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The Carlton Hotel, a 161 room 3-star Joie de Vivre boutique hotel located in San Francisco’s lower Nob Hill area, near Union Square and the Theatre District, has deployed 105 solar panels in two solar arrays on the hotel’s roof with help from Sunlight Electric and will start using solar power starting April 21st 2008. The hotel is a certified green business. “The operational changes we’ve made along with the new solar array will lessen the environmental impact of the hotel,” said Pamela Flank, General Manager of the Hotel Carlton. “We are proud to have met the strict San Francisco Green Business certification standards so that we can offer an environmentally-sustainable experience to our guests, our employees and the community.” The solar array is expected to reduce hotel’s electricity usage by 12%, reduce the release of carbon into the environment by 33,000 lbs. per year and save 4.5 acres of trees per year.
The balance of the hotel’s energy use is offset via Carbonfund.org Read the full press release. You know, I never quite gave it much thought, but there’s a really big silver lining if you force businesses to purchase carbon offsets for their energy use. They’ll start feeling the heat, so to speak, and start coming up with ways to either reduce their energy use or start innovating and generate their own alternative energy, using solar panels and such.
Anyway, it’s always good business to be a bit ahead of the herd, and make no mistake - This is a trend. As goes California, so goes the nation. And as goes San Francisco, so goes California. You’ll soon see solar panels on every friggin roof in San Francisco, and then all over California. Hotels, who have both corporate image and business at stake, are likely to be ‘greenified’ first. So, it’s a safe bet to say that the Carlton Hotel is on to something here which other San Francisco hotels should sit up and take notice of.
Carlton Hotel Profile: 161 guest rooms including 2 suites, all furnished and equipped with complimentary wireless high speed internet access, in-room laptop safe, marble topped writing desk, coffee maker, cable TV, CD player, iron and board and hairdryer.
Connecting rooms for groups or families available upon request. Amenities at the Carlton include concierge and valet laundry services, valet parking and airport shuttle service.
Web: www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/carlton/; Address: 1075 Sutter St San Francisco, CA 94109; Telephone: (415) 673-0242