Sofitel switches to wind power

What’s the first thing you look for in a hotel? For Greenbang, it’s always the very small bottles of shampoo and shower gel. She’s not sure why, but shower gel is always that much more exciting when it’s in a tiny container. It’s the same principle with the jam and honey in hotel breakfasts – always better when they serve it in those tiny pots. Tiny containers = more exciting product. If you put fissile material, scorpions or dog poop in a small container, Greenbang is sure it would start turning up in hotels, in a complementary basket. And Greenbang would probably nick it before she checked out.

Next time Greenbang is a Sofitel hotel in the States, she won’t be looking for those Lilliputian toiletries. She’ll be starting through the plug sockets, trying to see the turbine on the other end, for the Accor hotel chain has switched to wind power.

Accor has picked Community Energy as its supplier. You want more details? We’ve got those details.

Sofitel has nine locations throughout the United States including two in Chicago and one in Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C. These properties will buy a total of 1,527,000 kilowatt hours (kWhs) of renewable energy.

Sofitel has also led the industry in efforts to reduce water and energy usage such as the use of ozone laundry systems in its properties. Last September, Sofitel San Francisco Bay was honored nationally by the WateReuse Association as the 2007 Customer of the Year for becoming the first to collaborate with the City of Redwood City, Calif., on its Recycled Water Project.

This agreement with Community Energy signifies the commitment of Accor North America and Sofitel to energy efficiency and sustainable development. Accor North America’s annual Earth Guest program in 2007 consisted of extensive and ongoing environmental initiatives including the planting of 20,000 trees representing each Accor employee in North America, implementation of a 65-point environmental check list at all properties and at the corporate headquarters, and donation of $375,000 to educational and charitable groups. Earth Guest program activities are led and put into action at the corporate level and in local communities by Accor North America’s four brands and over 950 properties – Sofitel, Novotel, Studio 6 and Motel 6 in the U.S. and Canada.