to use Jaime’s paper to pitch her dispenser business idea to her friends.

To make a long story short, Jaime and Sola are now business partners, their new business name is Dhyana Eco Essentials, and Sola has already signed up five hotels in Mexico. The company is planning to expand to the United States in the coming months and already has reserved a booth at the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show in New York City in November. Jaime told me she believes Sola is the first female and minority owner of an amenities business in the world.

It is exciting that I have somehow helped to inspire a couple of students to launch a new business. It is especially exciting that the business is aiming to be a sustainable one. I will be sure to keep you updated as I learn more about Jaime and Sola’s venture. And, I will try real hard not to get a big head about the whole thing.