Mon, 10/24/2011 - 23:43 — Anonymous Are you looking for a green hotel in
San Francisco? Then check out the InterContinental San Francisco. This 550
room hotel in downtown San Francisco just received their LEED Gold
Certification this year. Here's a bit more about the certification and
their current green initiatives.LEED CertificationThe U.S. Green Building
Council awarded InterContinental San Francisco the LEED Gold certification
for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance. LEED is one of the few
reliable ratings systems for building energy efficient buildings. To earn
LEED Gold, the hotel was evaluated on efficiency and minimization of
environmental impact.It's the largest hotel property to date to receive
LEED EBOM certification in California. And it's only one of 13 other hotels
in the nation to receive this certification.Green Initiatives The
InterContinental San Francisco has undertaken many initiatives to become
greener and receive their LEED Gold award. Here are a few of our
favorites:Green MicrositeThe InterContinental San Francisco has a green
microsite that lists some of their green initiatives. TTransportation
Microsite The transportation microsite allows you to plan your visit based on
what's within walking distance from the hotel and lists public
transportation options from the airport.Use of Public TransportationThe
hotel's concierge assists guests with traveling by public transportation in
San Francisco. And more than 95% of the hotel's staff use public
transportation to get to work.Carbon OffsettingInterContinental San Francisco
is 100% carbon neutral as it purchases renewable energy credits to offset
100% of its electricity and natural gas use.ENERGY StarThe US EPA awarded the
hotel the ENERGY Star rating.Solar Power and Alternative Energy UseThe
InterContinental San Francisco uses solar panels to power some of their
equipment and uses regenerative braking power in the elevators.Temperature
Sensors in Rooms and ecoMode ButtonWhile most of a hotel's green
initiatives are behind the scenes, as customers we mostly notice what happens
in our rooms. One particularly cool feature in this hotel is an "ecoMode"
button. When you enter your room you press the ecoMode button which relaxes
the room temperature by a degree or two. Also, the rooms have temperature
sensors to adjust the temperature for energy savings when the rooms are
unoccupied.Local FoodWhat's not to love about fresh, local, organic food?
The InterContinental San Francisco features local and organic
options.Congratulations to the InterContinental San Francisco on achieving
the LEED Gold certification! GGTG hopes that more hotels continue to follow
its lead.—–This post is sponsored by the InterContinental San Francisco
Hotel, which is proudly LEED® EBOM Gold Certified under the U.S Green
Building Council (USGBC), and is the largest LEED Gold Recipient of existing
buildings in California, and the 3rd largest in the U.S.
