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Radisson Blu® is one of the world's leading hotel brands under the Carlson Rezidor umbrella, a hotel group that includes 1,400 hotels in 115 countries. As a global leader, Carlson Rezidor has achieved a great deal of progress when it comes to designing and operating sustainable hotels. This article will focus on the sustainable achievements 

North Carolina's Proximity Hotel is the first US hotel to receive the Green Building Council's LEED Platinum status, due in part to elevators that generate power and other features that help the hotel use 40% less energy than comparable competitors. "The only ambition was, let's sincerely consider sustainable practices with each of our decisions," said Dennis Quaintance, CEO of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels.

The Hotel at Oberlin in Ohio is one of five US hotels that have met the stringent sustainable criteria for LEED Platinum certification. The hotel relies on geothermal energy for heating and cooling and uses solar panels to produce electricity.

W Hotels Worldwide has announced a new partnership with global music artist and entrepreneur will.i.am and Coca-Cola to shake up the hotel industry. The partners wil bring the EKOCYCLE brand to W Hotel rooms around the world by re-making their beds with new bed sheets which are made in part with rPET (polyester partially made using recycled plastic).

From its 100 rooftop solar panels to its high-efficiency faucets and its energy-generating elevators, the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, N.C., stakes its claim to being America's greenest hotel. The refurbished textile warehouse holds the LEED Platinum rating, which is the US Green Building Council's highest distinction.

Hotel chains and casinos are adding low-energy lighting to guest rooms, putting solar panels on roofs and using hotel limousines powered by compressed natural gas, but these sustainable practices could be bolstered by the use of third-party standards that measure hotels against one another, writes Marc Gunther. "[I]ndustry executives cite three reasons why they have begun to take action on the sustainability front: to save money, attract and motivate their employees, and respond to demand from business and leisure travelers," Gunther writes

LEED-certified hotels are seeing plenty of payback on their green investments, a new study suggests. LEED hotels saw "superior financial performance," gaining an average of $20 in revenues per room over their non-LEED rivals.

InterContinental Hotels Group announced that its 4,700 hotel properties will begin using the IHG Green Engage online sustainability tool to track energy use, GHG emissions, water consumption, and waste management. The company stated that the system has already enabled a portion of their hotels save $73 million in energy costs during 2013.

Hotels develop a Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative and Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Consortium.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts plans to save more than $1 billion over the next 10 years through energy-efficiency initiatives and other environmental programs. The effort will include employees at all levels of the company, says sustainability chief Andrea Pinabell. "Small actions taken by our more than 180,000 associates worldwide have the ability to make a profound impact on our hotels, communities and business," she said. 

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts became the first hotel brand to meet World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers targets by reducing its operational CO2 emissions by 20%, compared to 2006 levels.

One hotel chain is working to be a part of the solution: Iberostar Group, which owns more than 120 hotels in 18 countries. Through its Wave of Change movement, Iberostar Group is taking action to deliver measurable improvements by reducing plastic consumption, improving coastal health and promoting responsible seafood consumption.

The World Wildlife Fund released results from the 12-week pilot program it launched to reduce food waste across the hotel industry, in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Hotel & Lodging Association. The results show that participating properties reduced food waste by at least 10% and lowered food costs at least 3% in some cases. Companies participating in the program included Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott International, and others.

We may suspect that low-flow toilets and showerheads and thermostats that let the room get a little chilly or stuffy while you're gone are really just ways to reduce the hotel's utility bills.We may believe it's always and forever about the bottom line. Snyder's title is vice president of corporate responsibility at IHG, whose hotel brands include Holiday Inn, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Kimpton and more. His unofficial title is chief sustainability officer for the company. Whatever title he may go by, he is committed to being green, noting that saving money and saving the environment do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Hilton Worldwide is taking advantage of a partnership with General Electric by installing electric-vehicle, or EV, chargers at 100 of its hotels by the end of 2016. Some other hotels are using green-energy storage systems, which can reduce charges on about 30% to 50% of a property's energy bill, according to a GreenBiz report

W Hotels Worldwide, in partnership with Coca-Cola and music artist will.i.am, says it will soon use sheets and bedside chargers made in part with recycled plastic bottles.

Tide Professional Coldwater Laundry System enables hotel facilities to reduce energy needed to heat the water in a commercial washer by as much as 75 percent and to reduce water used in a commercial washer by up to 40 percent, says manufacturer P&G Professional, a division of Procter & Gamble

As battery storage technology has improved - Tesla announced in May its entry into the energy storage market - an increasing number of hotels are investing in energy storage systems to help reduce demand charges that typically account for at least 30 percent of a commercial electricity bill, and often as much as 50 percent.

Hyatt Hotels has committed to reducing water use per guest night by 25 percent by 2020 - one of the hotel chain's new environmental goals announced yesterday

Sixteen hotels, including the Waldorf and Pierre, have joined the NYC Carbon Challenge -- a city program aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% over the next decade.