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Remodeling.
We will be selecting products-- from paint, fabric, flooring
and furniture that support the environment and enhance comfort and
elegance for our guests. We'll be posting "color boards"
as our decisions are made, and keep you informed of what we are
recycling, how we are doing it, and how you can do the same when
you are making remodeling choices in your homes and offices. |
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March
26th, 2005-- Solar Flower Festival! Join
us as we celebrate our new solar system, healthy living and fun for
everyone. Free food, music, and activities for the whole family -- face
painting, solar ovens, clowns, egg decorating, moonwalk, and more! From
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, help the Austin Permaculture Group build an Herb
Spiral! Check out the Country's largest hotel solar system, native gardens,
innovative composting, and more!
Event time: 12:30 to 4:30 pm Location: Habitat Suites
Hotel Address: 500 Highland Mall Blvd.; Austin, Tx 78752
March
16th, 2005 -- Ribbon Cutting ceremony with Austin's Mayor,
Will Wynn, to celebrate our solar power installation
Event time: 1 p.m. Location: Habitat Suites Hotel Address:
500 Highland Mall Blvd.; Austin, Tx 78752
Rainwater Catchment System installation. We are working with
a local landscape architect to install both above and below ground cisterns.
We'll use the water we "catch" to feed our 2.5 acres of densely
vegetated gardens. The above-ground ones will be painted with whimsy,
to attract your attention and demonstrate the usefulness of cisterns
in our neighborhoods and cities.
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And
before the sun sets... Well, you'll just have to come visit us again
to see what we'll be up to next!
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Keep Austin Beautiful Award ceremony,
Feb. 2005
By Jim Spenser, KXAN weatherman
In
our next category, nominees proved that you can forge further ahead
by saying “I must do something” than by saying “Something
must be done.” Austin is fortunate to have businesses who have
made it part of their corporate philosophy to lead their industry in
treading lightly on our earth. This next industry leader is in
the hospitality business. While the hotel and hospitality industry
is not synonymous with environmental
safeguarding, the folks at Habitat Suites say their industry is not
yet synonymous with environmental safeguarding, as they lead
the way with determined care. Their company’s environmental practices
handbook reads like a comprehensive suggestion list of how you can improve
air quality, land use, energy efficiency, water management and recycling,
resource conservation, water quality, human health and education. They
just do them all. In 1985 Habitat Suites Hotel opened its doors, but
it wasn’t until 1991 that they hoisted the “green”
flag. From then on, they have made tremendous progress in minimizing
their impact on their surroundings. From setting up a system to refill
their containers of laundry and cleaning products to composting all
of their food matter, their efforts have enabled them to recycle 2.5
times more material than they put in the trash dumpster, and in 2004
they were able to reduce the dumpster size by 25 percent. Their newest
initiative is in the works as I speak. It is a solar project and it
will be the largest hotel solar project in the country. Already a recipient
of the City of Austin’s “B.E.S.T. Success” Award and
the Texas Excellence Award for Small Businesses, now Keep Austin Beautiful
would like to honor Habitat Suites Hotel with their award for industry
leadership.
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