Welcome to EcoLodgical! No it is not spelled wrong. This project seeks to broaden the acceptance and practice of green building techniques and environmental strategies (Eco) in the hospitality sector (Lodging). However, the ideas, strategies, and techniques can be applied to all sorts of construction and design.

The initiative of this project was to determine and attempt to remove the barriers that prevent communities, businesses, and people from employing environmentally sensitive design to their human environments. The focus and challenge of EcoLodgical is to break down communication barriers that exist between those who know (a growing few) and those that want to know (growing even faster). One solutions appears to include using the internet to serve (what technology is intended for – to serve us all including our biosphere) or provide content in the most economical (financially, chronologically) and flexible manner as to reach the greatest audience.

Thus EcoLodgical is an education tool, an environmental design manual, and a node for environmental progress in the hospitality industry. Please take the time to immerse yourself in the various means of finding and digesting the environmental design information that interests you.

Teachers and all forms of educators may be interested in first selecting the “teacher/educator” mode which filters out the details of each topic and rather provides a broad overview of the key issues. Specific teacher resources will also be included at the end of each topic.

Urban planners and government regulators new to environmental design may wish to choose the “planner” option to view the key topics in more detail but to bypass the detailed sub topics of each environmental design element.

Finally, architects, engineers, building operators and people seeking a complete overview and details of each topic should select the 'designer/operator' option, which will provide extensive information on each topic and sub-topic. Additional information including references, web resource URLs, and comments will be provided after each sub-topic (if selected).

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ISSUE
Environmental Design - Green Buildings

Environmental building design is design that engages environmental considerations.

It is design that includes environmental criteria in the decision making or filtering steps that lead to the completion of a design.

Adjectivally, the term environmental is often thought of as an incidental issue. A public concern and an addition to marketing that adds cost but distinguishes one product over another. However, the term environmental modifies design so radically that it is almost a discipline on to its own.

But if environmental design includes consideration of the environment than what is design exclusive of environmental criteria? Perhaps labeled as conventional, western, or modern design, non-environmental design surrounds many of us. It is our local archetype that has manifested out of an optimization of the current western societal framework. Costs and therefore deterrents are applicable only in a narrow sense. Only in relatively undeveloped regions of the world or in select cases where alternative designs have survived the cost cutting accounting to be built do we see really different examples of building design. In many instances, these local architectural forms lend great insight into the environmentally optimal design patterns for a region.

To achieve environmental design it is imperative that the entire design method, approach, and discipline be overhauled. Every component, every guideline, every mark of the pen must consider the implications of the adjective environmental. As such, environmental design must be thought of as an overall approach or philosophy. It's limits go well beyond the practice of design to every aspect of society and to the personal life of every designer. It becomes a way of life, a way of thinking, a means to interact with the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BUILDINGS
In 1995, a succinct summary delineating the impacts of buildings on the environment in no more than a paragraph was published by Roodman and Lenssen. This simple yet provocative piece has become a keystone for green building documentation. It is cited in no fewer than 177 online documents (Google).

The Worldwatch Institute authors note simply that buildings consume two fifths of world energy production (Roodman 1995). This does not include the energy that is required to harvest, manufacture, and transport all the materials used to construct and maintain buildings. One sixth of all water pumped out of natural flows are consumed in buildings. One quarter of all virgin wood harvested ends up in buildings. And this does not account for all the interior wood furniture.

FIGURE 1: Summary of building environmental impacts.



Considering the flooding urban sprawl, strain on energy supply, decline in water resources, declining availability of large dimensional lumber, and the increasing incidence of sick building syndrome, changes to the largest consumer of natural resources are necessarily imminent. Combined buildings are the accumulation of what is wrong with society today. They also represent the answer to radically reducing our impact on the planet.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Fear not, technical solutions exist for the majority of environmental impacts caused by buildings. And they have been applied in a small proportion of buildings around the world. The biggest problem is that the decision-makers are not privy to the solutions or are lack significant detail to be able to employ the environmentally efficient strategies.

Commercial buildings comprise a smaller proportion of the building infrastructure. However, improvements in their environmental performance provide awareness for occupants, which can have a multiplier effect. Fortunately as of late, economic forces have encouraged many companies to add environmental awareness to their marketing agenda. Some pioneering companies are addressing issues throughout their organizations while others are altering their corporate headquarters in an attempt to improve their image.

