Successful Meetings - November 2008 - (Page 56) International The Green Continent > Meetings treasure. We must maintain and improve constantly this benefit.” That involved the venue, nicknamed 2M2C, setting up a pumping station using water from nearby Lake Geneva to help generate air-conditioning for the entire convention center (and the adjacent Fairmont Le Montreux Palace), saving 35 percent of energy costs. 2M2C has also recently installed two natural, energy-saving, low-polluting, heat-retrieving, nontoxic gas boilers and above them, a vegetative roof the main function of which is to improve the humidity discharge, enhance air quality, decrease heat pockets, and preserve a more natural environment. ural as possible, including wooden coat hangers and clocks (the frames, not the works). S W E D E N I N PA R T I C U L A R When completed in 2010, the Stockholm Waterfront aims to have the first “eco-labeled” conference center, which will include a 3,000-seat congress hall. Says Kenth Larsson, director of its developer, Rezidor, “The complex will focus on social interaction and organic materials, affecting everything from the people we employ to the food we serve. And as well as solar panels producing all the energy for the complex, the building will be cooled in the summer from cold water from the nearby lake, Klara Sjo. “Our aim is to achieve the official Nordic Swan eco-labeling, a seal of approval that encompasses the whole process of building and running the complex. This would be a first for a combined hotel and congress center.” The Stockholm Waterfront S C A N D I N AV I A I N G E N E R A L Sweden’s green machine extends to eight other northern European countries via the Scandic group, through which meetings concepts are standardized across its 130-plus hotels. The O2, London The Hotel Falkenstein, Frankfurt Last April when Scandic received the IMEX Green Meetings Award for its sustainable meeting product, Scandic vice president Jan Peter Bergkvist, said, “We have tried to be part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem of an unsustainable world. The meetings industry has an important role to play both directly and indirectly. By making the right decisions, Scandic, which hosts almost 200,000 meetings a year, can reduce any direct environmental impact and influence a large number of people.” Scandic aims to halve fossil carbon dioxide emissions by 2011, and reduce them to zero by 2025. Toward that target, all correspondence and invitations to a recent environmental meeting at Scandic’s Ariadne Hotel in Stockholm went via email, and all documentation was electronically published. Participants were encouraged to travel by train, bus, or renewably fueled cars. Lunch and breakfast, wine and beer were 100 percent organic and mostly locally produced. Paper catering service items were eschewed in favor of china and linen, and bowls used rather than individual serving containers for butter, jam, sugar, milk, and sauces—all contributing toward Scandic’s target of saving 400 million packages within 10 years. Water in meeting rooms is served from glass carafes into real glasses. Bottles are recyclable. There are waste sorting bins in all meeting rooms. And even the furnishings and equipment are as nat- BRUSSELS’ GREEN BENCHMARK Anyone looking to design a green facility should make an initial visit to the Renewable Energy House in Brussels for inspiration. Run by EREC (European Renewable Energy Council), an umbrella organization of 12 European associations, it actively represents the entire renewable energy sector. The house is a showcase for “renewables” and though 120 years old, it features solar thermal heating and cooling, a pellets heating system, and the latest PV (solar photovoltaic) technology for electricity generation. It’s a must-visit for those planning new or upgraded conference venues. GERMANY’S GREEN PUSH At the forefront of what the German Convention Bureau terms “the art of successfully combining meetings and environmental concern” is Berlin’s Steigenberger Hotel, which claims to be the only hotel in Germany with a genuinely certified Green Meetings option. This means it offers bio-certified menus along with “healthy eating opportunities” for the delegates. Eco-friendly building materials extend to non-plastic, wooden-seated, waterbased-varnished conference chairs and natural fiber carpets with recyclable rubber underlay. And at the end of it all, organizers receive an environmentally friendly certificate affirming they have NOVEMBER 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 56 successfulmeetings.com http://www.successfulmeetings.com
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