 If you're headed to Greensboro, North Carolina, EnviroCitizen.org suggests that you book a room at Proximity Hotel. The Earth will thank you for it! The Proximity Hotel has been certified Platinum by the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The Proximity Hotel focused on including six key factors into their building design: sustainable site development, water saving, energy efficiency, materials selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.
The Proximity Hotel has incorporated more than 70 sustainable practices into the building and their behaviors. They use solar energy to heat water, heating about 60% of the water for both the hotel and the restaurant. When you think about how many people are taking showers each day at any given hotel, that number is pretty impressive. They even restored an on-site stream with native plants to reduce erosion.
There are many other green features in this hotel inside as well as out. The bistro bar in Proximity Hotel was made from recycled walnut trees, the room service trays are made from Plyboo (bamboo plywood) and geothermal energy is used to refrigerate the restaurant's equipment. The Proximity Hotel is outfitted with a Regenerative Drive Otis' Gen2 elevator, which captures the energy in the elevator system and feeds it back into the building's electrical grid! The building incorporates natural day lighting to heat the building and huge windows are present in every guest room, which allows guests to connect to the outdoors by opening the windows and enjoying the view. During the construction process, the vast majority of the construction waste, about 90%, was recycled. The Proximity Hotel uses water efficient fixtures and utilizes air circulation to improve the indoor air quality. They used regional vendors and artists, which reduced the transportation miles associated with the development and construction of the hotel. They also used low-emitting volatile organic compound (low-VOC) paints, adhesives and carpets.
Practically everything about the Proximity Hotel is green. They are currently planting a green roof, which reduces the urban heat island effect and helps to cool the building in the summer and insulate it in the winter. The Proximity Hotel also features an education center, where they offer tours, information and organize outreach programs for students in the area.
EnviroCitizen.org believes that the Proximity Hotel is a shining example of how a company can create a building which services clients that is as green as it is great. The Proximity Hotel is great because it incorporates green building design and sustainable practices into the framework of the building as well as the company practices. For the folks at the Proximity Hotel, sustainability and green practices are more than just buzzwords; they're a way of life.
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