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Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

Green solutions for energy hogging hotels

Hotels are known as energy wasters, generating large amounts of water and electricity to serve their customers. But one hotel entrepreneur is trying to change that by going green. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Wen Chang, founder of the Gaia Hotel in the Bay Area’s Napa Valley. He believes hotel owners can do more to help the environment, without hurting the bottom line. According to Chang, the Gaia Hotel is saving $50,000 to 75,000 dollars a year on electricity by using clean energy to power 12% of its operations.

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Tags: The Green Enterprise, Hotel, Entrepreneurship, Corporate Communications, Management, Marketing, Green, Green Enterprise

  • How HP is Tackling E-Waste

    How HP is Tackling E-Waste

    PC maker, Hewlett-Packard has an ambitious goal to recycle two billion pounds of e-waste by 2010. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the companys director of sustainability, Bonnie Nixon, about how they are meeting the challenge by building recycling facilities and stepping up their business practices globally. Das also speaks with Michelle Price, a marketing manager with HPs imaging and printing group. Price demonstrates how HP is re-using materials from old printer cartridges to create new ones through a process called closed-loop recycling.

    Tags: Hewlett-Packard Co., Printers, Document Management, Hardware, Peripherals, Enterprise Software, Software, Finance, Managerial Accounting, e-waste

    Date: 06-02-09 Length: 00:04:00

  • Cisco Saves 90 Million Using TelePresence

    Cisco Saves 90 Million Using TelePresence

    Business travel is getting more costly everyday so many companies are turning to video conferencing to curb corporate travel. Cisco Systems has built a solution known as TelePresence. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Laura Ipsen, co-chair of Ciscos Eco-Board. They talk about various green initiatives Cisco is developing such as a new Wi-Fi enabled city bus, energy efficient workspaces and their video conferencing solution. According to Ipsen, TelePresence has had a strong financial impact internally saving the company 90 million dollars in 18 months by reducing 20,000 meetings.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Video Conferencing, Cisco Systems Inc., TelePresence

    Date: 09-04-08 Length: 00:03:15

  • Architect Finds Niche 'Greening' Homes

    Architect Finds Niche %27Greening%27 Homes

    In this episode of "Green Business Tactics," we meet architect Eric Corey Freed. Inspired by his childhood idol Frank Lloyd Wright, Freed renovates homes and structures to be more sustainable through architectural design, advancements in renewable energy, and the use of recycled metals and glass, and eco-friendly materials, such as bamboo.

    Tags: Home, Telecom & Utilities, SmartPlanet, Eric Corey Freed

    Date: 09-14-09 Length: 00:02:26

  • What Sustainable Design Means to the Bottom Line

    What Sustainable Design Means to the Bottom Line

    Autodesk tools aim to help designers conceptualize projects on a computer before starting the costly (and energy-intense) construction process. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to the companys director of sustainability, Lynelle Cameron about how architects for the Cathedral of Christ the Light and the California Academy of Sciences used sustainable design in their structures. Cameron adds, while green design isnt the top priority for all companies, she says sustainability can help the bottom line and will one day be part of everyday business practices.

    Tags: Sustainability, Bottom Line, Cameron, Autodesk

    Date: 04-07-09 Length: 00:03:26

  • Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

    Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

    Hotels are known as energy wasters, generating large amounts of water and electricity to serve their customers. But one hotel entrepreneur is trying to change that by going green. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Wen Chang, founder of the Gaia Hotel in the Bay Areas Napa Valley. He believes hotel owners can do more to help the environment, without hurting the bottom line. According to Chang, the Gaia Hotel is saving $50,000 to 75,000 dollars a year on electricity by using clean energy to power 12% of its operations.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Hotel, Entrepreneurship, Corporate Communications, Management, Marketing, Green, Green Enterprise

    Date: 07-22-08 Length: 00:02:38

  • Utility Giant Embraces A Future With Renewables

    Utility Giant Embraces A Future With Renewables

    California utility giant PG&E has made it one of its business goals to invest in clean energy. In the last few years, the company has signed contracts with renewable energy providers in the areas of solar, wind, wave and biogas. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Ha LaFlash, director of emerging clean tech energy policy. According to La Flash, while going green will cost more up front, its the right business decision because the move to clean energy by its millions of customers, could one day make a meaningful impact on the environment.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Clean Technology, Green

    Date: 08-04-08 Length: 00:03:11

  • Going Green Inside The Wine Business

    Going Green Inside The Wine Business

    Frogs Leap Winery is nestled in the Bay Areas scenic Napa Valley. The vineyard is known for its crisp sauvignon blancs, and earthy zinfandels, but now theyre getting attention as one of first wineries in the U.S to be sustainable. In this video, we meet the winerys general manager, Jonah Beer. According to Beer, the winerys motivation to be green, is as much about the bottom line as it is about the environment. Financial benefits include: a solar installation that is saving the vineyard $50,000 dollars a month on electric bills and dry farming techniques that bypass the need for costly irrigation. Note: Frogs Leap Winery requires an appointment for tastings and tours.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Winery, Wine, Frog, Vineyard, Best Practices

    Date: 07-15-08 Length: 00:03:24

  • Sun, Employees Save Big with Open Work

    Sun, Employees Save Big with Open Work

    In an age of high gas prices and global warming, businesses are trying to figure out how their employees can spend less time on the road and more time telecommuting. Sun Microsystems believes they've hit upon the answer with their 10-year-old Open Work platform. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Dave Douglas, vice president of eco-responsibility, and finds out how the project operates and why it's been a success. According to Douglas, Open Work has had a strong financial and environmental impact, saving 68 million in real estate and energy costs and cutting carbon emissions by 29,000 tons in 2007.

