Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

There is clearly a connection between ownership of "stuff" and proper stewardship of the same. this article brings to light how this process needs to be sustainable and the responsibilities that we all have to ensure that our own footprint is not causing more harm to our planet through poor management of the items we have purchased. According to a 2013 report by the Consumer Electronics Association, the average American household uses about 28 electronic products such as personal computers, mobile phones, televisions and electronic readers (e-readers). With an ever increasing supply of new electronic gadgets, EPA's Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling show that Americans generated 2.7 million tons of consumer electronics goods in 2018, representing less than one percent of all municipal solid Waste generation.

This article on "Sustainable Hospitality Technology Made Possible" gives detailed tactics on how properties can lower their energy and consumption costs, and reduce waste which ultimately leads to protecting the environment. As explained in the article, this sustainability shift did not occur overnight, but rather through a progressive process that encompasses corporate social responsibilities and consumer sentiment.

"Green computing, also called green technology, is the environmentally responsible use of computers and related resources. Such practices include the implementation of energy-efficient central processing units (CPUs), servers and peripherals as well as reduced resource consumption and proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste). One of the earliest initiatives toward green computing in the United States was the voluntary labeling program known as Energy Star. It was conceived by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 to promote energy efficiency in hardware of all kinds. The Energy Star label became a common sight, especially in notebook computers and displays. Similar programs have been adopted in Europe and Asia."

This article introduced a technology has been applied in Europe and Asia for years that is Key-card management. This key-card management system links to heating, cooling and lighting system in guestroom with a monitoring in a slot besides door. In Europe and Asia, it has been demonstrated key-card management system is a successful system, that can save 20%-40% energy bill inside guest room. Although US hotels don't apply this system at beginning, now, more and more hotels has taken key-card management system. The hotel GM which taken this system said that is save a lot of energy bill after using this system.

This article talks about how hotels have the opportunity to conserve energy. It is known that many hotel guests are usually unaware or disinterested on how much energy they waste in their hotel room because they've already paid for the room. However, many of us are very conscious of how much energy we waste at home because we do in fact need to pay for that. So why don't we do it in hotel rooms? It comes down to convenience. When you're in a hotel, you don't worry about bills or energy or what harm you are doing to the environment or to the hotel's wallet because you are simply on vacation. However, key card management systems allow guests to save energy without the hassle of walking throughout the room turning off every light, faucet and air conditioning. Instead, saving energy is now as simple as leaving your room. With the key card management, energy management is in affect as soon as the guest pulls out the key card when leaving their room, and as easy as placing it back in the slot when they return. This is an effective, simple way for guests to save energy, while still on vacation.   

this article is about how the Electronics recycling Act, not only helps the environment recycling the e-waste, it also generate employs, this industry is growing faster making that americans can have another opportunity of jobs. 

This article briefly summarizes how the The Serai resort in the coffee country of the Indian state Karnataka has been harvesting rain water to use for watering their gardens. This article doesn't go into too much detail itself but I did some other research and found that this region of India only gets 8% of their annual rainfall in the months of January-May. This really puts a strain on the region and being able to harvest and store rainwater from the wet season helps especially with superfluous water usage like watering and maintaining hotel gardens. The state made it mandatory to reduce water waste and The Serai has created a surplus. (http://www.karnataka.com/profile/rainfall.html) The Serai resort also uses other green techniques like using waste wood to make furniture for the resort. (http://theserai.in/en/responsible-citizenry.html) I think it's great that the government there has made laws requiring the saving and re-using of rain water. It is especially important for them due to the drastic differences of the dry and rainy seasons but this could be applied almost anywhere. Part of the draw of some hotels is their scenery and gardens but watering these can get expensive and become a waste, especially if there are people in the area who go without a reliable source of drinking water. I think policies like this should be instituted everywhere. I have to give the Serai resort a lot of credit too. Yes, they were forced to start capturing and storing rain water but it seems like they have taken their green initiatives a step further and do more than the bare minimum.

This article introduces some green business initiative that is the projects to help enterprises use less resource to make money. With the development of the society, it is more important for us to protect the environment. The green business initiative is a good example to protect the environment. The article shows the greenbusiness.ie project offer an effective tool to help the company not only reduce the cost but also reduce the pollution. It also introduce the project that aimed to help hospitality industry solve the save resource problem. It list some projects like Green Festivals, Less Food Waste, More Profit to prove these program already save more money and resource. The Green Healthcare and SMILE (Saving Money through Industrial Linkage and Exchanges) are the other two examples of green business initiative.

