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One of the newest strategies for hotel room distribution is search engine marketing, which involves making sure that a hotel is featured prominently when search engine users type a particular query, such as when they use Google or Bing. The key to making this strategy work is to optimize the hotel’s website with keywords that match the most likely search terms. A new report from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) demonstrates how this process works, based on the case of the St. James Hotel, in Red Wing, Minnesota. The report, “Best Practices in Search Engine Marketing and Optimization: The Case of the St. James Hotel,” is available at no charge from the CHR at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2010.html.

The report details how a team of Cornell students led by assistant professor Chris Anderson analyzed the situation of the St. James’s website, making recommendations to optimize the site for Google search. “Search engine marketing includes bidding on keywords, of course, but hotels can optimize their sites without much expense,” Anderson explained. “Our team identified the keywords that put the St. James in what’s called the ‘Golden Triangle,’ which is where people look first when they see a page of Google hits. Basically, it’s the top of the page.”

Search engine optimization is based on the idea of making sure that your hotel’s site appears near the top of the search engine listings. 

The recommendations made by the student team, Greg Bodenlos ’10, Victor Bogert ’10, Dan Gordon ’10, and Carter Hearne ’10, resulted in making the St. James the most prominent property on a Google search of hotels in Red Wing, Minnesota.

It may not look like much, but a little white electric outlet with a networking chip in it can save a bunch of money, according to ThinkEco. The New York-based start-up today said its “modlet,” or modern outlet, is now available. It also released results from a pilot project which showed that a company reduced its power bill by $65,000 per year using the networked outlets in its office.

ThinkEco is one of a handful of companies making these smart plugs to lower the wasted energy from plug loads, which is a growing portion of businesses’ and consumers’ electricity bills.

These smart plugs fit over traditional outlets and allow a person to control the supply of juice to the outlets. In the case of ThinkEco, it uses Zigbee to create a mesh network and it offers a PC application for administrators to schedule when to turn electronic gear off.

To continue reading the article, visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20022360-54.html#ixzz15O59wGm0

EPA’s Pacific Southwest office in San Francisco, which employs more than 800 people, has been working to improve its environmental footprint. Focusing on office activities, business travel, and employee commuting, we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions and have set a goal to eliminate landfill-bound waste. In the last year, the office has diverted over 80% of its waste from landfills through source reduction, recycling, and composting efforts. Recycling and composting also save energy – reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

This endeavor grew out of the regional office’s Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS provides a framework for identifying opportunities, setting goals for improvement, and measuring progress in meeting the goal of continuously reducing our environmental footprint. 

Displays such as this one remind EPA staff about where to dispose of personal trash.

The EMS addresses sustainability at work and focuses on energy use, material use, air emissions and waste. Last year the Pacific Southwest office realized a 65% savings in the energy use of its computer fleet by replacing outdated computers with energy-efficient models. An additional 45% reduction is expected from shortening the time before computers are placed in sleep mode and by replacing copiers, printers and fax machines with multifunction printers later this year.

Printing only when necessary and on both sides of every sheet – using 100% post-consumer recycled paper that’s processed without chlorine – are examples of procedures for reducing paper use and purchasing environmentally preferable products. One way we reduce air emissions (including carbon) is by motivating employees to use public transportation. Over 80% of EPA employees participate in a transit subsidy program and commute via public transit or bicycle.

A Green Conference and Meeting Policy, launched in December 2009, is guiding employees to reduce the carbon footprint of meetings and conferences. A complementary policy that expands on green transportation will soon be in place as well.  Building on efforts like these, the regional office has set an overall goal of achieving carbon neutrality.

The Pacific Southwest office also integrates sustainability in program work through measures like its Greener Cleanups Policy, which focuses on reducing the pollution generated in the cleanup process. An example of this is reducing electricity use and diesel-fueled equipment at hazardous waste cleanup sites. Where possible, cleaner biodiesel-fueled equipment is used and photovoltaic solar panels are installed to generate pollution-free electricity.

EPA staff are also encouraged to act as ambassadors of the environment by taking simple steps to reduce environmental impacts in their personal lives. They try to model green or sustainable behaviors such as using less, reusing, recycling and composting at home, at school, on the road, and wherever they go. Will you challenge yourself to do the same?

As we shop, celebrate, decorate, give gifts and travel this holiday season, we also generate a lot of waste and increase our energy use. The volume of household waste in the United States generally increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — from 4 million tons to 5 million tons.

There are many simple ways to “green” your holiday season by reducing, reusing and recycling. It takes only a small commitment to protect the environment. 

