News

Green news

2 Jan 2009 by Sara Turner

Premier Inn “Britain’s greenest hotel”

Premier InnThe new Premier Inn Tamworth uses 80 per cent less energy than a standard hotel, due to greener heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation.

Key features of the new property include ground-source heating pumps that use the earth’s natural energy to cool and heat rooms and provide hot water throughout the hotel, as well as solar panels to heat bath water, and walls that are insulated using British sheep’s wool – a sustainable and efficient source of thermal and acoustic insulation.

Toilets are flushed with recycled water from showers and baths, which will save 20 per c of the hotel’s water usage. Lighting comes from low-energy Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), with motion sensors to turn on the lights only when they’re needed.

Alan Parker, CEO of Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread, said that the combination of technologies at "Britain's greenest hotel" has never been used before in a hotel in the UK. “We chose from a range of technologies that deliver a positive social and environmental impact on future hotel buildings. This is a unique joint approach which we will be testing in Tamworth as a first step to making more green changes across our hotel estate.”

As well as designing the new hotel to be energy efficient, Premier Inn is also involving employees and customers. Staff will help with minimising everyday energy and water consumption, such as in washing, water usage, excessive heating or cooling and guests can see the energy saved as part of a visual display in the hotel lobby.

The 20-bed Premier Inn Tamworth in Staffordshire has the same facilities and amenities as other hotels in the brand and rooms are priced as standard. Premier Inn has more than 550 budget hotels across the UK.

Visit premierinn.com.

JAL to participate in emissions trading scheme

The JAL Group will take part in voluntary trials of a Japan-based emissions trading scheme, set up by the Japanese government.

It is targeting a 16 per cent cut in CO2 emissions per available seat kilometer (ASK) of its Japan domestic fleet, when compared to 1990 levels.

If the JAL Group manages to achieve the targets and exceed them, it can trade credits with others in the scheme that have not managed to meet their own targets.

In January JAL will also be conducting a demonstration flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, using a sustainable biofuel refined from the energy crop Camelina. It will be the first time Camelina has been used for aviation fuel. Visit jal.com.

Marriott's key to going green

Marriott International is replacing plastic key cards in the US with new cards made from 50 per cent recycled material. The hotel group purchases 24 million plastic key cards annually, and says it will save 66 tonnes of plastic from being dumped in a landfill.

In other green advances, Marriott is introducing new pillows made from 100 percent recycled PET bottles, recycled paper products such as notepads, and coreless toilet paper made of between 20 and 40 per cent recycled fibre. Marriott says these measures will eliminate 2 million cores a year, saving about 119 trees, nearly 3 million gallons of water, and 21 tons of packaging waste annually.

In the Middle East and Europe, more than 100 Marriott, Renaissance and Courtyard hotels use oxo-biodegradable plastic laundry bags, which disintegrate in two to five years, if not recycled and reused first. Visit marriott.com/spirittopreserve.

Loyalty to the environment

Park Plaza Hotels, part of Carlson Hotels Worldwide, has donated 240,000 points from the hotel group’s Goldpoints Plus loyalty programme to the CarbonNeutral Company, to celebrate the opening of Carlson Hotels Worldwide’s 1000th hotel.  Each Park Plaza Hotel and art’otel across Europe will donate 10,000 points towards the total.

Boris Ivesha, President & CEO of Park Plaza Hotels, said: “Embracing responsible business is a core principle of our operation and enriches our community.”

The donation, which equates to a carbon offset of approximately 60 trips per year by plane for each guest staying at Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, includes a financial sum and 1,000 trees to be planted as part of the United Nations' Plant for the Planet Billion Tree initiative. The first tree was planted at the opening of the 1000th hotel, the Radisson St Martin Resort, Marina & Spa on French St Martin in the Caribbean. 

Visit parkplaza.com.

Report by Sara Turner

Loading comments...

Search Flight

See a whole year of Reward Seat Availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls