February 25th, 2011 by TRT Blog

There are a number of approaches to introducing sustainable practices – you can launch a big initiative with a big cash initiative or you can take the approach of the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place: do a lot of the little things that add up to one big green initiative.

The Hyatt, which is part of the giant McCormick Place complex, has achieved amazing results. For example, last year it recycled more than 116 tons of waste. In the same year, composition initiatives using heat and bacteria decomposed more than 110 tons of waste food.  These results have been complemented by a reduction in electricity consumption by 12.7 percent over one year, and water consumption by more than 24 percent.  Initiatives that have led to these reductions include the outsourcing of laundry, an upgrade of lighting systems, and a campaign called “When Not in Use, Turn Off the Juice”.  These initiatives are reinforced by employee training and awareness days.

In the kitchen cooking oil is recycled and reused, and there are future plans for biofuel.  And there’s plenty of recycling – The Hyatt Regency recycles an amazing range of materials from the obvious: newspaper, cardboard, glass and plastic, to construction waste, batteries, electronic items – an initiative that is close to our heart since we launched our television recycling program .  Containers are across the hotel and there are in-room facilities to encourage guests to recycle their belongings.

The hotel not only has its own grassroots approach but participates in its parent’s program: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts ‘Meet and Be Green’.

This is a great example of sustainability initiatives can permeate an entire hotel – across all functions and all stakeholders and with successful buy-in from guests, buyers, planners, housekeeping, management, and other all employees.

It’s also a great example of how people and process can be used with technology to really ensure big results – no matter how small each individual initiative.

hospitality, Hyatt, Recycling, Reuse

February 22nd, 2011 by TRT Blog

As our work around the country continues, our crew has landed in Harrisonburg, Virginia; home to Eastern Mennonite University. As more universities embark on their mission to be green, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is becoming more prominent.  EMU has the first building in Harrisonburg to be LEED certified, and for us here at The Refinishing Touch, this will be our first LEED certified project at a university. We couldn’t be more honored to be a part of such a huge environmental impact.

Earth conscious decisions are constantly being made at EMU. At the residence halls for instance, construction plans included tearing down the old Oakwood based hall and building new, more efficient housing. Now known as Cedarwood Hall – EMU’s first LEED certified building – this certified building boasts extensive use of natural lighting, flooring made of recycled and natural materials as well as a bioretention filtration system to manage rainwater runoff. EMU has shown its commitment to green initiatives through projects such as this.

Five major categories are used to determine LEED certification: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environment and innovation and design processes. The Refinishing Touch are specialists in the latter. Our crew spent several days refinishing the built-in units in Elmwood Hall to complete the first phase of work. As always, the work was completed on-site where non-toxic lacquers with no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) were used, which guarantees indoor air quality and safety. VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids, and concentration of many VOCs are consistently higher indoor than outdoors.

As we’ve mentioned, green construction at EMU is part of the growing effort the university is making to improve our environment. Better building however is not the only method. EMU has received national recognition two years in a row for their recycling efforts. A Creation Care Council composed of students, faculty and staff that meet regularly throughout the academic year has been developed, and the school offers environmentally based majors, such as ‘Environmental Sustainability’ and ‘Peace Building and Development’, which incorporate sustainable practices into real life studies.
We are proud to be a part of EMU’s continued transformation and take pride in knowing that we will return in the future to complete phase two in Maplewood Hall for this increasingly green university.

college, Eastern mennonite university, Operational Update

February 18th, 2011 by TRT Blog

Recently, the Sustainable Endowments Institute released the College Sustainability Report Card for 2011. Its findings are a key barometer in assessing how universities in all levels across all fields are doing to maintain green practices.

The report evaluated 322 schools around the country and graded them based on administration, climate change and energy, green building, recycling and others. Overall, over half the schools finished with a grade of ‘B’ or better, with six percent earning a ’D’ grade, the lowest available. Obviously the eventual goal would be to have no school with lower than a ‘C’ grade, but for now reducing the amount of ‘D’s would be a good start.

