Hotels including the Marriott, MGM Mirage CityCenter and ARIA Resort & Casino continue to ramp up their eco-friendly projects. Some are adding unique programs to their "green" measures such as converting cooking oil to biodiesel while others are adding clean-fueled transportation and generating their own electricity. States are also adding green lodging certification programs.
As an example, Marriott International recently started a test program at a few properties in the Washington, D.C. area that is converting cooking oil into biodiesel, reports Green Lodging News.
The program has now expanded to include a total of thirteen Marriott, Renaissance, JW Marriott, and Courtyard hotels in the D.C. area and Marriott's corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Md., according to the article. Marriott is in the process of rolling the program out to all of its properties.
In addition, the recycling process is cost neutral for the properties, and for every gallon of biodiesel produced means there is one less gallon of petroleum that needs to be imported, according to the Marriott, reports Green Lodging News.
On the west coast, the MGM Mirage CityCenter project has recycled more than 130,000 tons of recyclable materials generated since its inception, with 95 percent of the material diverted from landfills, according to Evergreen Recycling, reports Recycling Today. This translates into a carbon offset of 17.7 million gallons of gasoline and 385,000 barrels of crude oil, according to the article.
CityCenter, the 18-million-sq.-ft. multi-use development project on the Las Vegas Strip, has received six Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certifications for its buildings. CityCenter is operated by the MGM Mirage.
ARIA Resort & Casino, located at the heart of CityCenter, claims to be the first resort on the Las Vegas Strip to generate its own electricity and has commissioned the first fleet of clean-fueled CNG stretch limousines.
While Michigan offers a green lodging program, as does New York, Oklahoma, Indiana, South Carolina, and Maryland, the state is now adding a green certification effort that applies to entertainment venues, convention centers and similar facilities, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Aimed in part at driving the adoption of practices that conserve natural resources and prevent pollution, the Green Venues Michigan Certification is modeled after the state's Green Lodging Michigan program, according to the article.
The first to get certification are the Michigan International Speedway, Pierce Cedar Creek Institute in Hastings, Grand Valley State University's L.V. Eberhard Center, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, reports the Chicago Tribune.
