BOSTON GREEN TOURISM
CREATING A GREENER WELCOME FOR GREATER BOSTON'S VISITORS
What is a Green Hotel?
This is a question that perplexes many hospitality industry professionals. There is no single standard that is universally accepted. Common categories of environmental friendliness include:
At Boston Green Tourism, we give energy efficiency the most consideration, because the use of fossil fuel is most closely associated with the world’s greatest environmental problem, global warming. Others give more weight to waste management or indoor air quality.
Whatever a hotel’s strengths, how could it prove its green worthiness? The clearest way is to become green-certified by an independent body. There are five certifications that Boston Green Tourism accepts:
Click here for more information about these programs.
Given our focus on energy efficiency, Boston Green Tourism provides our most active support for hotels working to achieve the U.S. EPA Energy Star label, which requires hotels to be in the top 25% of their peers in energy efficiency. Fortunately, the EPA provides hotels with robust support to become certified. Boston Green Tourism hotels have benefited from both Energy Star’s extensive website and its training programs.
Boston Green Tourism also promotes Green Seal’s certification program as the most comprehensive environmental certification, and the LEED certification program, for green buildings.
There are many Boston-area hotels that have impressive environmental programs, but are not green-certified. Some, like many of the Boston Green Tourism member facilities, are working towards certification. Still others have made impressive strides, but fall short of the high thresholds required for certification, for instance due to structurally inefficient buildings. Boston Green Tourism nonetheless recommends that these facilities publicize their environmental achievements.
Greater Boston’s Green Hotels
Thus far, Greater Boston has 26 green-certified hotels, all having earned the Energy Star label:
Other Boston Green Tourism member hotels are improving their environmental program; and most are moving towards green certification:
