Recently the Washington Post published an interesting article on Marriott’s efforts at going green with energy efficient approaches in the hotels managed by Marriott. In my view, this is effective and an important model for business in general. And, as a past President of Marriott Hotels, I know they will carry out this initiative in an effective and comprehensive manner.
The firm I now chair, Thayer Lodging Group, is also committed to energy efficiency and is taking this a step further and combining with health living. Our initiative is to purify the air in our guest rooms and meeting rooms with an air purification system that is designed:
- By deep cleaning the coils inside P-tacs and air handling units on a more regular and efficient manner, less pressure is created against the coils which causes the units to run at peak efficiency. This, in itself causes the until to use less electricity. Studies have shown that a clean coil uses 18 to 25% less electricity then the “normal” use coils. The purifiers use up about 3% of that savings so the net is 15-22% savings.
- Also, deep cleaning coils on a more regular basis will increase the life of the units as well. We are also gathering data that will confirm that the Pure Rooms have 90% less complaints from costumers concerning non-working HVAC units. The cost savings of recovering from that guest complaint is huge.
- The process uses a micro-fiber encasement to protect humans from breathing in anything that’s inside the pillow or mattresses. The encasements are also moisture resistant so that the human body’s natural fluids, such as the pint of water that the body sweats out every night, will not find its way into the bedding. As well, the encasements keep all human skin cells and dander from the bedding. These contaminants are what causes the pillows to lose their fluff and the mattresses to flatten. We are gathering data now, but the manufacturers of the pillows and mattresses all agree that the life of these items will increase. If a pillow doubles its life when encased and an encased mattress lasts three years longer, imagine the number of these items that don’t go to the landfill.
- Indoor air quality is also listed as a positive for the L.E.E.D. certification, which Pure will accomplish.
We are working on other “green” associated benefits but these are what we are emphasizing right now.
