For hotels, addressing carbon emissions means first figuring out how to calculate them.
By Harvey Chipkin
In
the heart of midtown Manhattan, outside of Pennsylvania Station, is a
new 70-foot-high billboard that does not feature a celebrity or a
product. It is a carbon counter, sponsored by Deutsche Bank, and it
informs millions of daily passersby of the amount of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere.
The billboard is evidence of how widely familiar the concept of a
carbon footprint has become—but what does it mean for hotel operators
who may be aware that it’s a good idea to reduce their own carbon
footprint but are not sure exactly how to measure or reduce it.
A carbon footprint, according to the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust
definition, is “the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused
directly and indirectly by an individual organization, event, or
product. A carbon footprint is measured by undertaking a GHG emissions
assessment. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy
can be devised to reduce it.
While this may sound simple and straightforward, discussions with
environmental hospitality experts revealed that this is quite a complex
issue. Still, a basic understanding can help most hoteliers increase
efficiency and save money.
“Using a basic tool like the EPA’s Portfolio Manager will see a 10 to
30 percent reduction in costs with no to low-cost implementation,” says
Faith Taylor, corporate vice president of sustainability and innovation
for Wyndham Hotels Group.
Why It’s Important
Why should a hotel know what its carbon footprint is? Eric Ricaurte, a
founder of EnviRelation, a consulting company, says, “There are two
guiding factors. One is to demonstrate environmental performance; if a
hotel says it will cut its emissions by 20 percent, they need to be
able to back it up. Second, if any kind of mitigation is going to be
taken, like carbon offsets, the appropriate amount of offset needs to
have standards for scrutiny” (carbon offset involves the mitigation of
emissions through the development of alternative projects such as solar
or wind energy, or reforestation.)
While there is no universally accepted standard for determining a
carbon footprint, there are several tools that measure energy use and
convert it into a carbon footprint formulation. A widely shared tool
has been created by the World Resources Institute, but there are many
freely available tools online.
No matter how a hotel measures its emissions, it’s a good idea to at
least consider getting it done. “It’s important for hotels and hotel
companies to have their arms around where they are now as far as carbon
footprints,” says John Scaggs, a consultant with HVS, a hospitality
consulting firm based in Boulder, Colo., “because there will be more
carrots and sticks coming from the government.” (There is legislation
pending that would mandate disclosure of GHG levels by businesses.)
And not just the government; Taylor notes that AAA plans to place an
“eco-label” next to hotels listed in its guides that attain a certain
level of energy efficiency based on a variety of criteria, including
emissions. “Programs like that,” she says, “will be a huge incentive to
know where you are and where you have to go.”
Once a benchmark has been established, it is necessary to keep track of
your progress—or lack of same. But how often should you measure?
Ricaurte suggests a monthly check because, “If you have a leak in a
kitchen chiller; that would drive up your number; it could seriously
affect your progress.”
One company has gone its own way in getting the message out as far as
its own environmental progress. Julie Klein, director of environmental
affairs for Vail Resorts, which operates RockResorts, said the company
decided to emphasize “conservation” as opposed to climate impact
because “people ‘get’ conservation. “While we are still looking at the
same kinds of reductions in energy use,” Klein says, “we decided we did
not need to bring in all the science. That makes this transferable to
guests in their everyday life, makes it much more tangible for our
employees and guests. “
The Process
“The first step,” says Sarah Dayboll, manager of environmental affairs
at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, “is to look at your organizational
boundaries and there are two ways to do that. One is the equity share
approach (take into account the share of equity in the operation); or
the control based approach (a company accounts for 100 percent of
emissions, no matter the equity share). We decided to take the control
based approach across our 53 managed properties.
“Next,” she continues, “we looked closely at our operational
boundaries—which for a hotel means the different activities operating
with the property. We decided to measure our emissions for scope 1
(direct emissions) and scope 2 (electricity consumption). For the
additional area of focus—scope 3—we look to address further down the
road.” (See box on previous page.)
“Once this is established,” Dayboll says, “the next step is to
establish a baseline year to track your emissions over time and to
benchmark against within a given time frame.”
Then, she says, it is about collecting the data, calculating emissions,
and providing verification. “We created a manual that we
distributed to each hotel’s engineering and operations teams. The
manual outlines templates for them to complete each quarter on the data
we are looking for and methods to collect it.” At the end of each
quarter,” Dayboll says, “we provide each property with an assessment
that shows their individual emissions, where they rank in the
portfolio, and how they rank in terms of key performance indicators.”
The startup process for the program, Dayboll acknowledges, “can
be challenging at first for any company, as the day-to-day
operations of your employees are being asked to evolve to address new
elements. But once the proper program logistics are in place, your
organization will be able to monitor progress and track your GHG
emissions.”