Climate change and energy had 42% of the schools awarded with ‘A’ grades. However out of the five most important categories, it was the fourth lowest amount of the report’s highest grade. Fortunately in future years that number should increase as already two-thirds of schools have commitments in place to reduce carbon emissions, with 79% of schools identifying the sources and tonnage of carbon emission. This shows that while they may not have plans in place to reduce emissions just yet, schools are aware of the size of their carbon footprint and with awareness, action tends to follow.

In the administration category, over 80% of universities have an ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade meaning they scored high marks for having sustainability actions in place at the administration or trustee level. Signing agreements or partnerships in place locally, nationally or internationally scores high points in this category as does green purchasing policies. Furthermore, 95% of schools have a campus advisory committee on sustainability. These committees, which are made up of staff, faculty and students advise administration on sustainable practices the school should be aware of.

There is much good that is being done on campuses around the country based on this report, however at the same time there is much work that still needs to be done. We’ll continue looking at the report card and the good and not so good news that came out of it in a later blog posts.

grading, green, Sustainability, university

February 15th, 2011 by TRT Blog

In his State of the Union Address to the 112th congress, President Obama covered a range of topics. When he spoke on clean energy and climate change and big plans for a greener America, calling for Americans to seize the “Sputnik moment”, it can be easy to feel recurring cynicism on how politicians can promise of a better future without a clear strategy.

The plans are big too: more than one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, and 80 percent of the nation’s energy provided by clean energy by 2035.

via Scientific American

A day after what could be said were big promises and small details, the president’s actions seemed to back up his words. President Obama took to the road to visit some of the up-and-coming clean tech industry leaders, highlighting the role they will play in a cleaner future and to encourage investments in clean energy projects.   These companies included renewable companies such as solar and lighting company Orion Energy Systems (http://www.oriones.com/), wind turbine manufacturer Tower Tech Systems (http://www.towertechsystems.com/).

Continuing his unofficial tour to promote improved energy efficiency, the president visited Penn State University to unveil the ‘Better Building Initiative’. Outlining his five point plan, the president announced that municipal and commercial buildings such as post offices, stores, and universities will have incentives to retrofit their buildings with the goal of reducing company’s energy bills by $40 billion a year. The plan would provide government financing, added tax incentives, smoother processes for state and municipal buildings and other yet to be named incentives for companies willing to make the leap to more efficient buildings.

There’s a huge amount of barriers to get clean technology to drive the economy  - the market, financing with steady funding, geographical competition, the political landscape.

But it may be achievable.  As John Cheney, chief executive of solar project developer Silverado Power stated: “”It’s a lofty goal, but it’s like the race to the moon in that it’s generally achievable.  The issue is whether we have the political will and ability to pull together and actually do it.”  Time will tell.

energy, Government, Obama, space

February 11th, 2011 by TRT Blog

With our strong presence in the hospitality sector, we’re always keeping one eye on trends that may be coming travelers’ way.  For example, a little while ago we blogged about some of the designs companies had commissioned to move airplanes into the next generation. There were certainly some unique ideas and conceptual designs that were created which would’ve tested the aviation industry. While there will be a great deal of interest and eventually progress on turning these concepts into something real, we can all accept that it won’t be for quite a few years.

What has already been in progress for quite a few years, albeit disappointingly, is the supposed new standard for aviation travel, the Boeing Dreamliner. Claiming to be quieter and more comfortable for air travelers the airline giant has now gone three years past the scheduled delivery of the plane and has cost Boeing an undisclosed, but presumably large, amount.

What’s troubling is that something of this magnitude – there are over 825 orders in for the new model – is suffering from so many delays for so many reasons. It hasn’t affected shares, which went up at the time of the announcement because investors feared the delay would be longer. By delaying a leap toward a quieter, more efficient and overall more pleasant flight because of delays, that with a little more planning could’ve been avoided, just slows whatever progress the travel industry as a whole could be making.

Hopefully soon we’ll be able to travel on the airliner of our dreams, and when we do we’ll be glad Boeing got everything right despite the delays. But at this rate, as soon as Boeing gets it together, we’ll be flying in one of these a few years later.

