June 29th, 2010 by TRT Blog

The Refinishing Touch has been recognized for the efforts we have made in providing sustainable solutions to the US government, universities and many groups and hotels within the hospitality sector, and over the years we’ve continued to see more and more organizations come forward with green aspirations and a genuine desire to become more sustainable.

You may remember when we announced the start of awards program to honor and recognize sustainability within the hospitality industry. (Check out the press release here for more info)

In order to qualify for the awards, a hospitality organization needs to have demonstrated a commitment to implementing environmentally friendly practices that reduce their carbon footprint, and minimize landfill waste. The program was designed to recognize companies that are demonstrating a commitment to sustainability, and to incentivize others to consider ways they can reduce their environmental impact.

As sustainability has become a foundation of our business, today we want to recognize the following hospitality members for making sustainability a core priority within *their* business.

Congratulations to the following recent sustainability award winners for all of your efforts!

• The Grand Hotel Sunnyvale
• Doubletree Durango
• Holiday Inn Chicago
• Crowne Plaza San Jose
• Holiday Inn Express Corinth
• Marriott Suites Anaheim

These join previous winners including the Hilton Washington DC; Grand Casino Hinckley; Willard Intercontinental Washington DC;  Wolrdmark Valley Isle Lahaina and the Marriott at Renaissance Park Spartanburg.

awards, hospitality, Sustainability

June 25th, 2010 by TRT Blog

As with many businesses, hotels can provide a variety of amenities on top of its primary function of offering a home away from home for weary travelers. These days most large hotels provide restaurants, swimming pools, fitness centers, and sometimes even casinos and shopping malls. One of the most popular of these amenities, at least for business travelers, is the conference room or meeting space, and all over the country these centers are getting the green treatment.

In a recent article Diana Driscoll, one of our past guest bloggers, outlines the growing popularity of “Green Meetings” and how hotels are working to win over event planners with an eye for sustainability. For example, hotels and convention centers have begun to provide new event provisions including reusable glassware, paperless communications, shuttle services or mass transit options for event guests, and energy and water conservation programs.

The effects of these sustainable efforts have the potential to make huge waves. According to the EPA, a whopping 93,000 federal employees travel daily to 8,000 different places throughout the US, taking up approximately 24 million room nights every year. Combine these with business travelers and, if all choose to convene at green meeting centers, the potential for environmental savings is enormous.

While still in its early stages, the green meeting trend is growing quickly, and many industry professionals have begun working with the EPA to set green meeting standards. Hopefully these standards will give hotels a new sustainable goal to strive for and event goers a way to feel secure in their green choices.

June 22nd, 2010 by TRT Blog

Austin – the capital city of Texas, a home for the main campus of the University of Texas, and a number of technology companies – it isn’t nicknamed ‘Silicon Hills’ for nothing. It’s also one of America’s greenest cities, a claim it can stake following some awards it’s won and, as of this week, for the appointment of its first chief sustainability officer.

In our line of business we come across this job title and role more and more as organizations grasp the organizational, cultural and fiscal benefits of a truly sustainable approach – though typically it’s a role assigned within one of the multi-million dollar private organizations in our customer base. So it’s heartening to see an environmental specialist and strategist appointed by a city. To me this typifies Austin – a forward-thinking city that strives to be different and to make a difference.

Austin’s new chief sustainability officer is Lucia Athens, who secured the position from more than 185 applicants. A Seattleite, Ms. Athens has held senior positions on the U.S. Green Building Council and the International Green Building Certification Institute. She’s also studied, lived and worked in Austin, where she worked on several programs, chaired and co-founded the Sustainable Building Coalition of Austin and co-authored the Austin Green Builder Guide’s first edition. Since her Austin days, she’s worked in high-level roles such as sustainable futures strategist for Seattle architects CollinsWoerman.

As a respected environmentalist and author – her book: Building an Emerald City: A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs was published in October 2009, she’s shared her vision and passion both by the written word and with audiences at conferences around the world.

Personally, I think it’s great that someone who studied a Master’s degree in Architectural Studies and Sustainable Design at the University of Texas, gets back a city they know and love, to apply a subject they are passionate about, in order to make a difference.

