'Pure Green' Eco-Friendly Hotel Brand Launches

Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp. (OTC:OTHM.PK), an emerging Travel and Hotel Management Company, operating online travel booking site 128trip.com and hotel management subsidiary Hotel PURE , to introduce a new brand under the Hotel PURE line of offering call the Hotel PURE GREEN.

Recent research showed that people around the world are becoming more aware of their living environment and their surrounding air quality. No longer can people take it for granted that we can pollute the world in any which way desire without any subsequent environmental consequences. Hotel PURE has recently been approached by a number of hotels in Costa Rica and hotels in Central America that are GREEN certified, expressing their interests to join the Hotel PURE brands. After visits and evaluating some of these hotels, the Company finds it necessary to introduce a new brand call the Hotel PURE GREEN aimed at accommodating hotels that are GREEN certified or CERTIFICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM (CST), by the government of Costa Rica and other countries in the region. In order to obtain this certification, the hotel locations will have to pass a list of strict compliance which involves avoid emissions, harmful products and pollution, efficiently handles waste that it produces, uses natural, biodegradable, and recyclable products, has a water and electrical energy conservation program among other protocols that will make the hotels more environmental friendly. CST has also been acknowledged by the World Tourism Organization as “one of the programs that is rethinking how tourism is done .”

Ken Chua, President of Oriens comments, “enough damages have been done to our planet through all forms of methods that include manufacturers’ pollutions, automobile emission, power generating plants emission and other harmful pollutions that we cannot reverse, but we certainly can look to the future and start to conserve what we have today by cutting back as much pollutions as possible. That is the reason we fully endorse this program and will try our very best to promote these beautiful Hotel PURE GREEN locations to our customers looking to travel to Costa Rica in the near future .”

Hotel Pure

For More Information on Green Hotels, go to Greenlodge.Org

Green Taxis

Green Taxis are coming sooner than you might think.

New York City and San Francisco have adopted new policies to replace their existing taxi fleet with new green taxis. In New York, the "yellow" cabs are going to be completely replaced by hybrids by by 2012. The new standards will be phased in over a four-year period and will reduce the carbon emissions of New York City's taxicab and for-hire vehicle fleet by 50% during the next decade, and will also save individual operators an average of $10,000 a year in fuel costs.

NYC's "black" cars, the corporate limousine service, will also be replaced by more fuel efficient vehicles. Currently, black cars average 12-15 mph. The TLC will require fuel efficiency standards for new licensed black car vehicles of 25mpg in 2009 and 30mpg in 2010. There will be a retirement phase-in cycle that will ensure almost all vehicles associated with black car bases are more fuel-efficient by 2013. Black cars currently contribute 272,000 tons of CO2 equivalents annually, which make up 2% of the City's transportation related emissions. Switching to green cars results in more money for owners as well. Hybrid cars will save owner-operator drivers upwards of $5,000 per year in gasoline expenses - approximately 50% of their current fuel costs. These savings will allow drivers to cover, in just one year, the additional cost of purchasing a new hybrid car over the currently used Lincoln Town Car.

San Francisco is following suit by passing new legislation that will make the entire fleet of cabs "green" by 2011. Currently, about 15% of the city's cabs are either hybrids or run on compressed natural gas.

The impact of these changes are dramatic on several fronts. First, the resulting decrease in CO2 emissions is quite significant. Second, the demand for hybrid cabs will likely help improve the overall economics of producing hybrids by increasing production volume and this may end up decreasing the costs of bringing on new technologies such as lithium ion batteries. Finally, for the residents of large cities like NYC and San Francisco, there will be less ground level pollution resulting from idling cabs.

Princeton Review gives 11 Schools perfect 'Green Rating'

The green trend is quickly catching on as now universities are going the green route. In its first rating of environmentally institutions, the Princeton Review named 11 Universities as top green schools.

"The 2009 Green Rating Honor Roll" gave 534 college and universities a score from 60 to 99 based on a survey from the 2007-2008 academic year, developed by a panel of "experts in higher education green practices," according to the program's Web site.

Schools are judged on three criteria: whether students have a healthy and sustainable quality of life, how well the school is preparing students to work in the clean energy economy of the 21st century and how environmentally responsible the school's policies are.

Questions cover a range of topics, from energy consumption to transportation to educational opportunities.

The Top Rated Green Schools Include:

- Arizona State University
- Bates College
- College of the Atlantic
- Emory University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Harvard
- SUNY Binghamton
- University of New Hampshire
- University of Oregon
- University of Washington
- Yale

Princeton Review Green Rating

For More Information on the Green Movement, go to Greenlodge.Org

Hotel Carlton is San Francisco’s First Solar-Powered Hotel

San Francisco’s Hotel Carlton is utilizing solar power facilities in order to offset the property’s energy use. Previously certified as an “official Green Business” by the city of San Francisco for several sustainability-focused initiatives, The 161-room Hotel Carlton boutique hotel, managed by Joie de Vivre Hospitality and located on lower Nob Hill at 1075 Sutter Street, has engaged a wide variety of environmentally-responsible practices. Hotel Carlton’s daily operations comply with all voluntary environmental regulations that conserve natural resources, prevent pollution and reduce waste.

Management had previously instituted processes that adopted environmentally-friendly non-chemical cleaning products, recycled paper, and soy-based inks, plus a comprehensive recycling program in guestrooms and hotel operations. Motion light detectors in guestroom closets along with low flow showerheads and toilets conserve energy and water. Organic products are featured in Saha, the hotel’s Arabic-fusion restaurant, and the soda machine has been replaced with a complimentary filtered water machine that also helps cut down on bottled water use.

Hotel Carlton partnered with San Francisco-based Sunlight Electric to install 105 solar panels covering 1,332 square feet on the hotel’s roof. The solar array is expected to reduce the hotel’s electricity usage by 12 percent, reduce the release of carbon into the environment by 33,000 pounds per year and save 4.5 acres of trees per year. Through a computer monitor stationed at the hotel’s front desk, guests will be able to monitor the total kilowatt energy generated by the solar power system. The balance of the energy used is being offset through the hotel’s participation with Carbonfund.org, making Hotel Carlton’s entire operation carbon-neutral.

Hotel Carlton

Find Out More Information on Green Hotels at Greenlodge.Org

Hotels Eliminate Phone Books

While a vast majority of hotels in the USA continue to stock phone books, Omni joins a growing list of hotel chains that are eliminating them to cut down on paper waste and present clutter-free rooms. Hyatt Hotels, Hyatt Place, Kimpton Hotels and several chains operated by Starwood Hotels - Westin, Sheraton, Aloft and Element - no longer carry phone books in their rooms.

Omni Hotels, citing environmental concerns, announced Wednesday that it will eliminate phone books in its 45 hotels. The current stock of 30,000 phone books will be recycled, the Irving, Texas-based company says.

Find Out More Information about Green Hotels at Greenlodge.Org

Interactive Concierge makes Hotel Lobby Green

The latest 'green' product for hotel lobbies has arrived, The Interactive Concierge. The Interactive Concierge is an interactive touch-screen directory kiosk that provides area information for hotel guests, including restaurants, activities, attractions and personal services. The Interactive Concierge will print color brochures and coupons, as well as directional maps, and even offers the possibility to make reservations directly through the kiosk.

The Interactive Concierge is an alternative to the standard 'brochure rack' form of information dissemination. Guests will be less likely to grab 'stacks and stacks' of pre-printed brochures, few of which they will actually utilize, and more likely to print off only those brochures that they are truly interested in, saving waste and saving trees.

In addition to the 'greening' of the hotel lobby, The Interactive Concierge provides a clean, professional presentation of information dissemination making any hotel lobby a more attractive environment.

The Interactive Concierge has been implemented in a number of key hotels in the Cocoa Beach, Florida and Kennedy Space Center area.

The Interactive Concierge

Find More Information about Green Hotels on Greenlodge.Org

Democratic National Convention Going Green

As Denver gears up to host the Democratic National Convention later this month, the host committee and the city are doing their part to encourage environmentally friendly practices during the convention. They laid out several goals and commitments on their website, they are:

• Minimizing any potentially negative environmental impacts of the 2008 Convention on our community;
• Creating a new green standard for all conventions that can be reproduced in the future, here in Denver and elsewhere;
• Demonstrating the economic and community benefits of greening;
• Educating our own citizens and our guests about green and healthy choices they make in their own lives; and
• Building an enduring positive environmental legacy that will echo here and around the country long after the last delegate leaves Denver.

All of this is in an effort to host the “greenest political convention in the history of the planet.” according to Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper.

The Denver 2008 Host Committee, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and Greenprint Denver program, has put into place 10 focused task teams and over 100 volunteers from the public, private, and non-profit sectors to address the various aspects of greening by designing and implementing solid work plans focused not only on the convention, but also on creating a legacy for Denver.

As the convention gets closer, we look forward to seeing more examples and models for running large scale events while incorporating green practices. In September, we will be looking to the Republican National Convention green planning and practices as they too try to make their event more eco-friendly.