Pittsburgh Fairmont is city's first LEED certified green hotel

The only LEED certified green hotel in Pittsburgh is the new Pittsburgh Fairmont, and it proves that green can be beautiful. Here’s some of what makes this luxury hotel so green that it has been awarded the Gold level of green:

Lighting — energy efficient LED and compact flourescent bulbs reduce energy use at the Pittsburgh Fairmont by enough to power about 50 households a year. Also, equipment and appliances are Energy Star compliant, which means they use 20-30 percent less energy than non-certified machinery.

Water — reduced-flow showers, automatic sensors in sinks in public areas and other fixtures save more than 900,000 gallons of water a year.

Green construction materials — All paints, carpeting, fabrics, and such have no or low emissions of volatile organic compounts (VOC), and most bedding in guestrooms is made from organic or recycled fiber. That’s is also good news for guests with allergies. Woodwork and flooring is made from timber that’s been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means it comes from sustainably harvested forests.

Fairmont Pittsburgh bedding uses organic and recycled fibers

Food — The hotel chef features local and organic ingredients in the restaurant and bar. Food waste is treated by a high-tech enzyme digester, and fryer oil is recycled locally into biodiesel.

The Fairfield Inn and Suites chain is targeted at family, senior leisure and frequent business travelers who also like to save the green in their wallets.  Included in the already-affordable room rate, guests get free internet connections and free breakfast.
 
Here is some of what makes this new hotel a green travel star:

* The breakfast area is lit by solar tracking skylights

* The courtyard lawn is not grass but turf created out of recycled tires, and the plants are watered with recycled water

* Eco-friendly guest amenities, including biodegradable “greenware” coffee cups

* Behind the scenes, employees will be cleaning and maintaining the building according to the ‘Green Housekeeping’ protocol set by Marriott, which operates the Fairfield chain.  Marriott also operates Ritz-Carlton hotels.

The hotel is located on the site of the former Baltimore Brewing Company, locally famous for brewing DeGroen’s beer, and historic Brewer’s Park.   The brewery’s old grain silo and one of its brewing tanks were salvaged and are being used to collect and store rainwater draining from the roof to water the trees and flowers.  That’s double recycling — reclycling the silo and the water, too.   I’m resisting the impulse to call this green beer.

The hotel’s ideal location, on Baltimore Heritage Walk, let’s you walk to 20 historic sites and museums in the Inner Harbor, Little Italy, Historic Jonestown, and City Center. To me, the most important of these is the Star Spangled Banner Flag House, where the original American flag was sewn.   

Thursday, April 22nd is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and there are observances around the world to remind us about protecting and saving our beautiful green earth.  Here is a High Five recognition of some of the biggest planet-friendly Earth Day observances in the USA:

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Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., is LEED Platinum

How appropriate — the hotel with the world’s top green rating is in the city of Greensboro. It’s the Proximity Hotel, one of the few hotels anywhere to achieve the LEED Platinum rating.  Don’t think you have to give up luxury to travel green — this hotel has an AAA Four Diamond rating.

Platinum and diamond — that’s a great combination.

The Priximity Hotel was built to use 40% less energy and 30% less water than a comparable hotel, and features such state-of-the-art technologies as the first installation in North America of the regenerative drive for Otis’ Gen2 elevator.  This system reduces energy usage by capturing energy and feeding it back into the building’s internal electrical grid.

Look for the Green Globe Certified logo

The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa in Beaver Creek is the first hotel in Colorado to earn the important Silver status of LEED Certification.  How difficult is it to get this green travel award?  Only nine hotels in the U.S. have earned it, including the Westin Riverfront, which opened early in 2009.  

To celebrate this achievement, the resort is offering a special The Westin Riverfront Green Package, to save the green in your wallet as well as the environment. Right now, during peak winter ski season, vacation package rates start at $319 for a studio suite and includes some green goodies – 

• Complimentary valet parking when you arrive with more than two people in the vehicle or in a hybrid vehicle,
• Participation in Westin’s “Make a Green Choice” program, which pays you back for opting out of getting fresh towels and linens each day.  Sign up for your choice of a $5  resort gift card for each night you participate or 500 Starpoints for each stay,
• The Westin also will purchase Verified Carbon Credits to offset the carbon emissions from a round-trip drive to the Vail Valley from metro Denver, purchased from Sustainable Travel International

The Westin Riverfront is eco-friendly from the ground up.  Here’s just some of what makes it a green hotel:

Kimpton's Hotel Monaco, Portland, Oregon

Stay at any of the Kimpton Hotels and help The Nature Conservancy save the rainforest, one tree at a time. That’s the goal of a new partnership between the eco-friendly hotel chain and the environmental group, which has an ambitious Plant a Billion Trees campaign to re-forest and protect 30 million acres of forest in South America.

The Atlantic Forest of Brazil is one of the most threatened tropical forests on earth, and this partnership will help preserve and save it. The goal is to plant one billion trees by 2015 to replace those cut down for logging, cattle grazing and farming – will remove ten million tons of carbon dioixide a year, which will help reduce the impact of climate change and protect the forest’s bio-diversity of plants and animals, too.

Any time you stay at a Kimpton Hotel, book the “TNC” code to receive 10 percent off the best available rate. With each stay, Kimpton will give $10 to The Nature Conservancy, to plant ten trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.