Vancouver's Sustainable Stays

On Canada's west coast, mountains meet sea in an eclectic sprawl of urban activity. Vancouver, oft referred to as "Hollywood North," is a destination unlike any other in North America--diverse in culture, rich in art, and dogeared as one of the most appealing places to live by many a magazine. And while I've never gotten the chance to venture due north of Seattle or south of Alaska, I've always held a sweet spot for the city. A crush from afar, if you will.

This month, the buzzing metropolis plays host to the 2010 Olympics, luring international travelers from near and far and offering up a hardly surprising array of eco accommodations. We're taking a closer look at some of the city's downtown alternative energy options should you be inspired to plan a visit of your own. After all, there's a lot of gold, silver and bronze in this town right now... someone should be cheering on the green too, right?

The Listel Hotel
Loaded with artistic appeal, The Listel Hotel is an airy, colorful downtown destination that's known locally for its live jazz seven nights a week. An intimate size with 119 guestrooms and 10 suites, The Listel offers guests a choice of rooms on Museum or Gallery floors--both featuring key pieces of Northwest Coast eye candy--and subscribes to an initiative dubbed Environment Matters. Created with annual objective setting and reviews, the program serves as a check point to ensure that waste is minimized, natural resources are conserved, and decision-making incorporates eco considerations. Most admirably, it hinges on community partnerships (including a solar panel project with a B.C.-based renewable energy leader), education and increased awareness of positive environmental change.

Cascadia Hotel
An extended-stay property, Cascadia Hotel & Suites is the nation's first to be 100 percent zero-waste... using mixed container recycling, organic recycling and alternative recovery to help choke the flow of everyday trash. In addition, the hotel, a dream for business travelers, uses annual third-party audits to measure successes and reveal strategic opportunities. The 2008 run-down calculated 106 cubic yards of saved landfill space, 601 un-chopped trees, and nearly 250,000 gallons of water left in the ocean.

Pacific Palisades Hotel
A boutique option on chic shopper's Robson Street, the Pacific Palisades Hotel appeals to the trendy traveler with 232 mod guestrooms and suites, a rotating local art gallery, and requisite state-of-the-art spa. Recently awarded a four out of five Green Key ECOmmodation rating by the Hotel Association of Canada, the property has taken several small-scale steps to greening up, including organic menu options, composting kitchen waste, low-flow water valves, and eco-conscious cleaners. Guests can save 10 percent by using the Green Rate (code EOR).

Header image courtesy of Thom Quine, via Flickr.

Does Your Hotel Offset 100% Electricity?

There are about, oh, a gazillion "standards" when it comes to rating green lodging. I'm not in favor of adding another semi-reliable rule-maker to the list, so instead, I'm taking a closer look at the hotels and resorts that have made one very impressive list courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The 100% Green Power Purchaser list represents only the organizations that buy enough alternative power to meet 100 percent of their ENTIRE electricity use. Made up of several different industries, the list hosts a small number of travel and leisure companies, even fewer when we're just considering accommodations. In the whole lineup, however, the combined power purchases amounts to nearly 5.5 billion kilowatt-hours annually, enough to power 544,000 average U.S. homes per year.

The 100% Green Power Purchaser list represents only the organizations that buy enough alternative power to meet 100 percent of their ENTIRE electricity use.

The list changes annually, as organizations opt in and out of the program, but in my opinion, it's worth dropping a note to the owners of your favorite hotel. Whether they're a B&B, a boutique hotel or a sprawling resort, this is a step that speaks volumes and doesn't pass unnoticed.

Never heard of the EPA's Green Power Purchaser list before? Take a look at the above link and scout out other retailers and service providers near you who made the cut.

100% Green Power Purchasers
Alpine House Inn & Spa (Jackson Hole, WY)
Aropahoe Basin Ski Resort (Keystone, CO)
Carlyle Suites Hotel (Washington, D.C.)
Grand Targhee Resort (Alta, WY)
Habitat Suites Hotel (Austin, TX)
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (Jackson Hole, WY)
Legacy Hotel & Meeting Centre (Rockville, MD)
Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa (Whitefield, NH)
Powdr Ski Resorts (Park City, UT)
Savoy Suites Hotel (Washington, D.C.)
Steven's Pass Resort (Skykomish, WA)
Stratton Mountain Resort (Stratton Mountain, VT)
Sugar Bowl Ski Resort (Norden, CA)
Talbott Hotel (Chicago, IL) *shown above

Eco City Planned for Singapore

When I think of my list of must-visit locations, the town named Punggol is nowhere near the top. Let's be serious, it's not even on the list. In fact, I hadn't even heard of it until recently... let alone have any idea how to pronounce it. YET, it's caught my attention. Located in Singapore, it's slated to be the country's first "eco-town," capitalizing on the newest green tech, according to a recent article by The Straits Times.

A former fishing village, the city that's home to roughly 52,000 people is undergoing a transformation to become the testbed of eco innovation in Singapore. The country's Housing and Development Board, responsible for public housing--and widely credited for solving the squatter issues of the '60s--is leading the project. Energy and water conservation efforts, as well as waste management and solar-power initiatives, will be featured among smaller, walkable communities with shared green spaces. Naturally, an integrated public transit network will allow people to get from one place to another in a more efficient manner, including via waterway.

Tell me this: What features would be critical to have in your dream eco-city? CNN's GO network took a stab with the article "Welcome to Emerald City, sustainable eco-lopolis of the future." There's some good stuff there, too--a piecing-together of their most admired innovations--from a passenger powered subway to an urban forest. Lovely, if you ask me.