Sleeping green

BOULDER – As you enter the Boulder Creek Quality Inn and Suites, it’s clear that this is not your grandfather’s hotel.

When you walk in, a television is positioned at a you-just-can’t miss it spot, but it’s not tuned to the ball game.

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(Photos by Jonathan Castner) Left: A 24.5 kilowat photovoltaic system was installed last year at the Boulder Creek Quality Inn & Suites in Boulder at a cost of $19,796. Owner Burt Lewis said it is too soon to tell exactly how the energy savings will change the bottom line. But he’s pleased with the concept of it returning power to the grid. Right: Burt Lewis, owner of the Boulder Creek Quality Inn & Suites in Boulder, sits in one of the rooms that are equipped with motion sensor activated climate controls, compact florescent lighting and low water-use toilets among other low-energy and ecological systems.

Instead, the 37-inch flatscreen is broadcasting how the Quality Inn reduces energy costs, its efforts toward reducing its carbon footprint, how much less impact this hotel has on the environment than a traditional hotel, and other factoids about the hotel’s environmental practices.

The Quality Inn is different from your traditional hotel, but it’s not alone.

The Boulder Outlook Hotel also offers the amenities the modern traveler has come to expect: high-speed Internet, pool and workout room, continental breakfast, and they are all backed by similar environmentally sustainable practices.

While the hotels are doing well and their owners, Burt Lewis of Quality Inn and Dan King of the Outlook, will talk about financial motivations for switching things up in an industry not traditionally known for its green practices, money isn’t the first thing on their minds.

“Bottom line” and “profitability” come less into play here. Their conversations are sprinkled with the words “journey” and “path.”

King explained that at the Outlook, they haven’t yet incorporated motion-sensitive lighting.

“We looked at an energy-management system like that and couldn’t make the numbers work. But it’s a journey that we’re on. We’re committed to the journey.” The Outlook’s many sustainable practices and Diane Schvene, an employee nicknamed “The Green Goddess,” are excellent examples. It’s Schvene’s job to research ways the hotel can waste less.

To that end, the Outlook’s restaurant features recyclable takeout containers and utensils, commercial composting, waste separation in the guest rooms and public areas, a small herb garden for the kitchen and food products sourced as locally as possible ( beef is from Homestead Farms in La Salle), as well as many other green features.

Green cleaning products are used where possible. In the dining room, an Activeion sprayer is used to sanitize. It transforms tap water into a cleaning agent by using a small electrical charge and an ion-exchange membrane. The ionized water helps break up dirt and lift it from a surface. The Outlook also works with the Colorado Carbon Fund through the governor’s office, an organization that works to help businesses offset their carbon footprint.

Lewis, who spent $19,796 last year for a 24.5 kilowat photovoltaic system for the Quality Inn, said it is too soon to tell exactly how the energy savings will change the bottom line. But he’s pleased with the concept of it returning power to the grid. But Lewis said he is more motivated because, “It makes sense from a human perspective. This is the path I’ve chosen. It’s the right thing to do.”

Like King, Lewis meets regularly with his staff to brainstorm new energy-efficient ways to run the hotel. Quality Inn’s green practices include using heat- and motion-sensing devices to control guest room temperatures. It also uses zero florescent and LED lighting, commercial composting, and trash containers marked paper, plastic and landfill in public areas and in the guest rooms.

But what about the bottom line?

Greening your property has the potential to make money, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Its website states that a 10 percent reduction in energy consumption can be achieved through low-cost measures such as management and operation strategies. If achieved across the industry, it would be equal to taking nearly a million cars off the road, and would have the same affect as increasing the average daily room rate $2.45 in full-service hotels and 83 cents in limited-service hotels.

“It (sustainable practices) has affected our bottom line through affecting our top line,” King said. In 2006, he saw $10,000 a month in additional business due to green efforts. King estimates 20 percent of his business today is due to green efforts, to customers who come to the Outlook specifically because of what it does to preserve the environment.

As for Lewis of the Quality Inn, he estimates that through all the work he’s done to conserve electricity, he has saved $80,000 through rebates from Xcel Energy Inc.’s incentive programs and a federal treasury grant. In the Boulder area, Lewis also owns The Golden hotel and The Boulder University Inn. (Lewis also purchased a Holiday Inn in Boulder in June). He said he has incorporated or will add sustainable materials into all of his hotels.

“If I made less it wouldn’t matter. That’s not the goal,” Lewis said. “Some things are net losers. It probably costs more money to recycle in the guest rooms, but this is the right thing to do for the planet, and I sleep better at night.”