The discussion of alternative sources of  'green' energy has been an avidly disputed issue for decades. Scientists, Politicians and Energy Companies around the world have varied opinions on the answer to solve the environmental turmoil that our current technology has placed on our planet. Although alternative forms of energy will take some time to implement into our daily lives, people around the world have realized that we can not wait on changing our “destructible” living habits. Organizations such as the U.S Green Building Council have made substantial efforts to also inform companies on various ways to incorporate green incentives into their business models. Many hospitality industry facilities have embraced the environmentally friendly mind set and have made steps to decrease their carbon foot print one energy saving light bulb at a time.

One of the more environmentally conscious facilities in Ohio is the Savannah Center located in West Chester, just north of Cincinnati. The Savannah Center is a beautiful state of the art meeting and special event facility that specializes in Weddings and Corporate events. The facilities heating and cooling system is provided by Geo-thermal technology from the five acre lake on the side of the building. In addition, the buildings air filtering system exhausts stale air energy free. Fresh air is either heated or cooled by the air being exhausted. Kitchen exhausts are also temperature controlled; as heat goes up, so does the exhaust; as it cools down the exhaust fan is reduced. This method is 80% more efficient for reclaiming energy. All rooms are equip with light switch sensors which automatically turn off without movement. The facility also uses as many florescent light bulbs as possible. After all of these efforts the facilities carbon footprint was decreased by over 60%. With many planners beginning to evaluate facilities on their level of environmental commitment, facilities such as the Savannah Center are a step ahead when those questions are asked during a site selection.

The Oregon Convention Center in Portland is an internationally recognized facility for their green efforts with the entire building being build from only sustainable products. The Oregon Convention Center is the only event facility to receive a silver rating from the U.S Green Building Council. Soon this will become normalcy as our government continues to make efforts to regulating materials that are environmentally harmful. 

As far as international hospitality corporations, Hilton Worldwide has made extensive efforts to decrease the carbon footprint of their operations. Through various efforts around the world in 2009 Hilton conserved enough energy to power 5,700 homes for a year. Hilton also saved enough energy to fill more than 650 Olympic size swimming pools. With all of their efforts, the decrease of their carbon footprint was the equivalent to taking 34,865 cars off the road all while saving the company $29 million in utility expenses.

Although the idea behind pushing for environmentally friendly buildings is wonderful, there is no doubt that the cost is a great deal more than normal building materials, which deters people and companies from going the extra mile for green building products. It will be difficult to see drastic changes in the overall spectrum of building going the green route until the cost for products and labor decrease to an affordable level for business. Hopefully, as our economy turns back in the positive direction we will begin to see more and more industry facilities make efforts to decrease their carbon footprints which has all of our best interests in mind.