On April 22nd, Earth Day 2014, the 13 participating hotels of
the Santa Fe Green Lodging (SFGL) Initiative celebrated their accomplishments
at the Inn of the Governors.
Felicity Broennan, coordinator for the Santa Fe Watershed Association’
Green Lodging Program, opened the ceremony by saying that even though it is
Earth Day, our SFGL participants throughout the year have been trained in sustainable practices and
are now practicing Earth Day every day. She congratulated all of them on their
accomplishments.
The participating hotels are Casa Cuma B and B, Eldorado
Hotel, Houses of the Moon at 10,000
Waves, Hotel Santa Fe the Hacienda
& Spa, Inn of the Five Graces, Inn of the Governors, Inn on the Alameda, La Fonda on the Plaza, La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa, Old Santa Fe Inn, Santa Fe Inn, Santa Fe Sage
Inn and Silver Saddle Motel. Twelve of the thirteen properties have
achieved HospitalityGreen’s (HG) Green Concierge bronze level certification.
In December 2012, the Santa Fe Watershed Association (SFWA)
launched a public-private sector collaboration, called the Santa Fe Green Lodging Initiative. The initiative was funded by a $49,700
grant awarded to the Watershed Association by the federal Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). The Initiative,
spearheaded by the SFWA, worked directly with Santa Fe’s hospitality industry to
save money, conserve water, and decrease chemical and carbon pollution going
into their river and watershed system.
Since February
2013, HospitalityGreen LLC, a New York-based firm specializing in environmental and
operations consulting services and founder of the nationally
recognized Green Concierge Certification®
program, provided technical assistance, green team training and customized
coaching to each of the participants.
In October 2013 HospitalityGreen (HG) conducted on-site third party
assessments of thirteen of the fourteen properties. The on-site assessment
determined if the individual property met the rigors of the Green Concierge Certification. The certification requires that a property
meet multiple standards and track resource use over time.
With data acquired from the properties and the utility companies, the
participants have cumulatively saved over 2.1 million kilowatt hours of
electricity with a cost savings of about $ 101,000.00. The cost savings does
not include the rebates they received for lighting and electrical system
upgrades, some of which are still in process.
Through system and water saving features, the SFGL properties saved over
1.5 million gallons of water with a cost savings of over $27,000 annually. By
switching cleaning products they eliminated over 2000 pounds of hazardous
chemicals from entering our waste water treatment plant and thus the Santa Fe
River.
Sam Gerberding, General Manager of the Inn of the Governors said that
they were never made to feel bad about what they were doing or chastised for
not doing more. Consequently, the Green Teams at the lodging properties,
consisting of staff from housekeeping, food & beverage, engineering, and
top management, took pride in the daily steps they made to achieving tangible
resource conservation with viable economic benefits.
Evadne Giannini, Founder and CEO
of HospitalityGreen LLC, said “We
are honored to have been able to work with our enthusiastic colleagues in Santa
Fe for the past year with wonderful engagement at every level at these
extraordinary properties. We look forward to continuing to share ideas, increase
everyone’s benefits and assist the businesses to help brand Santa Fe as a
premier eco-tourist destination.” As Ms.
Broennan said in her closing remarks, “Everyone benefits when we collaborate to
take care of our natural resources: the businesses, the residents, the
tourists, and the environment. It’s the new quadruple, value-added bottom line
with high impact results!”
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The Santa Fe Watershed Association (SFWA) builds vibrant, resilient ecosystems within the Santa Fe
River Watershed using a holistic approach of restoration, education,
stewardship, and advocacy.
Santa Fe Green Lodging Initiative’s
growing directory of local partners includes: Santa Fe
Watershed Association, Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau, City of Santa
Fe Environmental Services Division, New Mexico Lodging Association, Santa Fe
Lodgers Association, Santa Fe Community College, New Mexico Green Chamber of
Commerce - Santa Fe Chapter, Inn of the Governors, La Posada de Santa Fe Resort
and Spa and La Fonda on the Plaza.
HospitalityGreen LLC is a New York based consulting firm specializing in
environmental and operations consulting services. HospitalityGreen partners
with service-based and product-based clients throughout the hospitality,
manufacturing and institutional healthcare industries, to implement sustainable
business practices. Providing services for our client not to them, our goal is
to create for our clients environmental capital one facility at a time.
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