by Rebecca Walker — April 28, 2010—Hilton Worldwide has reduced water, energy, waste and carbon at 1,300 of its locations with a new resource-tracking system called the LightStay system.
Hilton spent about two years internally testing the LightStay system, which individual properties are using to measure their energy use, water use, waste output and carbon output through 200 factors like transportation, food waste, housekeeping and paper product use.
In 2009, compared to 2008, the locations testing the system cut their energy use by 5 percent and reduced water use by 2.4 percent, which led to more than $29 million in savings on utility costs, according to Hilton. They also lowered carbon output by 6 percent and produced 10 percent less waste.
Hilton New York, for example, prevented about 5,000 pounds of leftover food from going to landfills by instead donating it to a local charity. That location also started a food decomposition program to keep food waste out of the garbage.
The company plans to have all 3,500 of its locations around the world using the system by the end of 2011. For more information, see the Hilton Worldwide Web site.
