Originally pubished in Focus Magazine, Hospitality Going Green section, July 2009.
Sustainable design and operations have to be . . . sustained. To do this, policies have to be established and implemented, results have to be recorded and verified, and multiple parties have to be held responsible.
So, you've switched from little plastic bottles of shampoo and conditioner to bulk dispensers, replaced incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, and offered your guests the option of not having towels and linens washed every day – now what? Sustainable design and operations have to be . . . sustained. To do this, policies have to be established and implemented, results have to be recorded and verified, and multiple parties have to be held responsible.
From exclusive eco-resorts to large hotel chains, more and more hotels have become "green" in the past few years. In a recent survey, approximately two-thirds of all hotels in the U.S. said they had adopted energy-saving measures, and the bar is rising steadily. There is no question that sustainable design and operations will reduce operating costs. These savings, combined with tax credits and other incentives available in many jurisdictions and revenues from guests who value sustainability, make the choice to go green easy and prudent.
But there is more to being green that just saving energy and water. Sustainability can be impacted – and advanced – in many of the choices we make every day. LEED® (which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), is a voluntary system administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for certifying a building's overall sustainability, using a wide range of criteria in five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials & resources, and indoor environmental quality. Achieving LEED certification is fast becoming the most recognizable standard in this country for measuring how green a building is. Whether or not LEED certification is pursued or achieved, a checklist of LEED credits (available on the USGBC website) is a good summary of steps that can be taken to achieve sustainability.
Many of the measures recommended by LEED credits are low-cost or no-cost items, but require development of detailed programs and policies and careful recordkeeping. For example, to achieve credit for using recycled, sustainable or locally-sourced products, you must establish a written purchasing program, determine baseline calculations and keep detailed purchase records of all qualifying and non-qualifying products. Contracts and purchase orders should be written to inform vendors of program requirements, and to require compliance and verification of a product's sustainability.
If you are building new improvements or making major alterations, and you want sustainable design, you should specify requirements for sustainable design and construction practices in all construction documents, and you may have to explain the relevance of unfamiliar requirements. Sustainable design is becoming more mainstream, but it still is not the standard; parties may not be held liable for errors unless sustainability requirements are clearly stated in contracts. You should ensure communication and coordination among architects, engineers, contractors and subcontractors, and consider requiring a LEED Accredited Professional on the staff of each project team member.
Management agreements, franchise agreements, vendor contracts, purchase orders and all design and construction documents should be reviewed for their impact on sustainability, and for the impact of sustainability on outdated provisions. To protect and sustain the achievements of sustainable design and operations, contracts must be "green" as well.
Thomas Petty, a LEED Accredited Professional, is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Anderson, Kill & Olick, L.L.P. whose practice focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate with an emphasis on finance, leasing and sustainable development.
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