Boeing dreamliner, Travel

February 7th, 2011 by TRT Blog

We’re very excited to be participating in a highly practical and informative webinar this week. The webinar, which we are sponsoring and contributing to alongside Hotel Interactive, takes place tomorrow, Tuesday February 8^th at 2pm EST. The discussion will provide an insight into how hotels can achieve cost-effective sustainability, how you can review your existing suppliers and services, and offer practical advice on how to avoid becoming a greenwasher.

Our president and founder, Mario Insenga will be among the experts on the panel, which will be moderated by Glenn Haussman of Hotel Interactive. We’re really looking forward to what promises to be a lively and enlightening discussion.

So if you haven’t already, register now to join us for this free webinar: http://video.webcasts.com/events/hote001/37322/?adid=refinishish].

hospitality, Hotel Interactive, podcast, Sustainability, webinar

February 4th, 2011 by TRT Blog

We love vacations. Talking about them, planning them and of course, taking them. No matter where we go however, our goal is to relax. That’s what we feel a vacation should be. It’s a time to let go of stress and just take in your surroundings. That’s obviously not everyone’s ideal vacation and we’re seeing that more and more people are looking to the extreme opposite when vacationing, without literally going extreme.

You may hear thrilling or extreme and instantly think of skydiving or hang gliding, but more and more travelers are looking for safer, yet thrilling getaways. While you won’t be bungee jumping, you certainly won’t be sitting on the beach. This can include a simple hike through an out of the way forest, or sight-seeing for exotic bird species in remote locations.  These types of adventures give you the thrill without having to dive into the extreme.

Adventure travelling is defined in this Concierge article as the intersection of at least two of three components: physical activity, engagement with nature, and cultural interaction. These core goals provide a good base of what to consider when planning an adventure trip, so you don’t have to worry about booking a trip to the furthest remote location for waterfall cliff diving  just to say you’ve gone on an adventure trip. Your adventure trip would be just as fulfilling with a safari, sailing trip, or walk through some ruins.

No matter how you travel the point is to enjoy yourself. We’re relaxers. Others may be risk takers. For those who would prefer to do something outside of those two extremes, a whole world of adventure – of varying degrees of difficulty – awaits.

adventure, Travel, trip, vacations

February 1st, 2011 by TRT Blog

We extol the virtues and benefits of businesses moving towards more green practices, but we also believe individuals have a responsibility as well. People are just as important in the day-to-day preservation of our environment as multinational corporations. We’re one of many who use blogs, Twitter, video sharing sites and newspaper stories, not only to spread the message of green practices and sustainability, but to help educate people about these topics as well. While there are many people who contribute to this community, we always think there could be more. But how much is too much? Are we overdoing it? And is the general public growing tired of the message?

According to a new Harris poll, it seems they might be. Compared to the summer of 2009, many people claim not to be as active with green responsibilities as they once were. There was an exception, with members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) group still showing concern for the environment, and environmental issues still affecting their voting and purchasing decisions.

While committed groups are certainly needed, it’s quite disheartening to read that many are less likely to engage in even simple everyday tasks such as using less water or turning off bulbs in unoccupied rooms. Scarier still is the drop in the numbers of those who are concerned overall about the environment, down from 43% in 2009 to 36% now.

There’s no single reason why this should be the case, since there are many reasons to consider. The first one that comes to mind is that perhaps people are tired of repeatedly hearing about the debate on climate science. Heated discussions from many sides can certainly become wearing over time, especially when there is no clear cut answer on what to do. Another issue could simply be that there are more pressing issues on the minds of consumers. Trying to take care of your family’s priorities will always take precedence over issues that don’t carry as much weight or aren’t as important to you at the moment.

There’s no question more needs to be done to advance sustainability, however forcing it in front of everyone is not the solution. We’ll continue to do our part to make sure our goals are reached, and hope others will do the same without running the risk of alienating those who matter most – individuals.

awareness, environment, overkill