Today I am honored to have, Sam Marquit, an independent ‘green’ contractor and co-author of Fair Marquit Value as a guest author to my blog. Below article is a contribution from Sam and hope you enjoy reading the article as much as I do.
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Towards a Greener Hospitality Industry
by Sam Marquit
As a contractor, I have had many chances to see the development and utilization of green building materials and all that is required for becoming LEED certified. These days I am more interested in the people who are known for their environmentally conscious use of the buildings that I have worked on. Much of the activity in this realm deserves recognition above and beyond LEED certification.
For example, an accommodation provider in Asia hosts The Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards. The event is a responsible tourism show that offers awards in a number of categories. Among the categories recognized are sustainable development, community involvement, and preservation of cultural heritage, energy efficiency and conservation of natural heritage.
“Responsible tourism” could refer to anything from installing plumbing fixtures that turn off automatically to stocking restaurants with produce from community supported organic agriculture initiatives. Throughout hotels in Las Vegas, for example, one notices that great work has been done to fill facilities with products that meet LEED certification standards. In fact, the Las Vegas Palazzo Resort has been named the “Most Eco Friendly Hotel in America.” The hotel has self-sustaining systems and it recycles its own waste 24 hours a day. These sorts of advances are apparent around the country. Many New York City hotels, for example, are making efforts to reduce their carbon footprints with sustainable systems and recycling built into their operations. New York’s ink48 Hotel is known for its Earthcare program, where members talk about how to tread more lightly on the Earth.
Making progress towards protecting the environment means the hospitality industry will have to think beyond simply acquiring LEED certification for facilities. It will also require making day-to-day operations sustainable in an ongoing way. I am proud to have been involved in this sort of project. Since Las Vegas is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, it makes good business sense for hoteliers to go green. Not only can sustainable systems reduce energy costs in the long run, but also it is likely that green facilities and operations will attract the kind of educated and affluent consumers that the industry needs.