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IN FOCUS<br />
The resort harnesses pristine<br />
water from the waterfall for<br />
use in the lodge’s operations<br />
066<br />
Heat pumps provide the comfort<br />
of heat and cool when required on<br />
an economic basis. Local, organic<br />
gourmet food is fresh and designed<br />
to suit the personal tastes and<br />
dietary requirements of the guests.<br />
Even the wine, beer, juices, tea and<br />
coff ee are all organic.<br />
Some hotel brands started on<br />
their ‘green’ eff orts back in 2007.<br />
Banyan Tree launched ‘Greening<br />
Communities’ to raise awareness of<br />
climate change by planting 2,000<br />
trees every year until 2016.<br />
Banyan Tree Phuket has planted<br />
12,749 trees since 2007, exceeding<br />
its target of 8,000. In 2010, the<br />
resort also launched an on-site<br />
vermicompost to reduce the amount<br />
of solid waste sent to the landfi ll and<br />
provide fertile topsoil for its on-site<br />
nurseries and gardens.<br />
In Australia, Daintree Eco Lodge<br />
& Spa’s vision is to preserve and<br />
provide education on not only the<br />
local rainforest (at 135 million years,<br />
the world’s oldest) but also the<br />
world’s oldest living culture — the<br />
Australian Aborigines.<br />
The resort also concentrates on<br />
many other environmental aspects,<br />
including the harnessing of the<br />
pristine water from the waterfall<br />
for use in all aspects of the lodge’s<br />
operations and its cycle through the<br />
Bi-O-Cycle Waste treatment plant to<br />
become irrigation water, returned to<br />
the land.<br />
In Cambodia, the Sofi tel<br />
Phnom Penh Phokeethra has<br />
also established its eco-friendly<br />
credentials. The property recycles<br />
80 per cent of its monthly waste to<br />
produce methanol, which is then<br />
used to provide energy for the staff<br />
canteen, the hotel kitchen and one<br />
of the property’s boilers. Didier<br />
Lamoot, the hotel’s general manager,<br />
explains: “You can’t open a hotel in<br />
<strong>2011</strong> without signifi cant investment<br />
in green technologies. The world<br />
just doesn’t work that way anymore.<br />
No one can aff ord to have soot all<br />
over their footprints.”<br />
Meanwhile, over in Ho Chi Minh<br />
City, older properties like the iconic<br />
Caravelle Hotel are belying their<br />
venerable status by promoting<br />
cutting-edge green policies. In<br />
December last year, the Caravelle<br />
completed installation of a waste-<br />
TRANG<br />
water treatment facility that recycles<br />
NHA<br />
40 per cent of the property’s water<br />
each month.<br />
SHERATON<br />
Other green policies adopted by<br />
the Caravelle in recent times include RESORTS; &<br />
reducing electricity consumption<br />
by switching to energy-saving<br />
HOTELS<br />
light bulbs and installing a high-<br />
TREE<br />
effi ciency chiller to power its<br />
BANYAN<br />
air-conditioning system. Over the<br />
PENH;<br />
course of the next year, the hotel<br />
aims to reduce harmful carbon<br />
PHNOM<br />
dioxide emissions by four per cent<br />
SOFITEL<br />
by replacing its current diesel-<br />
TOP:<br />
fuelled boiler with a high-effi ciency<br />
FROM<br />
heat pump.<br />
The Sheraton Nha Trang, which IMAGES
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