    Tags: The Green Enterprise, Sun Microsystems Inc., Telecommuting, Human Resources, Workforce Management,

    Date: 07-18-08 Length: 00:03:00

  • Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

    Take a Tour of the World’s Greenest Museum

    The historic California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has re-opened for business and is being called the greenest museum in the world. Correspondent Sumi Das talks to Aaron Pope, the manager of sustainability programs at the Academy about the energy efficient technologies theyre using to reduce costs including a solar installation and a natural ventilation system. He also discusses how the museum is marketing its green innovations to attract more visitors. The strategy is working, the museum is averaging 43,000 visitors a week, which is 60 percent better than initial projections.

    Tags: Museum, Leadership, Strategy, Management, Green, Cal Academy

    Date: 03-31-09 Length: 00:03:17

 
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    alexnichols

    10/06/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

    Tomorrow?s Value Rating in the Hotel Sector

    Dear all,

    How did your hotel score?

    We launched our new rating programme, the Tomorrow?s Value? Rating, by publishing the results of our assessment of the world?s largest hotel groups in ?Caterer and Hotelkeeper? magazine and on the Fortune/CNN Money website.

    http://www.tomorrowsvaluerating.com/

    The Tomorrow?s Value Rating assesses how companies consider relevant social and environmental issues and impacts in their business strategies. It is based on publicly available information such as websites, annual reports and sustainability or CSR reports.

    Please let us know if you have any questions about the rating, it?s always a pleasure to find out what others are doing in the sector around the world. More sectors will be assessed soon.

    Kind regards
    Alex

    Fortune Magazine coverage:
    http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/02/news/companies/good_citizen_hotels.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009100217

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Napa Valley Hotel Prototypes Eco-Friendly Tourism

Hotels are known as energy wasters, generating large amounts of water and electricity to serve their customers. But one hotel entrepreneur is trying to change that by going green. In this video, correspondent Sumi Das meets Wen Chang, founder of the Gaia Hotel in the Bay Area’s Napa Valley. He believes hotel owners can do more to help the environment, without hurting the bottom line. According to Chang, the Gaia Hotel is saving $50,000 to 75,000 dollars a year on electricity by using clean energy to power 12% of its operations.

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>> Sumi Das assumed spelling: Hotels are known as energy hogs generating large amounts of water and electricity to serve their customers. But one hotel entrepreneur is trying to change that by going green.

>> Hwang Chang assumed spelling: They stay here.

>> Sumi Das: Hwang Chang is the founder of the Gaya assumed spelling Resort in the Bay Area's Napa Valley. He believes hotel owners can do more to help the environment without hurting the bottom line.

>> Hwang Chang: Every year we estimate we can save between 50,000 to 75,000 just by the energy and the water alone.

>> Sumi Das: Early on, Chang decided to embrace sustainability. He did this by applying for a LEED certification. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an organization responsible for setting standards on eco-friendly construction. Following the LEED playbook, Gaya built their 132 guest rooms using organic materials.

>> If you look around, everything is made out of natural materials. So even the wood and the rattan, all natural materials can be recycled in the future.

>> Sumi Das: And their bathrooms are conserving more water than a typical hotel. The result from these additions: a LEED stamp of approval and a one million dollar incentive tax credit from the city. Gaya is also using clean energy to power operations, installing solar arrays on their rooftops.

>> These are thin-film solar panels made out of silicon. They provide about 36 kilowatts for our hotel.

>> Sumi Das: A cool roof.

>> What it does is it reflects the sun's rays, so we, we don't absorb heat. Therefore, we can have smaller HVAC units to cool the hotel.

>> Sumi Das: And these magnifying tubes that collect the sun's rays and filter the light into the hotel.

>> We have this scattered throughout the hotel common areas, and during peak hours, we turn the lights off from about 10:00 to 4:00, and these solar tubes light up our common areas.

>> Sumi Das: In the end, 12 percent of Gaya's electricity is coming from renewable sources. Chang says being green is more costly upfront, but worth every penny.

>> Hwang Chang: You calculate the cost savings and the actual cost you develop, but then anything more than that, you listen to your heart rather than listen to your head. Once you see the big ocean, you'll never go back to look at the pond.

>> Sumi Das: Wise advice for those looking for eco-friendly travel options. I'm Sumi Das, reporting for VNET assumed spelling.

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