Our congratulations to Lucia Athens and to the City of Austin. We’re hoping that Ms. Athens will accept our invitation to answer some questions about her motivations and background in a guest spot on our blog: we’ll keep you posted.

Austin, Chief Sustainability Officer, Government, green, green jobs, Lucia Athens, Texas

June 18th, 2010 by TRT Blog

With every project that we take on, whether in a hotel or for government properties, we encourage responsible asset management and look to improve the quality of those assets – a practice that saves our clients time and money and affords each of them a sustainable way to do so. By refinishing and modifying furniture, we enable clients to keep costs of new materials at an absolute minimum and spare our environment the sacrifice of additional resources. But all of our efforts to maintain a low cost, sustainable practice mean nothing if we haven’t learned where the need for sustainability and conservation came from.

The international community has joined together to recognize this need by addressing one of the most pressing environmental concerns: deforestation. Recently at a meeting in Norway, developed nations such as Germany, France, Japan, Norway, US, Britain and Australia pledged $4 billion to fund the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) Plus initiative through 2012. The REDD Plus initiative, which was approved at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, encourages developed nations to provide funding to aid projects aimed at protecting the world’s forests and preventing deforestation, which accounts for as much as 20% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere.

While our work refinishing and refurbishing furniture is meant to maintain materials at the end of the production cycle, we like to think that it helps moderate the beginning of that cycle – where the raw materials are gathered. Commitments such as the ones made by the world’s richest nations in Norway prove that the world shares this focus on sustaining our resources. With any luck, initiatives such as REDD Plus can help in protecting the environment and even reverse some of the damage that’s been done.

deforestation, Government, hospitality, Sustainability

June 15th, 2010 by TRT Blog

Last week the world watched as the opening match of the FIFA 2010 World Cup between South Africa and Mexico marked the beginning of the world’s biggest sporting event, followed up by the US team’s draw with England over the weekend. The biggest contributor of these carbon emissions was the construction and renovation of stadiums throughout South Africa leading up to the event. While this construction was vital to South Africa’s ability to host the games, it also led to the sharp increase of the event’s carbon footprint.

Still South Africa is working hard to offset any negative environmental impacts of the games. One of its biggest initiatives is its brand new high-speed rail system, the Gautrain. The rail system opened just in time for the World Cup and aims to relieve traffic congestion both during the games and in the long term.

Additionally, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) have teamed up to launch a green initiative during the World Cup. The initiative looks to reduce energy consumption with the use of solar panels and promote participation in programs such as the Green Passport program to lower carbon emissions.

Like any popular event, the FIFA World Cup is making its mark on the environment. Thankfully South Africa and organizations throughout the world understand this and have taken steps to protect the environment- that’s a goal for every nation

carbon emissions, carbon footprint, FIFA World Cup, green initiatives

June 11th, 2010 by TRT Blog

We work across many different sectors, and find it refreshing to see how private and public organizations work to reduce their carbon footprint and lower energy consumption. Whatever the motivation – the environment, community awareness, money – we’re glad the steps are being taken to better our earth and environment.

Making the change isn’t the only step – change needs to be sustainable. Sustainability is paramount to any initiative. There was an interesting observation on one of the sectors we work in, the college sector, by Kelly Cain, writing an article for the AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) blog.

Cain explains that the current performance standards with LEED, or Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design, are outdated in the sense that they consume more energy than they save. This in and of itself is the antithesis of how the green process should work.

Organizations across all industries must look to find ways to improve how we measure and perform the tasks that benefit our world: and to do so sustainably. On the same side of the coin, there is a shared obligation to recognize and address those initiatives that are not working for the ‘greener good’.

The mission of the AASHE is to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation by providing resources, professional development, and a network of support to enable institutions of higher education to model and advance sustainability in everything they do, from governance and operations to education and research.

With younger generations being brought up to understand the value and commitment for greener lifestyles and development, it’s encouraging to see associations like the AASHE continue to foster further education in the creation of a sustainable future.

We couldn’t be more proud to work with universities that keep this in mind and allow our work to make these goals a reality.

