{"id":167,"date":"2007-04-18T10:14:26","date_gmt":"2007-04-18T14:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.environmentalriskmanagers.com\/erm\/want-epa-hotel-and-convention-center-business-be-a-bit-greener\/"},"modified":"2007-04-18T10:14:26","modified_gmt":"2007-04-18T14:14:26","slug":"want-epa-hotel-and-convention-center-business-be-a-bit-greener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/want-epa-hotel-and-convention-center-business-be-a-bit-greener\/","title":{"rendered":"Want E.P.A. Hotel and Convention Center Business? Be a Bit Greener"},"content":{"rendered":"

environmental Strategist, between the lines: <\/strong>This is just the tip of the iceberg. The EPA is kicking off the pressure for the hotel and convention businesses to be greener. Private business will also follow this path as the pressure for business to reduce their carbon footprint continues to build. Share this with your clients in the hotel\/convention business so they can work with you in the development and execution of their environmental Management Strategy (eMS).<\/font><\/h4>\n

Want E.P.A. Hotel and Convention Center Business? Be a Bit Greener <\/font><\/h4>\n

By <\/font>CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

Published: April 18, 2007<\/font><\/p>\n

The country’s official environmental champion is putting its money where its mouth is. <\/font><\/p>\n

The <\/font>Environmental Protection Agency<\/u><\/font><\/a> has given its procurement staff a list of questions that, as of May 1, they must ask hotels and convention centers that are bidding for E.P.A. business. The questions range from sweeping queries about recycling programs and energy efficiency to specific ones about paperless billing and reused towels. The agency said it would consider the answers when it evaluates bids.<\/font><\/p>\n

“We can use our own purchasing power to influence behavior, and to strengthen the link to our mission of protecting health and the environment,” said Thomas A. O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Connell, an E.P.A. procurement director who led the Green Meetings Work Group that devised the new rule. <\/font><\/p>\n

The E.P.A. spends about $50 million on travel annually, much of it for meeting spaces. The <\/font>General Services Administration<\/u><\/font><\/a>, which sets policy for all government travel, is amending its own rules to suggest that meeting planners throughout the government consult the E.P.A. checklist. That could affect a significant chunk of the $13.5 billion in annual federal spending for travel. <\/font><\/p>\n

E.P.A. will not check on the truthfulness of a hotel’s answers, and travel bookers can still accept bids from hotels that do not pass environmental muster. “But meeting planners usually follow our recommendations,” said Peggy G. DeProspero, travel director for the G.S.A.<\/font><\/p>\n

Many hotels may have little difficulty with the new scrutiny. The Hyatt Regency at Capitol Hill, a frequent meeting place for government agencies, is already certified by Green Seal, which designates companies with leading-edge environmental practices. <\/font><\/p>\n

Marriott International<\/u><\/font><\/a>, which has been applauded by E.P.A. for its energy-efficiency programs, said it expected the new rule to drum up business for its 2,300 American hotels.<\/font><\/p>\n

“We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already at a competitive advantage in getting business from environmental groups, and now we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at an advantage for government business, too,” said John Wolf, a Marriott spokesman.<\/font><\/p>\n

Environmentalists have mixed reactions to the new rule. “It could have a huge impact in getting hotels to become more aggressively environmental,” said Arthur B. Weissman, president of Green Seal. <\/font><\/p>\n

Others worry that the rule is a distraction from the agency’s main business. “The E.P.A. still is not doing enough to cut auto and power plant emissions,” said Daniel F. Becker, director of the <\/font>Sierra Club<\/u><\/font><\/a>‘s <\/font>global warming<\/u><\/font><\/a> program. “Being green involves more than putting towels back on the rack.”<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

environmental Strategist, between the lines: This is just the tip of the iceberg. The EPA is kicking off the pressure for the hotel and convention businesses to be greener. Private business will also follow this path as the pressure for business to reduce their carbon footprint continues to build. Share this with your clients in… Continue reading Want E.P.A. Hotel and Convention Center Business? Be a Bit Greener<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrategist.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}