Ecoscraps

About 3 million twinkling, high-efficiency, quarter-watt LED bulbs are now greeting visitors to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, nestled at the doorstep of the spectacular Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Gatlinburg welcomes over 11 million visitors a year.

The City of Gatlinburg’s commitment to convert the Gatlinburg Winter Magic Celebration lights program to 100 percent LED bulbs during 2008 has paid off in immediate and significant savings of electricity (not to mention reducing the City’s carbon dioxide emissions). LED lights use as much as 75 percent less energy, last ten times longer, produce (i.e., waste) almost no heat, and are more durable than glass bulbs. The City — like millions of Americans — have discovered that going green with LED lighting saves green and helps preserve the environment.  As I write about in ECOpreneuring, the “greentech” or clean tech sector, of which LED lighting is but one such technology, is booming.

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You could say that Ecovolunteer is a travel agent. But the trips we organize are not your average holidays. They bring you to places that are not accessible to tourists. Where you get the possibility to protect nature and its inhabitants.

A friend told me that she was planning an eco-vacation, so I did a little research on the subject. As it turns on, a lot of eco-tourism is more about the tourism and less about the “eco.” Then, there are companies like Ecovolunteer.

You aren’t going to relax on your “vacation” though this company. Instead, think if it like a missioin trip. You can search for options by location or by species that interests you most. You apply for the trip, rather than just booking it, and although costs are fairly low, you won’t be sipping mojitos on the beach at any of these locations.

It’s a once in a lifetime experience, though. If you can afford it, consider travel that saves the earth, not just travel that looks at the natural environment and comments on how pretty it is! To learn more, check out the Ecovolunteer website.

Picture via sxc.hu

The LivinginPeace Project combines travel, art and education into a sustainable business model that is self-sufficient, energy efficient, environmentally responsible and socially empowering.

The project includes a backpackers’ hostel (www.rongobackpackers.com), a motel complex (www.karameamotels.com), a gallery (www.globalgypsy.com), a community radio station, permaculture farm and eco-tourism adventures. It is run by a group of dedicated, enthusiastic, positive volunteers from all over the world. Read the rest of this entry »

In the second annual Radical Innovation in Hospitality Awards competition, sponsored by the John Hardy Group and Hospitality Design (HD) magazine, an oil rig hotel & spa took top honors (and the $10,000 prize).

The winning design came from the Houston office of Morris Architects.

“The Rig is much like the ICEHOTEL. It’s that kind of unique experience. We were trying to create a hospitality experience that is unique and fully rounded, and interesting enough that people are interested in doing it. The work with the Rig is not to make it a one-liner, but to prove it as a serious proposition—really investigating it,” Douglas Oliver, the firm’s director of design, says.

Morris Architects estimates 4,000 oil rigs will be abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico within the century.

Source: Jetson Green and Hospitality Design