Gaylord Texan is currently working to attain "Silver" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. "We hope to be one of the first hotel/convention centers in the country to achieve this distinction," says John Imaizumi, SVP and General Manager of Gaylord Texan.
Green Lodging in Dallas/Ft Worth
Our four and a half acres of beautiful indoor gardens are near-pristine environments. But, not only do our signature atriums reflect the beauty of the natural Texas landscape... they also reflect Gaylord Texan's commitment to taking care of the rest of the environment as well.
The hotel is currently working to attain "Silver" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. "We hope to be one of the first hotel/convention centers in the country to achieve this distinction," says John Imaizumi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center.
In May 2008, Gaylord Texan received the Sylvania Ecologic Certification Award for transitioning at least 75% of all the hotel's lighting to environmentally friendly products. In fact, we switched all the vanity lights in more than 1,500 guest rooms and suites to compact fluorescents—that's more than 7,500 lamps in all! Plus, all the old bulbs with mercury were properly recycled.
In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized Gaylord Texan on "Earth Day" 2008 with a Membership Award in the EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP). With its efforts to reduce mercury throughout the facility by implementing low-mercury bulbs, Gaylord Texan became the first hotel in a five-state area to join the NPEP.
Recycling is a highly effective way to reduce the amount of waste in landfills, to limit the need for additional landfill space, and to preserve endangered forested areas. Cardboard, newspaper, slick paper and white paper from back-of-house areas and the convention center exhibit hall are all recycled. Plus, eco-conscious groups can request recycling services for their meetings' glass, plastic and aluminum waste.
Our engineering department recently expanded its existing battery-recycling program to accommodate battery recycling for our STARs (employees).
And, as we replace building materials such as carpet, padding, vinyl wall covering and paint, we carefully select vendors who not only use recycled materials but also manufacture on a green basis and meet the VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) limits required by the LEED-EB program.
With a resort the size of Gaylord Texan, water conservation is of key importance. It starts in each guest room, where housekeeping—upon the option of the guest—provides fresh bed linens on the third day of a guest's stay in order to reduce water usage. We also have removed heavy comforters as part of the standard guest bedding, eliminating the need to launder those bulky items. We also encourage guests to reuse their bath linens voluntarily, thus saving even more water and electricity.
Outdoors, Gaylord Texan is purchasing a weather station for our irrigation system that will ensure the least amount of water possible is used to keep the lawns green. And, a water-saving drip-irrigation system is being installed for our trees.
To ensure that we are both energy savvy and conscious of our guests' comfort, we closely monitor the temperatures in each of our meeting rooms. The air conditioning is turned on no more than two hours prior to the start of a meeting, and it is set to turn off automatically one hour after the meeting is scheduled to end.