In Bangkok, a new office building uses 80% less energy than a comparable building, while the ING bank headquarters in Amsterdam uses ten percent the energy of its predecessor. The Canadian outdoor company Mountain Equipment Coop recently built a new retail outlet that used 50% recycled material by weight. And the Vancouver Island Technology Park diverted 90% of construction from the landfill. The impacts of these projects illustrate the solutions exist in all regions of the planet.

Under economic pressure by European travel agencies, the Kandalama Hotel in Sri Lanka was designed in 1994 to exceed existing environmental standards. Aitken Spence (owners) realized the changing values that were forming market forces and recruited Geofrey Bawa (architect) to design one of the most environmentally sensitive hotels in Asia. Others followed including the Orchid Hotel in Mumbai, India and the Aurum Lodge in Alberta.

See green hotel case studies...

Kandalama Hotel - Sri Lanka - - 59K
The Orchid - India - - 95K
Aurum Lodge - Canada - - 59K

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Making Your Hotel Green

What is a Green Building?
CITY OF SAN JOSE

A "green" building can be defined as any building that is sited, designed, constructed, operated, and maintained for the health and well-being of the occupants, while minimizing impact on the environment.

"Green building" refers to those practices that promote occupant health and comfort while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. There are different degrees of "greenness." Often, it is necessary to strike a balance between many different, sometimes conflicting, green options based on the particular conditions of a given project. For example, proper strategy for a sustainable retrofit project may differ from that of new construction design.

Green building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach to design. Green buildings promote resource conservation by including design features which encourage energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, and encourage water conservation. By promoting resource conservation, green building design creates healthy and comfortable environments, reduces operation and maintenance costs, considers environmental impacts of building construction and retrofit, and concentrates on waste minimization. In the interim, green building design addresses such issues as historical preservation and access to public transportation and other community infrastructure systems. The entire life cycle of the building and its components is considered, as well as the building's economic and environmental impact and performance.

UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

A Berkeley “green” building can be defined as a building that is sited, designed, constructed, and operated to maximize present and future beneficial impacts on the environment.

ENERGYBUILDER.COM

Green Buildings are really resource efficient buildings and are very energy efficient, utilize construction materials wisely -- including recycled, renewable, and reused resources to the maximum extent practical -- are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants, are typically more comfortable and easier to live with due to lower operating and owning costs, and are good for the planet. The overall environmental impact of new building and community development and the choices made when we either reuse or demolish existing structures is very important.

ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING NEWS

Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment--both during construction and through their operation. 'Green building' is a loosely defined collection of land-use, building design, and construction strategies that reduces these environmental impacts. Benefits of building green include:

reduced energy consumption,

protection of ecosystems, and

occupant health.

REFERENCES
Joseph, Alexander T., YourHomePlanet.com, Calgary, Canada, 2002.

Roodman, David M. and Nicholas Lenssen, World Watch Paper #124 - "A Building Revolution: How Ecology and Health Concerns Are Transforming Construction", 2002.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ISSUE
Environmental Design - Green Buildings

Environmental building design is design that engages environmental considerations.

It is design that includes environmental criteria in the decision making or filtering steps that lead to the completion of a design.

Adjectivally, the term environmental is often thought of as an incidental issue. A public concern and an addition to marketing that adds cost but distinguishes one product over another. However, the term environmental modifies design so radically that it is almost a discipline on to its own.

But if environmental design includes consideration of the environment than what is design exclusive of environmental criteria? Perhaps labeled as conventional, western, or modern design, non-environmental design surrounds many of us. It is our local archetype that has manifested out of an optimization of the current western societal framework. Costs and therefore deterrents are applicable only in a narrow sense. Only in relatively undeveloped regions of the world or in select cases where alternative designs have survived the cost cutting accounting to be built do we see really different examples of building design. In many instances, these local architectural forms lend great insight into the environmentally optimal design patterns for a region.

