Ms. Bhattacharyya

Eco-Friendly Practices

Linking Greenhouse Gas Reporting by Hotels to ROIs

By Rani Bhattacharyya, Sustainable Hospitality & Tourism Consultant, Bhattacharyya Consulting, Inc.

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reporting in the hospitality industry can be difficult due to the current relationships between brands, franchises, and management companies. It is possible and more pressing however for individual property managers to incorporate GHG reporting and monitoring principles into their operations due to federal, state and local legislation coming into effect over the next eight months.

In this article I will try to provide a few reasons for why is GHG reporting is important for your property; a strategy for how to identify, and benchmark aspects of your operations where GHG metrics can be monitored; and examples of energy, water consumption, and waste diversion ROIs that hotels have already achieved through improving the environmental performance of their facilities.

GHG Legislation and Programs

While the GHG reporting can appear daunting and complex, properties located in the United States have a variety of reporting model options to use for monitoring GHG missions. Examples include: the National Guidelines from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.S. EPA Emission Inventory Improvement Program (EIIP), Regional and State defined GHG Inventories and registries; and the Cites for Climate Protection Project (CCP). Each of these programs serve as data aggregating and reporting tools concerning facility and building environmental performance by both the private and public sector organizations. While all of the programs do report on carbon dioxide emissions, it’s important to note that the National Guidelines and framework outlined by the IPCC report on the broadest range of emission gases including: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA) in September of last year now requires any company emitting 25,000 tons per year or more of GHG’s to submit their first emissions report to the U.S. EPA beginning in 2011. In addition to this federal mandate, 19 states have adopted mandatory reporting requirements for companies operating within their jurisdictions and 22 other states manage or endorse voluntary reporting programs.

Once you’ve determined if your property is required to comply with the CAA or with any local program; it’s also important to keep in mind your market position when making your GHG reporting model decision. First, identify where your primary competitors are located; are they within your city, state, region or global? The second step is to then identify where your stakeholders and target markets are located; are they in the same geographic regions as your competitors or in a different geographic area? Answering these questions can help identify what geographic scope of reporting works best with your current business model and market positioning.

After identifying the geographic scope of your intended market, choose a GHG reporting program that is based on the same geographic area of your target market. This will help make your benchmarking and reporting more accurate, and comparable to your competitors. The third step (if the option is open to you); is then to decide if your management team would like to work with a GHG inventory program or registry. GHG Inventories function operate on accounting practices outlined by the IPCC and EIIP guidelines and are used to generate statistical reports on GHG performance for specific geographical regions over specific time periods. GHG Registries differ in that they are designed to allow for reporting on a project or company level by members and they can also require voluntary or mandatory participation depending on the registry’s mission.

Strategies to Develop and Adopt GHG Reporting Metrics on Your Property

When your environmental management team has decided on which reporting model to use, the next phase will be to apply the guidelines and reporting model to your day to day operations. To start with, both management and front line staff should work together to map out the complete cycle of business processes in each of the operational departments of your property namely; facility operations, purchasing, housekeeping, food services, administration, and marketing. These process maps can help you identify key points in your operations where decisions are made concerning how and where energy, water and waste enter and leave your property. Train your front line staff and procurement officers working in these positions to collect and report on how they are using and disposing of resources. Collecting and analyzing this data can give your management team flexibility in correcting and streamlining departmental processes once emission trends begin to appear in your GHG data. While goals and targets developed from a top-down approach can appear simpler and easier on the outset, poor initial performance and inability of your team to achieve unrealistic reductions also can result in a lot more time and effort wasted on backtracking and corrective research Within most of the reporting models, there are two different types of emissions categories that you will need to use to classify the data you’re collecting these categories are called direct and indirect emissions.

Direct emissions are considered any activity in which chemicals are applied directly into the environment (fertilizers and pool maintenance), fossil fuels are burned on- property (gas burning stoves, boilers, and other equipment), or any operation that functions as an on-site landfill or composting site.

Indirect emissions are considered activities in which products are brought in from off-site (or taken away) and then consumed in the process of providing a product or service. Examples of indirect emissions include: business travel, bulk purchase items, off- site waste disposal programs, and electricity purchases from utilities. In determining how each of your mapped activities fall into these two categories, it may help to consider what is purchased from offsite suppliers to complete daily operations and how these goods and services are being used on-site (or off-site) to deliver guest experiences at your hotel.

Once an activity is categorized as a direct or indirect source of emissions, choosing the date from which your management team will start to report will depend on the reporting skills and environmental performance knowledge of your staff; the availability and access to the equired energy, water and waste data; and the timeframe in which you plan to achieve your goals. Database tools that could help you establish performance indicators can include EPA’s eQuest software. The EPA’s Portfolio Manager can also help you document progress towards achieving the goals you set. There are also many utilities and local government incentive programs designed to help individual properties adopt reporting software and implement baseline energy, water, and waste audits. Another option would be to utilize performance metrics and certification processes defined by third –party industry standards to both establish baseline data and monitor progress in GHG reductions. The most important aspect to seeking outside assistance however is to chose a project partner that demonstrates experience in the field and has a proven record of successful environmental project completion and reporting.

Sample ROIs

Listed below are examples of savings that have been achieved by Green Seal certified properties over the past few years. While not exhaustive, I hope they can provide you a few ideas for how monitoring and tracking your property’s environmental performance can improve your ROI as well:

• The Westin Bonaventure experienced a significant reduction (approximately 12 tons) in the total weight of solid waste hauled within the first 3 months of receiving its certification
  
• The Doubletree Portland replaced 300 older toilets with 1.6 gallons per flush models, yielding an approximate annual savings of 308,000 gallons of water and $1,163 dollars.
  
• The Hilton San Francisco implemented a composting program in 2002 that reduced the number of dumpsters needing to be emptied from seven a week to just two. The general manager stated that this has had a huge impact on trash hauling expenses.
  
• After re-fitting the laundering facilities at each of its properties, the Great Wolf brand now recycles 70% of the water it uses.
  
• The Doubletree Portland saved 25% on natural gas costs, due to reductions in heating water; and gained significant improvements in lighting efficiency by switching to CFLs from incandescent bulbs (10,000 hours of operation vs. 750 hours, respectively).
  
• As a result of its energy management system, the Westin Bonaventure’s current electricity costs are down 18% over previous months.
  
• Three of Kimpton’s hotels in Chicago - the Hotel Monaco, Hotel Burnham and Hotel Allegro diverted 116 tons, or 45%, of all their recyclables from landfill last year. This effort equates to the preservation of 1,977 trees, 477,042 kilowatts of electricity, 44,192 gallons of oil, 814,065 gallons of water and 349 yards of space diverted from landfill.

Rani Bhattacharyya conducts research and analysis in the hospitality and tourism sectors that includes comparative studies of hospitality and tourism sustainability criteria, green business program criteria, and programs focused on local, regional, state and global sustainability efforts. Through her work Ms. Bhattacharyya is also studying how company and community performance benchmarking can be integrated into long-term city, and community development planning processes. Ms. Bhattacharyya can be contacted at 202-436-0800 or rani.a.bhattacharyya@gmail.com Extended Bio...

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