Drive, fly, sleep carbon neutral? Green Hotel website purchases carbon offsets for members' travel

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 02, 2008 – Traveling green just got a lot easier with the launch of a new website http://www.greenlodge.org, an online guide to green hotels in the United States. Green Lodge is the first of its kind – a one-stop shop for individuals to research and book green hotel stays and receive carbon credits for all travel booked through the site.

Green Lodge offers a database of over 600 U.S. hotels ranked based on green certification status and specific efforts made to go green. Green Lodge also offers resources on different types of green hotels, an online community for sharing travel tips, experiences at eco-hotels and opportunities to reduce guests’ carbon footprint by booking travel.

“We are making it easy for travelers to go green. We offer a searchable database with green hotels from across the country so you can point, click, reserve a hotel and have a carbon neutral hotel stay -- all from our website” says Green Lodge co-founder Jeremy Allen.

For individuals who sign up for Green Lodge’s free membership program, the organization will purchase verified emission reductions (VERs) to offset any travel that they book through the site. Through this program, members can travel with a reduced carbon footprint at no extra cost compared to other travel websites.

“Each month, we purchase Verified Emission Reductions generated by alternative energy programs and use those VERs to offset the emissions generated by our members during that month. Members of our site are not only staying at hotels with reduced carbon footprints, but by booking their airfare and car rentals they can essentially erase their travel-related footprint” says Co-Founder Geoff Horst.

Green Lodge includes hotel properties that have been certified by: Green Seal, EPA EnergyStar, LEED, and Green Leaf among others. Twelve states have green certification programs and all of their member hotels are included. Green Lodge also offers a list of hotel chains that have initiated their own green programs. The site is updated regularly to include newly opened and certified hotels.

“Right now, the term ‘green hotel’ means a lot of different things. Our site helps individuals learn about the different ways hotels are going green and how they can do their part to be a more eco-savvy traveler. Until there is one green certification standard for hotels, we will continue to include all of them in our database, so travelers can compare before they decide where to stay” says Allen.

Green Lodge’s database currently includes United States hotels only; however they plan to expand their guide, adding new countries in 2009.