Successful Meetings - November 2008 - (Page 58) International > The Green Continent Meetings held a carbon-neutral meeting, to use in their own publicity. There’s hot green competition from Frankfurt’s Kempinski Hotel Falkenstein. The hotel not only has its own block heat and power plant generating energy for its facilities and services, but it lies inside an award-winning bio-climate zone. An innovative use of water aerators cuts water use by 50 percent, while all conference room systems switch off automatically when not in use. for eco-friendly meetings. There’s the Velo self-service bicycle rental program available at 1,450 stations; the clean and economic Vogueo, Metro-on-Seine boat; and Verture, the “eco-chic” carbon-neutral chauffeured car service that uses Toyota Prius hybrids. In 2005, the Palais des Congres de Paris implemented a selective sorting program, leading to the recycling of 620 tons of waste in a single year. “And now even the products we use for maintenance and sanitation are biodegradable,” says Maintenance Manager Maryse Tricoire who has a staff of four dealing exclusively with recycling issues. “We’re tough on convention organizers, too, imposing fines on those whose delegates leave garbage behind.” PA R I S , C I T Y O F E C O - C H I C Conference delegates may not yet be able to avoid Paris’ notoriously congested streets aboard a French airship, but there is functional evidence of the city’s support Understanding creates Networking. Networking creates Experience. Experience creates Knowledge. Knowledge creates Technology. Technology creates Convenience. Convenience creates Well-being. Well-being creates Feeling. Feeling creates Motivation. Motivation creates Participation. Participation creates Meetings. Meeting creates Understanding! H U N G A RY F O R P R O G R E S S The Budapest Congress and World Trade Center in Hungary’s capital is the country’s biggest conference and congress facility. An investment of 10,000 euros was recently made in upgrades by the Accor Convention Network, including a 64-point Earth Guest commitment covering biodiversity, water, wastewater, raising environmental awareness, green purchasing, energy, ozone layer, and general waste. Accor managers are prompted to communicate with customers and delegates about the environment and environmental conservation, answering such inquiries as, “Do you collect ink cartridges for recycling?” and focusing on such minutiae as, “Do your minibars consume eight kilowatts if fitted with solid doors or one kilowatt if fitted with transparent doors?” Europe’s meetings industry seems to appreciate the commercial need both to build new venues with green assets and to upgrade venerable edifices to uncompromising environmental standards. That’s not easy with investment capital currently so scarce, but there’s a united determination to meet the environmental challenges, and it’s far from just hot air. www.austrian.com www.acv.at www.messecongress.at www.vienna.convention.at NOVEMBER 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS http://www.vienna.info http://www.austrian.com http://www.acv.at http://www.messecongress.at http://www.vienna.convention.at
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