WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman has officially launched the newest ENERGY STAR performance rating tool for hotels. For the first time, hotels can benchmark their energy performance against others on a nationwide scale of one to 100. “Hotels can now compare the energy performance of their hotels to others nationwide and are eligible to earn and display the ENERGY STAR label for their top performers,” said Whitman during a speech at the National Press Club during the Energy Efficiency Forum here. “Last year alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $5 billion on their energy bills and reduced pollution equivalent to that of 10 million cars. Over 800 office buildings and schools across the country have already earned the ENERGY STAR label, and thousands have used EPAs tool to compare their buildings. I look forward to working in partnership with the hospitality industry to improve upon our success and have an enormous impact on our environment,” continued Whitman. In launching the availability of the hotel benchmarking tool, Whitman recognized the first two hotels in the country to receive the ENERGY STAR label for superior energy performance: the Courtyard Indianapolis Capital, owned by White Lodging Services Corp., and the Sheraton Boston Hotel, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Among those within the hospitality sector that helped the EPA test the new energy performance rating tool are Tharaldson Lodging, Starwood, White Lodging, MeriStar Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt Corp. and Servidyne Systems. The hotel industry spends almost $5 billion a year on energy bills. If hotels improved their energy efficiency by an average of 30%, the annual electricity bill savings would be nearly $1.5 billion and almost six million fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted, noted the EPA.
