The InterContinental Miami has announced a partnership with Greenlight Energy and the purchase of 16,064,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power for 2013. Equaling 100 percent of the hotel’s estimated energy use for the year, the buy ranks the hotel as the largest green power purchaser in Florida.
The EPA estimates that this transaction avoids an estimated 11,534 metric tons of carbon dioxide-the equivalent to the greenhouse emissions from 2,172 passenger vehicles and to the carbon dioxide emissions from 1,381 American homes.
Additionally the hotel uses IHG’s Green Engage program to reduce energy, cut carbon emissions, decrease waste, and conserve water through its design, operations, and technologies. A $30 million renovation project-encompassing all 641 suites-outfitted the hotel with energy efficient lighting, low flow water toilets and faucets, and recycle bins. In the hotel’s entrance, a LED light installation replaced 550 incandescent bulbs with 4,900 LEDs-halving the entrance’s energy consumption and reducing the hotel’s overall energy by 20 percent.
The buy maintains Intercontinental Miami’s place on the 100 percent purchaser’s list-maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership-for a second year in a row.
