H2Otel Challenge
The EPA just announced a new challenge for Hotels to get involved in water savings, the WaterSense H2Otel Challenge. It’s a national awareness campaign to encourage hotels to save water and money, as well as reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This program enables agency partners and other organizations to encourage hotels to use best management practices that help mitigate a hotel’s contribution to climate disruption issues.
“Hotels that reduce their water use will not only help their community save precious resources, but can gain a competitive edge in today’s green marketplace,” said Nancy Stoner, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “Since 2006, WaterSense has helped Americans save more than 487 billion gallons of water, and now we’re building on that success to help hotels take their sustainability efforts to the next level.”
Hotels across the country will take a pledge to “ACT”—Assess, Change, and Track water use in the following ways:
– Assess water use and savings opportunities throughout the hotel.
– Change products and processes to more water-efficient models and methods.
– Track water reduction progress before and after incorporating best management practices.
Interestingly, Caesars Entertainment was the first to sign up for the H2Otel Challenge. That’s great news to me, considering their huge footprint in drought stricken areas like La Vegas. Kudos, Caesars! Here’s some help from the EPA WaterSense at Work: Best Management Practices for Commercial and Institutional Facilities. For more information about the challenge, visit the WaterSense website atwww.epa.gov/watersense/challenge.
CAMPUS CONSERVATION NATIONALS
There are plenty of other green challenges out there for all types of industry- including higher education. In April, Moraine Valley will compete in the Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN), the largest electricity and water reduction competition program for colleges and universities in the world. Colleges and Universities across North America,work together (through friendly competition of course) to reduce consumption and mitigate the impacts of climate change. CCN is jointly organized by the U.S. Green Building Council, Lucid, National Wildlife Federation, and Alliance to Save Energy.
Partnering with the Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN), Moraine Valley has received some funding to purchase monitoring equipment and energy saving devices like, smart strips and vending misers. These will be installed in Crawley Hall and for 3 weeks we’ll lead a campaign to engage all users of the building in energy saving behavior changes. This is a national competition and can be tracked here to see who is saving the most. The goal is that after the 3 weeks all users of the campus facilities will develop habits that last to save energy and water in the buildings.
Stay tuned for updates and to learn how you can get involved!