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Are you really green?

These are the rather daunting words of the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra Pachauri.

If the words of Dr Pachauri don’t wake you out of your stupor, not much else would have the ability to. Preservation is the need of the hour and with hotels being among the largest consumers of energy, they need to sit up and pay rapt attention.

Energy conservation, waste management, STP (sewage treatment plant), treatment and disposal of effluents, rain harvesting systems, solar systems, controlling emission of carbon dioxide – these are all green initiatives which hotels across the country and beyond are adopting.

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But how effective and efficient are they? As noise over environment issues reaches a new high, HotelierIndia.com investigates if the hospitality sector is truly going green?

Walk The Talk
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces adopts EARTH (Environment Awareness & Renewal at Taj Hotels), a project which reiterates the conscious effort to commit to energy conservation and environmental management.

EARTH has received certification from Green Globe, an international benchmarking and certification programme for the travel and tourism industry, based on the Agenda of 21 principles for Sustainable Development endorsed by 182 Heads of State at the United Nations Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

“This is being done across all hotels and 67 hotels have been certified to date. Eleven hotels have received the silver certification,” explains H N Srinivas - Sr. Vice President, Human Resources, Taj Hotels.

The Taj believes that green initiatives are real and today there is a direct correlation between how humans behave and climate change. According to him all the upcoming hotels at the Taj, will be LEED compliant.

At The Park Hyderabad, India’s first LEED Gold certified hotel, designing and planning is such that it maintains low outdoor heat absorption, high acoustic levels, minimal emission levels, energy-efficient lighting, and optimum utilisation of
natural lighting.

“There are two aspects to going green in today’s world,” says Anurag Bajaj, General Manager, The Park, Hyderabad.

“First is to abide by the laws enforced to save the environment and second to be socially conscious about the same. Most people adhere to the first and being market leaders by being socially conscious is what distinguishes a profit focused business from a socially responsible organization.”

Offering a tangible example of this social responsibility, Alok Verma, General Manager, Fortune Select Exotica Mumbai, says “we have installed low-flow showerheads and sink aerators and low-flow toilets and toilet-tank fill diverters. We are in the process of installing window film to lower heating and cooling loads and reduce glare in guestrooms and we’re also planning to purchase “Energy Star” appliances wherever possible.”