LiveSmart BC Community Feature
Climate Smarts Power Hotel
Kelowna’s Best Western hotel recently installed 101 solar panels to power 145 guest rooms, two hot tubs and a swimming pool. The retrofit will permanently reduce 90 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year.
Hotelier Greg Salloum says that while the hotel has been making sustainable choices since 1990, EcoTrust Canada’s Climate Smart program helped the Best Western take its climate actions to the next level.
He shares his experience with the program with LiveSmart BC, below.
LiveSmart BC: Why did the Best Western decide to take part in Climate Smart?
Greg Salloum: I saw the Climate Smart program as a great way to learn how to measure our carbon footprint. We have been doing a lot of work on building a sustainable business model but lacked the tools to gather accurate baseline data.
LSBC: Did the program have an impact on how you do business?
GS: The benchmarking of our carbon emissions was the most useful aspect of the program for us. We have been doing many things to save energy and money and reduce our liquid and solid waste streams. The program showed us how to use the whole operations footprint to determine the amount of our total direct carbon emissions.
Also, by learning what other companies (big and small) were doing to address their issues, we learned about future opportunities for carbon reductions.
LSBC: Do you find that your customers appreciate your efforts to be Climate Smart?
GS: Our guests learn about our sustainability efforts from our website and from our in-room guest directory and lobby display boards. Some guests send us emails when they are booking telling us they are supporting us because of our sustainability efforts. Most that have learned about our efforts likely just appreciate having a guilt free vacation.
LSBC: Do you find that your employees appreciate your efforts to be Climate Smart?
GS: Some of our staff will bend my ear and let me know how much they appreciate having an employer that cares about the same things they care about. Others don’t mention it, so I am thinking of doing an employee survey to determine the extent of knowledge. We have an environment committee and the first step we are working on is educating the staff about our efforts, so we can better educate the public.
LSBC: Did the program have an impact on your own climate smarts?
GS: It helped me better understand the impact of global warming and how humans have been contributing to this in many different ways.
LSBC: Would you recommend the program to other businesses?
GS: I would absolutely recommend Climate Smart to businesses wanting to learn more about climate change and how to contribute positively to the planet by reducing their carbon footprints.
For information about the training program, visit Climate Smart. For information about LiveSmart BC's Climate Smart Contest, click here.