To achieve environmental design it is imperative that the entire design method, approach, and discipline be overhauled. Every component, every guideline, every mark of the pen must consider the implications of the adjective environmental. As such, environmental design must be thought of as an overall approach or philosophy. It's limits go well beyond the practice of design to every aspect of society and to the personal life of every designer. It becomes a way of life, a way of thinking, a means to interact with the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BUILDINGS
In 1995, a succinct summary delineating the impacts of buildings on the environment in no more than a paragraph was published by Roodman and Lenssen. This simple yet provocative piece has become a keystone for green building documentation. It is cited in no fewer than 177 online documents (Google).

The Worldwatch Institute authors note simply that buildings consume two fifths of world energy production (Roodman 1995). This does not include the energy that is required to harvest, manufacture, and transport all the materials used to construct and maintain buildings. One sixth of all water pumped out of natural flows are consumed in buildings. One quarter of all virgin wood harvested ends up in buildings. And this does not account for all the interior wood furniture.

FIGURE 1: Summary of building environmental impacts.



Considering the flooding urban sprawl, strain on energy supply, decline in water resources, declining availability of large dimensional lumber, and the increasing incidence of sick building syndrome, changes to the largest consumer of natural resources are necessarily imminent. Combined buildings are the accumulation of what is wrong with society today. They also represent the answer to radically reducing our impact on the planet.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN SOLUTIONS
Fear not, technical solutions exist for the majority of environmental impacts caused by buildings. And they have been applied in a small proportion of buildings around the world. The biggest problem is that the decision-makers are not privy to the solutions or are lack significant detail to be able to employ the environmentally efficient strategies.

Commercial buildings comprise a smaller proportion of the building infrastructure. However, improvements in their environmental performance provide awareness for occupants, which can have a multiplier effect. Fortunately as of late, economic forces have encouraged many companies to add environmental awareness to their marketing agenda. Some pioneering companies are addressing issues throughout their organizations while others are altering their corporate headquarters in an attempt to improve their image.

In Bangkok, a new office building uses 80% less energy than a comparable building, while the ING bank headquarters in Amsterdam uses ten percent the energy of its predecessor. The Canadian outdoor company Mountain Equipment Coop recently built a new retail outlet that used 50% recycled material by weight. And the Vancouver Island Technology Park diverted 90% of construction from the landfill. The impacts of these projects illustrate the solutions exist in all regions of the planet.

Under economic pressure by European travel agencies, the Kandalama Hotel in Sri Lanka was designed in 1994 to exceed existing environmental standards. Aitken Spence (owners) realized the changing values that were forming market forces and recruited Geofrey Bawa (architect) to design one of the most environmentally sensitive hotels in Asia. Others followed including the Orchid Hotel in Mumbai, India and the Aurum Lodge in Alberta.

See green hotel case studies...

Kandalama Hotel - Sri Lanka - - 59K
The Orchid - India - - 95K
Aurum Lodge - Canada - - 59K

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Making Your Hotel Green

What is a Green Building?
CITY OF SAN JOSE

A "green" building can be defined as any building that is sited, designed, constructed, operated, and maintained for the health and well-being of the occupants, while minimizing impact on the environment.

"Green building" refers to those practices that promote occupant health and comfort while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. There are different degrees of "greenness." Often, it is necessary to strike a balance between many different, sometimes conflicting, green options based on the particular conditions of a given project. For example, proper strategy for a sustainable retrofit project may differ from that of new construction design.

Green building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach to design. Green buildings promote resource conservation by including design features which encourage energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, and encourage water conservation. By promoting resource conservation, green building design creates healthy and comfortable environments, reduces operation and maintenance costs, considers environmental impacts of building construction and retrofit, and concentrates on waste minimization. In the interim, green building design addresses such issues as historical preservation and access to public transportation and other community infrastructure systems. The entire life cycle of the building and its components is considered, as well as the building's economic and environmental impact and performance.

UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

A Berkeley “green” building can be defined as a building that is sited, designed, constructed, and operated to maximize present and future beneficial impacts on the environment.

ENERGYBUILDER.COM

Green Buildings are really resource efficient buildings and are very energy efficient, utilize construction materials wisely -- including recycled, renewable, and reused resources to the maximum extent practical -- are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants, are typically more comfortable and easier to live with due to lower operating and owning costs, and are good for the planet. The overall environmental impact of new building and community development and the choices made when we either reuse or demolish existing structures is very important.

ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING NEWS

Buildings have a tremendous impact on the environment--both during construction and through their operation. 'Green building' is a loosely defined collection of land-use, building design, and construction strategies that reduces these environmental impacts. Benefits of building green include:

reduced energy consumption,

protection of ecosystems, and

occupant health.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
The Key Problems

As a global community, we face a number of challenges

1. Population Growth

Based on data from the United Nations, global population is estimated to reach 9.4 billion by 2050. The problem is that if

FIGURE 1: World population growth projections.



Source: United Nations (U.N.) Population Division, World Population Prospects 1950-2050 (The 1996 Revision), on diskette (U.N., New York, 1996).

2. Resouce Consumption

Based on the global ecological footprint calculations, the average global citizen requires 2.1 hectares of the planet to provide for the resources consumed. Unfortunately, this means we are already consuming at a rate that is unsustainable. If we factor in the population growth and a provision to allow everyone to consume at a rate equal to the current global average, then it will be impossible to sustain the global population and our society as it is currently organized.

FIGURE 2: Ecological footprints of various nations.



Source:

3. Waste Production

At present our global system is built on the premise of cradle-to-grave resource consumption. Thus the raw resources used to produce the ‘consumable’ products that surround us are used only once and then deposited in our environment. To return society to a …

FIGURE 3: Waste per capita of various nations.



Source:

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Population Growth

Although little can be done in hotel design and operation to influence world population growth, instead developers, operators, and designers can focus on the two main environmental impacts that result from human population growth - resource consumption and the resulting waste.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Resource Consumption

Nearly every activity consumes resources and thus opportunities to conserve abound.

Energy is the most common form of resource conservation. Energy conserving practices are well documented, can be employed quickly, and are easily quantified as to the benefits and payback periods.

Other forms of resource conservation that are not as common include water conservation, and reducing material consumption in the design and operation of the hotel. Indirect forms of resource conservation include converting fleet vehicles to alternative fuel sources, recycling, and providing education opportunities to clients, contractors, and guests.

Resource conserving strategies and practices ultimately conserve our environment and often produce economic benefits as well.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
The Concept of Waste

If we are to restore balance to our world, the concept of waste must be eliminated. What is considered to be “waste” in one system must be considered as “food” in another. And, in the process, the concept of “scarcity” must be converted to “abundance.” Natural, healthy systems have no problem creating food from waste. Our bodies do it all the time. Organisms stay healthy by consuming only what they need to maintain balance and by casting out only what is needed for nourishment by other systems.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Biomimicry

Nature as Model - Biomimicry is a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems, e.g., a solar cell inspired by a leaf.

Nature as Mentor - Biomimicry uses an ecological standard to judge the "rightness" of our innovations. After 3.8 billion years of evolution, nature has learned: What works. What is appropriate. What lasts.

Nature as Measure - Biomimicry is a new way of viewing and valuing nature. It introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but on what we can learn from it.

Excerpt from http://www.biomimicry.org

Two examples in nature that can directly applied to environmental design:

Every organic being that is eventually recycled into the web of life

Cradle-to-cradle green design-products that will be designed up front to be used, reused, and then fully recycled. Centerpiece of a no-waste economy.

Marshes

Constructed wetlands-sewage treatment facilities that clean a community's water while doubling as a wildlife refuge.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ISSUE
Environmental Design - Background

Before any analysis or action is taken to implement environmental design strategies or products, it is important to understand the life-cycle of a building and the costs (economic and environmental) attributed to each phase.

FIGURE 7.1: Life-Cycle Analysis of a Building (30 year period).

Source: Public Technology Inc., US Green Building Council. Sustainable Building Technical Manual, 1996.

Notice the relative costs over the thirty years of the building (construction 2%, operation and maintenance 6%, human resources 92%). Ironically, the human resources component is the most difficult to quantify and thus has been the most neglected when seeking organizational and operational efficiencies. From these numbers, it is clear that any initiative that improves the environment and efficiency of occupants will provide the highest return.

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Design

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Retrofit/Renovation

The majority of hotel owners are in a situation where a new building is not a possibility

ENVIROMENTAL DESIGN ELEMENT
Operation