June 8th, 2010 by TRT Blog

On this blog we talk a lot about how different industries and businesses can save a piece of the earth while they save a piece of the planet, but as many of you know we have a far reach, and deal with a large number of academic and military institutions as well as private businesses. The driving motivations may not be the same across the board, but the results, in terms of costs saved and environmental benefits, are the same across the board.

Take for example, the Naval Air Station in Ft. Worth, TX. Officials here have been working hard to go green by reducing energy and water, and reviewing alternate energy source. By using energy sources that are not oil, there is the obvious freedom from Middle East resources and the military results of such reliance. And money saved can be spent elsewhere: such as training, ammunition, and war-readiness across the base. As the base commander, Captain T.D. Smyers explained in an interview: “Energy and how we generate and use it, is of major consequence to the sustainability of our war-fighting readiness.”

Since 2003 the base has cut its energy consumption by 14 percent per square foot, way above the cuts required by the Defense Department. But the base seems keen to keep ahead and officials are looking at less conventional and less obvious ways to save, including the construction of a solar panel and a centralized heating and A/C control system.

This just shows that there are always ways to cut and ways to innovate in order to improve your business, its processes, and its reliance on the money and environmental commitments you may have today. Responsible spending is an effort that extends beyond just money. The diligence that we are seeing from the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth should serve as an example of how the importance of responsible energy spending holds just as much weight as those in dollars and cents. Much like businesses in other sectors, our government branches have a responsibility to withhold. The main difference here is that the effect of its bottom line and the savings that it sees extends far beyond just its balance sheets to support one of the most precious gifts that we have as Americans– the security of our nation.

air force, evergy savings, Government, Sustainability

June 4th, 2010 by TRT Blog

Last week, you may remember reading here that our founder, Mario Insenga, had made a trip to Philadelphia to speak at the Philagreen Conference, sponsored by the Philagreen Hospitality Association. Yesterday, Mario continued his visit on the green hospitality circuit and had the opportunity to speak at the Boston Green Tourism Association’s Lodging Committee meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Boston, MA.

Boston Green Tourism is an initiative of Massachusetts hospitality organizations, encouraging environmentally-friendly tourist services and promoting Boston as a green destination, so as you can imagine, this experience was a fantastic opportunity for us to spread our green message to some of the most reputable names in the hospitality industry.

A key message of Mario’s speech was the relationship between sustainability and good business. There are a number of hotels that get one right, but it’s hard to do both. You need committed management and ownership and a good plan, and you need to responsibly invest in the environment and your business.

Without responsible practices, good business is hollow. By the same token, environmentally conscious hotels are nothing if they fail as a business.

Travelers are seeking out eco-friendly hotels more than ever, but they’re also seeking out successful hotels – and they can find both of those in the same place.

After years of providing sustainable furniture refinishing services, we’re looking forward to being able to share TRT’s many experiences in the Bay State, and are excited about the connections we made on our most recent stop to Boston.

Our many thanks of course, go to Boston Green Tourism’s executive director, Dan Ruben for organizing such an informative, valuable event. We look forward to many more!

Boston, Green Tourism, Philagreen

June 1st, 2010 by TRT Blog

Nothing in hospitality is permanent. Hotels aren’t fated to stay the same forever, but instead to evolve and change with the times.

These times, for the past few years, have been rough, as hotels have scratched and clawed their way to sustained business. However, with the market poised for a rebound, hotels are again charged with the task of revamping.

Hotels have keyed in on a strategy for the upturn: make the most of what they have. In lieu of new construction, hoteliers are focusing more and more on renovation and conversion.

Durability and sustainability carry the day; by investing in quality now, hotels are doing a better job positioning themselves in the long run. This focus neatly coincides with a drop in construction costs. Investors find themselves in a prime position to capitalize: they can find properties with potential value (in a city center, for example) and rehab and renovate them. Past owners didn’t have the resources to invest in their hotels, but now with money back in the picture, new management can restore hotels to their past glory, and do so affordably.

The hospitality world has been priming itself for a market upturn, and when customers come, hotels will be ready: renovated to be stronger, sturdier and better.

hospitality, renovation, Sustainability