Hilton LightStay Program Helped Save $29M in 2009

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Hilton Worldwide's program to calculate and analyze environmental impact - dubbed "LightStay" - helped save hotel owners more than $29 million in water and energy costs in 2009.

Under the program, Hilton's 1,300 locations have undergone two years of internal evaluations, according to a press release. The LightStay system measures indicators across 200 operational practices including housekeeping, paper product use, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation.

Worldwide, the properties reduced energy use 5 percent, carbon output by 6 percent and water use by 2.4 percent in 2009.

The hotel chain also has amped up its efforts to reduce waste output, resulting in a 10 percent reduction.

“The insights we gained from the LightStay system prompted our property to launch a waste decomposition program that eliminates as much as a thousand pounds of garbage a day,” said Mark Lauer, General Manager, Hilton New York.

In recognition of that hotel's environmentally-friendly energy fuel cell, which sits atop the building’s fifth floor roof, the Hilton New York was awarded the 2008-2009 Environmental Recognition Program “Green Street” Award by the Avenue of the Americas Association.

By the end of 2011, all 3,500 properties within Hilton Worldwide’s global portfolio of brands will use LightStay.

Hilton has contracted with KEMA-Registered Quality to perform a series of third-party audits of LightStay.

Environment + Energy Leader