Environmental Leader

Two more hotels — the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Saint-Hyacinthe and Bardessono — can add their brands to the roster of environmentally-friendly lodging as more consumers and companies consider the environmental impact of their travel.

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) says its newly opened Holiday Inn Express and Suites Saint-Hyacinthe is the company’s first sustainable hotel in Canada, reports Green Lodging News.

Some of the hotel’s sustainable features include high-efficiency energy distribution, an ultra-insulated building, as well as LED and low-voltage fluorescent lighting, according to Green Lodging News. To reduce its carbon footprint, the company purchased locally-made furniture and custom-made natural fiber mattresses, used recycled cement, and installed a white roof to reflect the sun’s heat and special heat capturing water coils, according to the article.

The new hotel also earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, reports Green Lodging News.

Awarded LEED Platinum certification on the first anniversary of its opening, California’s Bardessono Hotel is one of only two hotels in the world that have received this distinction, reports Green Lodging News.

The Bardessono Hotel features a 200-kilowatt solar energy system that provides a significant portion of its electricity, 72 300-foot geothermal wells in conjunction with a ground source heat pump system to heat and cool rooms and heat water, LED and fluorescent lamps throughout the property and lighting motion sensors, reports Green Lodging News.

The hotel also features low-water flow fixtures, recycles grey and black water for irrigation, and composts all kitchen and garden vegetable and plant waste, reports Green Lodging News.

During construction, the project recycled more than 93 percent of building waste and reused materials such as recycled stone and wood from salvaged trees, according to the article.

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