The next time you are in Fort Lauderdale, try looking up. You just might be within range of seeing the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort’s six 52-foot, 4 kilowatt wind turbines that rise above the hotel’s rooftop. The brand new turbines were officially unveiled on Wednesday, January 29 during a ceremony that included two mayors and the following: Jose Luis Zapata, representing Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach Residences; Diane Jaskulske, V.P. of Owner Relations for Hilton Worldwide; Randy Gaines, V.P. of Engineering for Hilton Worldwide; and Andreas Ioannou, General Manager for the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. Congratulations go out to everyone involved in this historic project. The Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort joins 19 other properties listed in the Wind Powered category of our website’s Renewable Energy All Stars section.
I spoke with General Manager Andreas Ioannou this past week and he was very excited about the project. He told me the turbines were in the planning for approximately four years and required the tallest crane in the state of Florida to install. They cost about $500,000—a price tag that Andreas hopes will be partially offset by state and federal grant money. With an expected return on investment of about 10 years, the turbines are expected to generate about 10 percent of the electricity for the 374-room property. Andreas told me that is about the equivalent of all of the lighting in guestrooms and public areas.
Andreas said there were no major glitches in the approval of the project or its implementation. Getting buy-in from all of the key stakeholders and selecting the right consultants was key to the project’s success.
The type of turbine selected is not the kind with the long wind blades but one with more spiral types of blades. This type of turbine can be folded down in the event of a major wind event such as a hurricane.
As mentioned in my article about the project, the turbines are just one part of the hotel’s green program. A wind powered rooftop lounge is in the design stage and solar panels are also being considered for the building. An electric vehicle charging station will be installed in the next 60 days, and a food waste decomposition machine was recently acquired.
Once again, congratulations to all involved in putting this turbine project together. It is a rare example of how an urban hotel can utilize wind turbines on a significant scale to reduce its carbon footprint.
More on Sustainable Seafood
The focus of last week’s column was sustainable seafood. Thank you to Sonia DeMarta, sales associate, Preserve, and Dobbin Callahan, Skye Con, for writing with additional helpful resources.
From Sonia:
Thanks so much for your excellent article on sustainable seafood. I have two people to nominate. The first is Barton Seaver and he came to speak at our class (I took a class at Harvard Extension called From Farm to Fork) about fisheries. He is a former chef who got involved with ocean and seafood sustainability. His lecture was amazing. He now works for Harvard and also National Geographic, where he helped create a page that allows users to choose fish based on four categories: low mercury content, sustainability, trophic level, and omega content. You can find it by clicking here. Barton says that one of the most Important things we can do for seafood sustainability is to eat the “catch of the day” rather than always focusing on the 10 most common fish (of which shrimp, tuna and salmon are always at the top). Because of consumer demand, the rest of the fish caught is tossed out.
Also, Jean Michel Cousteau. His father, Captain Jacques Cousteau who invented the aqualung (or scuba tank), introduced the common folk to the oceans with his show The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. We loved it and used to watch it every afternoon. He and his divers and family lived on a ship and traveled the world exploring and educating us about the ocean. Jean Michel Cousteau still does a lot of his work in educating the public about the plight and importance of the ocean. His organization is called Jean Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Future’s Society and they have a site for tuna and salmon. You can find it by clicking here. I worked for the Cousteau Society many years ago.
From Dobbin:
Your editorial on seafood certainly resonates with me! I am a hunter (water fowl and upland game birds), and the imagery you painted of destroying a wide swath of wild life in pursuit of legitimate game is a perfect analogy. I have been aware of and talked about harmful seafood practices for quite some time but your explanation puts it in terms I can use very effectively.
The Tennessee Aquarium has a sustainable seafood program (Serve and Protect) that works with local restaurants to encourage serving more sustainable seafood and to train their wait staff to be able to explain the program to customers. We have embraced this endeavor with Tennessee Green and restaurants that are certified to Tennessee Green and a locally harvested program receive additional recognition. It’s fairly new so we have only a few so far, but I think it’s a good extension of our program.
Who is Your Sustainability Champion?
Green Lodging News is always looking to profile sustainability champions in our Personnel Profile section. If you would like to nominate someone for this section of Green Lodging News, contact me at (216) 848-1406, or by e-mail at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
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