Hilton Garden Inn Indianapolis Downtown Environmental Statement

Memberships

1. Indianapolis Green Business Network – member
2. Central Indiana Clean Air Partnership – gold member
3. Indianapolis Downtown Inc, Cleaning Partnership

Lighting & Energy Management

1. CFL in 100% of all guestrooms, and corridors, 85% of all public areas.
1. Comparison on guestroom lighting (wattage incandescent vs. fluorescent)  savings of over  1,500,000 kwh annually  - over 3360 bulbs
2. Energy management and recovery system which alerts for inefficiencies, and uses a recovery wheel to recoup conditioned air, and account for outside environmental changes.
3. 4.05 kw Solar Array deployed on the top of our 16 story building making it one of the largest in Indianapolis – in proposal stage and not deployed yet.  Will have a link to a realtime energy production from the panel.

Laundry and Water Conservation

1. Low flow toilets and low flow shower heads, saving 187,245 gallons annually.
2. Linen conservation reducing the amount of laundry
1. Voluntary Guest conservation program – we will change sheets and towels every three days for each individual guest unless they notify us otherwise. This has cut our total daily laundry load dramatically with the effect of cutting our water consumption as well.
2. Proctor and Gamble Tide – less harsh on environment with less bleach add to reduce the impact on environment.  www.greenguarantee.com

Recycling

1. Cardboard, plastics, aluminum, white paper, and newspaper equal to 20 tons of material annually. 
1. Currently active in all operational areas, public areas, and individual meeting rooms.
2. Guestroom – anticipated Fall/Winter 2008
2. Recycled fluorescent bulbs safely through an approved disposal vendor
1. Keep mercury from environment and documented hazardous safety bill of lading.

Products Utilized

1. Ecotainer coffee cup
1. 100% compostable and bio-degradable
2. Made with 100% corn derivative and does not contain petroleum resin to fortify the cup wall as a “paper” cup does
2. 30% recycled office paper
3. recycled toner and ink cartridges
4. ice mountain water bottle – eco plastic container 16oz bottle
1. made with 30% less plastic ,new label 30% smaller, 100% recyclable (including the cap)
5. Herman Miller Mirra Chair – 46% recycled content, 96% recyclable at the end of its useful life. http://www.hermanmiller.com/hm/content/category/about_us/EPS_MIR.pdf

National Totals

According to the EPA, recycling provides an annual benefit of 49.7 million metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions reduced, comparable to removing 39.4 million passenger cars from the road each year.

Interestingly, items diverted for recycling don’t always remain in the United States. The number one U.S. export by volume is scrap paper, which travels by container ships to Asia and Mexico. Scrap metal was also among our most valuable exports last year.

The scrap paper does help these nations conserve more of their forests, but as a result we lose some of ours. America’s southeastern forest – what Hershkowitz calls “the most biologically diverse forest in the world” – is still being used to make paper.

“That’s the downside of our paper exports, that we are not replacing the destruction of southeast forests with recycled fiber,” he said.

From National Geographic.com

We continue to look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint and lessen our impact on the environment.  There are clearly more things we could and possibly should be doing.  We welcome any suggestions on what else we might be able to implement.  Contact the General Manager at IND@fhginc.com.