Jalousie Plantation resort brings solar golf carts to St Lucia

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Okay, it’s not exactly a cure for cancer, but any initiative that does cut down on fossil fuel reliance still resonates with me. So, I was pretty excited to see that the Jalousie Plantation has adopted a hybrid solar-powered golf cart to move guests around on its 192-acre property … with no carbon emissions! This is among the first of these environmentally-friendly golf carts in the Caribbean, and the goal is for this quirky little vehicle to replace the oil-dependent carts and minibuses that currently carry passengers around Jalousie.

This measure is reflective of Jalousie parent company Kor Hotel Group’s “Second Nature” program, which consists of several eco-friendly measures across its holdings. Kor’s properties are encouraged to source local produce, arts and other supplies to cut down on food-miles (or other “product-miles”) in an effort to reduce carbon emissions while contributing to economic growth in the community.

“We want to play our part at The Jalousie Plantation in supporting the environmentally-conscious initiatives of Kor and the new hybrid solar-powered golf cart is seen as a first step in helping us to do this,” Jalousie’s General Manager, Rodrigo Caldeira said.

The golf cart has a photovoltaic cell on its roof, which takes St Lucia sunshine and turns it into the electricity that makes the cart move. In the event of rain, the cart can be plugged into an electrical outlet to have its battery charged.

“Eventually all of the vehicles we use at Jalousie will be gasoline-free and this will help us to lessen our emissions of greenhouse gases which are having a tremendous impact on eco-systems around the world and contributing to climatic change and global warming,” Caldeira said. “The new cart also significantly reduces noise pollution and makes a great contribution in our efforts to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and in ensuring our operations are environmentally sustainable.”

Clean living in Stockholm

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Scandinavians are recognized as being on the cutting edge of environmentally-friendly innovation. Nowhere is this clearer than at Hammarby Sjöstad, a community of apartments in Stockholm designed to reduce carbon footprint and generally enable clean living. Large windows make the most of sunlight, especially in the summer, and carefully planned logistics – down to trash pickup schedules – lead to lower emissions and a reduced environmental impact.

Once fully developed, the collection of 11,000 homes, which can be purchased or rented, take advantage of new technological developments to enable conservation without thinking. The consumption of water, for example, is lowered by showers that mix air with water to create the feeling of deluge without the environmental implications. Even raw sewage is converted to energy.

The flaw in most green initiatives – behavior modification – is present at Hammarby Sjöstad. Technology goes only so far, and people have to provide the final push. But, the residents surveyed said that living in there has inspired many to change their lifestyles.

The development is still new and remains a work in progress. The project is expected to be completed in 2015. But, early signs are positive. The home of the future will not resemble some Disneyland fantasy, it seems. Rather, it will reflect Scandinavian sensibility and an effort to keep the planet alive a little longer.

Zipline canopy tour: A fall foliage adventure option

by Jamie Rhein on

Back in June, when I zipped from sycamore to oak trees along the highwire cable lines of the Hocking Hills Canopy Tours in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio, I thought, I bet this is gorgeous in the fall.

Now that yellows and reds are just beginning to show their colors, I’d say trees will be in their autumn glory in a week or two. Cold has arrived at night to hasten the palate switch. Meg’s posts about fall foliage tour options, reminded me of this one.

I blogged about this tour before I took it, and am not surprised that it has remained so popular that the season has been extended through November–although the hours will change.

As a person with first-hand experience, I can vouch for the thrill of heading off on a wire from one tree to another. My favorite parts were the sections where I was zipping through the air, far from the platform I had left, high above the ground, and the platform where I was heading had yet to come into view. There is a moment where you can’t see where you are exactly because of the leaves. Then, the next platform comes into view like a surprise of “oh, there you are.”

For anyone who is afraid of heights, a zipline canopy tour might be your cure. A friend of mine said she was afraid of heights when she started the tour, but by the end she was not. Because of the process of clipping and unclipping safety lines, and the calm voices of the two guides–one who leads and one who follows, ensuring everyone’s safety, you know you are in capable hands.

Before you go out on the real ziplines, there is practice session (seen in picture) with a short zipline that’s only shoulder height off the ground. This is when you learn to stop yourself by applying pressure with the palm of one of your hands to the top of the zipline cable. It’s enough of a practice to give you the feel for how the cable, harness, clip and pulley system works.