According to this article, Starbucks is working with biorefinery scientists to turn its used coffee grounds and bakery food waste into bioplastics, laundry detergents and other everyday products. The food biorefinery process works by blending the baked goods with a mixture of fungi. Then bacteria convert the sugars into succinic acid which is a key material used to make products to bioplastics. Another environmental benefits of this technology is that fewer pollutants will enter the atmosphere because the waste isn't incinerated. Finally, Starbucks has a goal of offering front-of-store recycling in all of its company-owned coffee shops by 2015. And it says it's looking into turning used cups into serving trays.

This short article from Harvard University discusses ways in which conservation and recycling of old products can help minimize wasteful practices of corporations' extraction of precious minerals in the production of technological hardware.

This article talks about the efforts computer companies are making to reduce the negative environmental results of traditional technology equipment. There are more than 60 electronic devices from companies like Dell and HP that are becoming apart of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is a funded project called EPEAT that has the goal of identifying environmentally friendly computer equipment that still outputs the same level of performance for the customer. This new "green" certification system even provides a list online of the products that meet the standards. EPEAT allows customers to rank computer electronics by their environmental. There are 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria involved in the rankings. The optional criteria determines if the product is EPEAT Bronze, Silver, or Gold. These standards include having lower levels of lead, mercury and cadmium as well as being more energy efficient so they reduce emissions put into the atmosphere to help reduce the levels of greenhouse gases. These products are also more simple to upgrade and have recycled… businesses actually have to provide safe ways to recycle the products they sell when the customer can no longer use them. Manufacturers think having an even playing field for the customer to be able to view their products by environmental aspect is better and are proud to be apart of something so beneficial to the environment. The EPEAT program was expected to reduce 13 million pounds of hazardous waste and 3 million pounds of non hazardous waste.

SERI is multi-stakeholder group made up of the Environmental Protection Agency, Regulators, Trade Associations, and many others to commit to recycling in a non-harmful way electronic waste, more commonly known as e-waste. This group certifies recycling centers to ensure that the most environmentally friendly practices are put into place and a locator can be found on their website for one to use. It is estimated currentlybthat at this rate, wasted electonics will increase 33% by the end of the decade, which is an alarming amount. This shows that governement officials are starting to take a stance.

The following article reviews a few eco-friendly trends that are helping transform the foodservice industry. As green technology becomes mainstream it is important for companies in the hospitality industry to understand the potential impacts they could have on the environment by adopting some of these trends. Streamline reporting is one way that green technology shows to be beneficial. By streamlining and consolidating reporting vs. hard-coding, etc. offers users greater visibility over workload performance. Another popular green technology is virtual cloud systems. These cloud systems can help eliminate resource waste and reduce operational costs. The article mentions how Subway and BurgerFi are taking major steps in leveraging the latest technology to minimize their carbon footprint. A few things they focus on is cutting down their paper waste, conserve power, and improve overall efficiencies so the restaurants are environmentally "sound".

This is an interesting article on "Mount Recyclemore". A group made this sculpture as a statement to world leaders and people about e-waste and recycling issues that are happening.

It's important to build sustainability facility in the hotel. It's a future trend to build a green hotel and sustain the eco-friendly environment. There are many ways to do physical plants. Water consumption Within guest rooms, laundries, kitchens, pools, and spas, hotels continue to phase inefficiencies that reduce water and, in many cases, chemicals that are used to treat water systems and clean facilities. Efforts include the linen and towel reuse programs that are now an industry standard to the installation of low-flow faucets, showerheads, and other fixtures. Hotel Recycling and Waste Reduction With the limited exception for domestic hotels, recycling programs for the basics such as newspapers and beverage containers are becoming a basic expectation. In combination with the recycling efforts, hotels are looking for opportunities to reduce the use of paper and other disposables. Hotels and resorts that can go beyond to implement food Waste composting programs can demonstrate Waste diverted from the landfill upwards of 40-50%. Hotel Bath Amenities Many hotels are making a statement by offering guests custom formulated amenities. Resort companies such as RockResorts have taken it one step further with an all-natural, essential oil-based custom formulated product made without preservatives and artificial ingredients that are packaged in recyclable containers. Other midrange hotel brands are experimenting with bulk dispenser presentations.

