(Credit: Studio Gang)Urban Villages, a real estate developer, has started construction on Populus, the first carbon positive hotel in the US. Opening in Denver in late 2023, the 265-room hotel is expected to be carbon positive thanks both to its sustainable design and construction features as well as a substantial ecological effort offsite, the company says. This includes an initial commitment to planting trees that represent over 5,000 acres of forest, which will help to offset the hotel’s carbon footprint.
“We’ve created Populus to be a catalyst for change and to meet the increasing preference by today’s consumers to travel responsibly, experience places in an authentic way, and connect more deeply with nature and each other,” says Jon Buerge, Chief Development Officer and Partner at Urban Villages.
A recent study by Kind Traveler shows that 96% of travelers want their vacation dollars to positively impact the place they visit – further underscoring the demand for a destination like Populus. Further, real estate’s impact on the environment is intensifying, with buildings currently accounting for 45% of greenhouse emissions in the United States.
Populus will mitigate its carbon footprint by implementing green practices derived from extensive research and scientific studies. Urban Villages has calculated the carbon footprint of Populus and made a long-term commitment to be carbon positive. Instead of purchasing untraceable carbon credits, Urban Villages is accomplishing Populus’ carbon positive status by proactively planting and growing trees.
An article from Hydrofinity shows that going green can help hotels save money, stating, “LED lights last an average of 50,000 hours to an incandescent bulb’s meager 1,200 hours. That means you would have to pay for parts and labor to replace an incandescent light 41 times before you would have to buy a replacement LED light and have housekeeping replace it.”
Other hotels making sustainability efforts include Accor, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Marriott International, which worked with World Wildlife fund (WWF) and Greenview to develop a measurement methodology that will provide a common approach for the hotel industry to collect data and to measure and report waste.
In addition to the waste management methodology, Hilton undertook a thorough ESG materiality assessment to ensure that its Travel with Purpose programs “remained aligned with the issues that matter most to Hilton’s business and stakeholders” and focus its efforts on the areas it can have the most impact, the company says.
