Wyndham Worldwide said it achieved an 8% reduction in energy use in the first full year of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Challenge.
The U.S. government program, launched in 2011, calls on commercial businesses and industrial facilities to reduce their energy intensity by 20% by 2020. It aligns with Wyndham’s goals to reduce carbon emissions by 16% by 2017 and by 20% by 2020. Additionally, as of 2012, Wyndham had reduced its global footprint of owned, managed and leased assets by 11.7% based on carbon per square footage.
Wyndham reduced its energy through:
- The Wyndham Green Toolbox, a proprietary eco-software program that tracks and measures environmental impact
- An environmental certification program for the company’s participating 190 timeshare properties
- The implementation of sustainability best practices across Wyndham Worldwide-controlled assets participating in the U.S. DOE Better Buildings Challenge
- Installing an electric vehicle charging station in Ukiah/Mendocino County, California
- Updating rooms and building insulation systems with eco-friendly materials
- Using green cleaning supplies.
- Switching to Energy Star appliances and using CFLs for all interior lighting
- Changing all building exterior lights to high-efficiency bulbs
“We are continuously developing eco-friendly efforts across our hospitality portfolio, and this latest achievement of meaningfully reducing our energy use further demonstrates our commitment to advancing environmental sustainability best practices, which is a pillar of our strategic priorities,” said Stephen Holmes, chairman and CEO of Wyndham Worldwide. “Through our Wyndham Green program, we are committed to exploring and adopting innovative environmental practices, as it reduces costs, fosters the efficient use of resources and ultimately supports both near- and long-term profitability.”