This article discusses that as time continues to progress, more and more hotels, as well as other hospitality/tourism places are starting to implement more "eco-friendly initiatives" into their businesses for the satisfaction of the customers. It is important for the hospitality to be able to adapt in the sense of increasing their "green initiatives." Some hotels have begun doing so by, linen and towel reuse programs, low-flow faucets and shower heads, recycling programs, and much more. Implementing these actions can only benefit the industry/businesses in the long run.

This is a great summary of what event planners are looking for in hotels - "Green Initiatives" that include energy use, water bottle reduction, menu planning, waste management, recycle programs, etc. Very easy to read and recommend for green topic areas for research papers.

This article addresses the French reparability index which is a relatively new implementation that started in January of 2021, It requires that reparability scores are posted on some major tech products in France in hopes of slowing down planned obsolescence and eliminating tech waste. France is the first country to implement such as mandate and it bringing to light the notion of planned obsolescence to the general public. This article shares some of the major tech brands scores and how they are fairing against their competition.

The article explores the concept of "Green IT" to help reduce the amount of energy and e-waste and make it more sustainable. The five principles mentioned in the article are to: Rightsize, consolidate, virtualize, measure and manage e waste, all used to be able to operate a better IT system that works efficiently to reduce energy consumption. Also providing a visual representation of an IT infrastructure to break down how it works and providing ways to reduce power and purchase of each structure. Some ways mentioned where to create a new data centres, installing new printers and purchasing energy-efficient equipment to reduce consumption and also cost of energy. The idea is to become more aware of how to start change and be able to control and monitor the IT used to make it more sustainable and minimize "ecological impacts." Based on the article and the quick evolution of technology, i don't think we can stop the use of IT systems but there are ways to reduce and monitor the amount of IT systems. One point that was not mentioned was "cloud computing" which seems to be an effective strategy set in place to reduce the amount of IT systems used within business. Not only does it reduces the hardware costs but also saves energy from having several systems to locate information.

Cruises are said to be one of those forms of transportation with the highest carbon emissions. "A typical cruise ship with 3,000 passengers generates 1 million gallons of gray water; 210,000 gallons of sewade; 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water; 100 gallons of hazardous or toxic waste; 50 tons of garbage and solid waste…" This expert just proves how non-ecofriendly cruises can actually be. However, regulations set by the government have now pushed cruises into trying to be more environmentally friendly. This article singles out seven green cruises that have found ways in which they can decrease their carbon footprint on the world. One cruise that has taken on the initiative is Holland America Cruises. With tactics such as towel reuse program and the installation of low-flow showerheads this cruise line has been making a conscious effort to operate green. They even ensure the most fuel-efficient means of travelling by studying tide schedules to maximize fuel usage with shorter routes. Another interesting cruise that pushes for the green initiative includes Celebrity Cruises with its solar powered cruise line. Other tactics used by other cruises include reusing waste cooking oil on heavy machinery, ridding of all plastic water bottles, shutting off engines in the winter time and only buying fish that are sustainably harvested are just some ways these 7 cruise lines have taken a stand to become greener. This responsible effort by these cruise lines not only can work in their favor for marketing purposes with consumers but create a sustainable industry for the future of cruises. Something as crucial as waste disposal in the water can greatly affect the future of the industry if not considered by the cruises today. Could you imagine if every cruise were to just dispose of their waste into the ocean with no sort of eco-friendly thought in their mind? I found this article to be extremely interesting, especially since I have been on a cruise. I had no idea ho

Optima Go Green allows hotels using the Optima Hotel Management Solution property management system to go the extra mile and reduce the total amount of paper used by implementing Optima green solutions. The Optima Go Green solution includes features such as advance up to 24hours before using a smart phone; guest checkout allowing the guest folio to be viewed via an iPad; scanning of IDs to save time and ensure accuracy, managerial reports being able to be directly sent to the appropriate manager without having the need of being printed; allowing managers to check rate strategies and availability online on their smart phones. The maon concept of Optima goGreen is a cost effective solution which is all about managing documents without wasting time and space. This article tied in with the previous weeks discussion about green initiatives. A hotel's priamry office expense is paper and toner. By printing less we are drastically saving money by not having to waste paper. Storage is also cut down because the need of storing paper is eliminated. In such a tech savvy world, this is definitely the way to go.