• When decorating, use more energy efficient mini-lights rather than the larger, old-fashioned lights, or use LED outdoor holiday lights, which require 1/50th of the electricity of conventional lights and last 20-30 years. Put lights on a timer or turn them on only when someone’s home.
• When out shopping, bring reusable cloth bags or tell store clerks you don’t need a bag for small or oversized purchases, or combine your purchases into one bag rather than getting a new bag at each store. Millions of paper and plastic shopping bags end up in landfills every year.
• Planning a sumptuous holiday feast? Think organic meats, veggies and fruits, or sustainable seafood. 
• Avoid using disposable dishes and utensils when entertaining friends and family, and if you must use them, buy them made from recycled material. Remember to place easily identifiable recycling containers at your celebration so guests can recycle soda cans, bottles, paper products, etc. Remember to compost afterwards.
• Bring your own camera instead of using disposable cameras when capturing those holiday memories.
• When traveling during the holidays, consider taking public transportation or carpool with friends or relatives. Combine several errands into one trip.
• Use cool wrapping materials—reuse maps, the Sunday comics, posters, etc. And remember to save ribbons, bows and bags.
• When sending or giving cards or stationery, look for paper with the highest percentage of post-consumer recycled content. Or make your own from paper you’d throw away.
• Give gifts that don’t require much packaging, such as tickets to a movie, concert, theatre, opera or sporting event.
• After the holidays, look for ways to recycle your tree instead of sending it to a landfill. Approximately 33 million live Christmas trees are sold in North America every year. Check with your community solid waste department to find out if a tree recycling program exists in your area. Programs like these collect and mulch trees, which can then be used as compost or landscaping material. Or buy a potted tree and plant it after the holidays.

There are many simple steps you can take to reduce your energy use and the amount of waste generated during this time of year. And remember—using energy efficiently and reducing, reusing and recycling are not just for the holiday season. Continue your green habits and keep giving gifts to the earth all year long!

EPA recently fined US Ecology $497,982 for 18 counts of hazardous waste violations.

US Ecology operates a commercial hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility in Nye County, Nev., on the outskirts of Beatty.

EPA inspectors found numerous violations at a hazardous waste unit designed to thermally treat contaminated materials, like soils, to remove the hazardous components. On two occasions, US Ecology reports showed that the unit was “smoking,” releasing hazardous components to the air. The treatment unit has been permanently shut down by US Ecology.

“We impose strict environmental controls to make sure hazardous waste is actually treated and not simply released into the air,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Our goal is to safeguard worker health and nearby communities, so it’s imperative for facilities like US Ecology to properly manage their waste.”

In addition, EPA inspectors found PCBs were improperly labeled, stored and handled. EPA sampling results detected PCBs at elevated levels both in and outside the PCB storage building (43,500 ppm and 900 ppm, respectively). Inspectors determined that between 2006 and 2008 six spills, leaks or other uncontrolled PCB discharges occurred and were not reported as required by law.

The EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program oversees the safe management and disposal of hazardous waste. Concerns about human health and the extensive presence and lengthy persistence of PCBs in the environment led Congress to enact the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1976.

Now that WSPPN has completed a successful 2010 conference, we’d like to know: what hot topics or P2 or sustainability sessions would you like to see at a future WSPPN conference?  What city or state in Region 9 would make the most sense for you to travel to?

Donna Walden

Regional Coordinator, WSPPN

University of Nevada Reno, Business Environmental Program

The Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN) is a cooperative alliance of pollution prevention (P2) programs throughout Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Trust Territories, and Tribal Lands).

By Jonathan Hiskes

Weatherizing homes to cut heat waste makes all kinds of good sense — it lowers utility bills, makes homes more comfortable, creates building-industry jobs, saves energy, is both a floor wax and a dessert topping, etc.

Grist has sung the praises of building efficiency so often we’ve taken to recycling our old jokes (and they’re not even good ones). We’re usually looking at the big-picture questions of climate, economy, and jobs. For example, there’s nothing better Congress could do right now than pass a well-designed retrofit program like the Home Star bill, which would save 44 times the amount of energy that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico this summer.

Comfort matters more than pocketbook savings — for some homeowners. Langdon prefers to keep his house cool (60 degrees) but wants a good way to heat up only the living room when he and his wife host guests. That was his main reason for the review. Research on homeowner motivations by the Community Energy Challenge in Bellingham, Wash., found the same thing — financial savings aren’t the only selling point.

Read the complete article on Grist