Quantifying the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of a Green Hotel Certification on the City of Los Angeles
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Quantifying the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of a Green Hotel Certification on the City of Los Angeles UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara A Group Project submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Science and Management for the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management Report Authors: Jay McConagha Lillian Mirviss Rucha Thakar Natalie Vezina Committee in Charge: Kyle Meng March 2017 Quantifying the Greenhouse Gas Impacts of a Green Hotel Certification on the City of Los Angeles As members of the StayGreen team, we hereby authenticate that we are the sole and original authors of this work. We are proud to archive this Final Report on the Bren School website and hereby agree to make our research and findings publically available. Our signatures on the document signify our joint responsibility in fulfilling the archiving standards set by the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. ____________________________ ____________________________ Jay McConagha Lillian Mirviss ____________________________ ____________________________ Rucha Thakar Natalie Vezina The mission of the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management is to produce professionals with unrivaled training in environmental science and management who will devote their unique skills to the diagnosis, assessment, mitigation, prevention, and remedy of the environmental problems of today and the future. A guiding principal of the School is that the analysis of environmental problems requires quantitative training in more than one discipline and an awareness of the physical, biological, social, political, and economic consequences that arise from scientific or technological decisions. The Group Project is required of all students in the Master of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) Program. The project is a three-quarter activity in which small groups of students conduct focused, interdisciplinary research on the scientific, management, and policy dimensions of a specific environmental issue. This Group Project Final Report is authored by MESM students and has been reviewed and approved by: _____________________________________ Kyle Meng, Advisor ______________________ Date ----Signature Page---- Acknowledgements We would like to thank everyone who has assisted and supported us through the duration of our project. We would especially like to extend our gratitude to the following people: Faculty Advisor Dr. Kyle Meng Green Seal Arthur Weissman Aarushi Jha Gary Petersen Robert Sulnick External Advisors Shivira Choudhary, Senior Analyst, VitalMetrics Group Brandon Kaysen, Environmental Specialist, City of Ventura Bren School Alex DeGolia, PhD Candidate Allison Horst, Visiting Faculty Dan Ovando, PhD Candidate Sangwon Suh, Professor Funder Yardi Systems, Inc. Hotels Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Airport (Manuel Otoya) Hilton Los Angeles Airport (Bill Gregory) Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City (Steve Thompson) Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Airport Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites Westin Los Angeles Airport (Chris Mahan) We would also like to thank the faculty and staff at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara for all of their support and assistance. Finally, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the friends and family who encouraged us throughout this process. StayGreen Final Report | i Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ i Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... ii Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 | Project Significance & Objectives ........................................................................... 4 Project Significance ................................................................................................................... 4 Objectives ................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2 | Background ............................................................................................................... 6 Policy Drivers ............................................................................................................................. 6 California Assembly Bill 32 & Senate Bill 32 ......................................................................... 6 Los Angeles Sustainability pLAn ............................................................................................ 6 Los Angeles Green Lodging Program ...................................................................................... 7 Green Seal Hotels and Lodging Standard ............................................................................... 8 Areas of Green Certification .................................................................................................... 8 Levels of GS-33 ....................................................................................................................... 8 Costs of Hotels and Lodging Standard ..................................................................................... 9 Other Hotel Green Certification Programs .......................................................................... 11 Current Hotel & Energy Trends ............................................................................................ 12 Global, National, and Local Hotel Trends ............................................................................. 12 Energy Usage in Lodging Industry ........................................................................................ 13 Environmental Best Practices in the Hospitality Sector ...................................................... 14 Case Studies ........................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 3 | Scope of Analysis ..................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 4 | Data summary ......................................................................................................... 17 Electricity Consumption Data from Certified Hotels .......................................................... 17 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey .......................................................... 17 Survey Data on Consumer Willingness to Pay ..................................................................... 17 Chapter 5 | Green Seal Certification & Greenhouse Gases: Actual Emissions Reductions for Certified Hotels ..................................................................................................................... 18 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 18 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 18 Description ............................................................................................................................. 18 Methodology of Fixed Effects Regression ............................................................................. 22 StayGreen Final Report | ii Results ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Limitations ............................................................................................................................... 24 Next Steps ................................................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 6 | Green Seal Certification & Greenhouse Gases: Potential Emissions Reductions for Los Angeles ............................................................................................................................ 25 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 25 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 25 Average Energy Consumption of an LA Hotel ...................................................................... 25 Maximum Potential GHG Reductions ................................................................................... 26 Energy Savings from Electricity Usage Reductions .............................................................. 29 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 30 Limitations ............................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 7 | Green Seal Certification & Financial Impacts: Cost-Savings Analysis for Certified Hotels ........................................................................................................................... 33 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 33 Methodology ............................................................................................................................