Before the moment when you leave an actual platform to head off to another platform, you’re always clipped to either the line attached to the tree where the platform is or to the zipline. During the transition, you’re clipped to both to make sure there aren’t any mistakes. There are two clips fastened to your harness. One clip is unfastened from the platform cable and then fastened to the zipline cable. Then, the next clip is unfastened and fastened. This means if you did slip, you’re held up.

The picture is of the only part where you start from the sloping ground and run until your feet lift off. Then off you go.

Seriously, you won’t fall and the harnesses are designed to hold you properly–almost like an adult version of one of those things you strap babies into so they can jump and bounce in a doorway. There is a pulley wheel system that enables you to glide along using the weight of your body, the distance of the cables and the angle of the points where the cables are affixed to the trees.

I did slow myself down too soon and stopped about 25 feet from one of the platforms, but I was able to use my hands to pull myself along easily until I reached the point where the lead guide could pull me the rest of the way.

Seriously, zipping was a piece of cake. (In the picture above, you can see the lead guy on the platform. The person heading toward him is slowing down, partly due to the slope upwards of the zipline caused by the angle and the person’s weight.)

One terrific aspect of this trip is that you don’t have to be an athletic type to have fun. There’s not a lot of physical exertion involved. The oldest person to do the canopy tour, so far, I was told, was in her 80s. Not that 80-year-olds aren’t athletes, but the point is, this is a multi-age, multi-ability activity. You do have to be at least 10-years-old though, and weigh at least 70 pounds to be allowed to go. You also can’t be above 250 pounds. The reason for the weight limit is not that the cable won’t hold, but because of the principles of physics that make the system work. Too much weight throws off the system.

When I took the tour, one of the co-owners of the company was one of the guides. Here’s some insider information not found on the website.

Hocking Hills Canopy Tours came about after she and her husband went to Alaska with two other couples–one of the people was her sister. While in Alaska, all six of them took in the Alaska Canopy Adventure zipline tour, loved it, and thought Hocking Hills would be a perfect setting for a canopy tour company. Instead of thinking about all the reasons their dream might not work, once back in Ohio, they went for it. All pieces fell into place including the land for sale. In months, they had a booming adventure travel business.

The moral of the story, follow your dreams, particularly if you have the dream when you’re traveling.

Wooden hotel keycards to debut next week in Denver

by Meg Massie on

From changing linens and towels daily to keeping the air conditioner in every room turned to 55 degrees in the summer, hotels have been coming under fire for a long time over their wasteful use of resources. With the environment in the spotlight as the 2008 US Presidential election approaches, hotels are beginning to take steps toward better environmental practices.

This morning, Sustainable Cards, maker of the United States’ first wooden hotel keycards, announced that 70,000 biodegradable wooden keycards will be used in Denver hotels during next week’s Democratic National Convention.

Wooden keycards have been used in European hotels for almost ten years. Sustainable Cards argues that these keys are just as durable as the plastic versions, but unlike plastic, wood is renewable and biodegradable. Right now, it is estimated that hotels in the US produce 1,300 tons of waste each year from plastic keycards alone.

If you are one of the first Americans to use these eco-friendly keycards in Denver, Sustainable Cards wants your feedback on their website. Of course, we want to hear about it, too. Leave your comments with us, and if you want more hotels to embrace these biodegradable keycards, let them know about it, too. Fill out comment cards when you stay or send suggestions via hotel websites.

New California Museum to be Greenest Ever

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s only natural that a Natural History museum is as eco-friendly as possible.

And, it’s only natural that “the world’s largest eco-friendly public building” will be a Natural History museum located in America’s most eco-friendly city.

Sometime next year, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will throw open its front doors and invite the public into “one of the most expensive museum projects in a century,” according to Wired Magazine.

The $484 million building is incorporating a slew of green technologies to really put its money where its mouth is. How ironic it would be otherwise to celebrate the natural world while polluting it at the same time with an energy-consuming hog of a building.

With this in mind, the architects have implemented such innovations as a lawn roof that doubles as a natural habitat, 60,000 photovoltaic cells atop another roof, and shredded blue jeans as wall insulation (hey, isn’t Levi’s corporate headquarters located in San Francisco?).

When it is completed, the California Academy of Sciences is going to be one of the most impressive buildings around; what other piece of architecture so thoroughly practices what it preaches?