NATURAL ELEMENTS
SPECIAL REPORT
ITC HOTELS , NEW DELHI , INDIA
ITC Maurya in New Delhi uses paraboloid solar concentrators to create steam and hot water .
“ As one of the most populous nations in the world , ( India has ) a long way to go in energy and waste management ,” says Nakul Anand , executive director of ITC Hotels parent ITC Ltd . With “ responsible luxury ” as its mantra and more than 100 hotels in India , nine of its luxury hotels meet electrical energy demand through renewable sources . A solar paraboloid concentrator at ITC Maurya in New Delhi is the first in the hospitality industry , the company says , generating steam used in the kitchen and laundry . All ITC hotels have adopted LEED Platinum standards . In the next couple of years , the company wants to reduce water consumption by 20 %, increase renewable energy use to 90 % from 60 %, and recycle 100 % of its solid waste .
NATURAL ELEMENTS
Siobhan O ’ Neill , co-editor of Green Hotelier , offers questions to help hoteliers get “ future-facing ” on design and energy use : WATER : Is the approach to managing water responsible and sensible for where the hotel is in the world ( and do you really need three infinity pools )? Build a strong water stewardship policy – and understand how it will impact the community . CONSTRUCTION : What ’ s the best way to work with local weather patterns and find ways to benefit from natural shade and cross-ventilation that will minimize the need for air conditioning ? ENERGY : What renewable energy is available that makes sense for the hotel ’ s location and that uses the least power possible ? people from the brands have a disincentive to talk about this because they want to do the deals . And their concern is the more hurdles you put up , or barriers , someone might just go to another brand .”
Just about every hotel company has sustainability goals , however : Marriott International ’ s Serve 360 platform , launched in November , uses United Nations ’ Sustainable Development Goals to prioritize responsible operations from development to supply chain , including a goal to reduce , at each hotel property , water usage by 15 %, carbon by 30 %, waste by 45 % and food waste by 50 %, by 2025 . “ One of the biggest challenges we ’ re facing is making sure we have a high-quality data collection process in place that fits each of our systems , across the world ,” says Denise Naguib , vice president of sustainability and supplier diversity . “ It can be tricky to get the data that we need to support these goals . On both sides of the company , we have worked for many years on our water and carbon goals – but waste , for example , is newer territory . We ’ re now working with our hotels , waste haulers and other vendors to support the collection of this data and ultimately to develop best practices for our hotels .”
In December , Hilton Worldwide introduced its Connected Room : The technology allows a guest to control their room environment from the Hilton Honors app and owners to track property functions and energy information from a mobile dashboard . Digital networks gather information and track performance on connected devices . Currently in beta testing , the goal is to launch this year . “ We
30 hotelsmag . com January / February 2018