Manomet Program Manager Peter Cooke recently launched a new tool to help four states measure and improve their hospitality industry’s sustainability.

 

Cooke developed the new sustainability calculator as part of a $45,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. The new tool will allow state officials in Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky to measure their hospitality sector’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water use, energy consumption and chemical use.

 

“The states have really appreciated the calculator because it’s something they did not previously know how to measure,” Cooke said. “We’re giving them sustainability expertise they did not have.”

 

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, there are 51,214 hotels and motels in the United States accounting for almost 5 million rooms. There are about 4,400 hotels in the states using the new calculator.

 

“We’re going to maintain relationships with those states and see how we can advance their sustainability work,” Cooke said. “The grant doesn’t require us to look back but for our own knowledge we’ll check back with them to see what kind of improvements they’ve made.”

 

– Dave McGlinchey