June 20 – 24th: Greening the 76th Annual US Conference of Mayors
Thanks to a generous donation from the Home Depot Foundation, Dream in Green partnered with the City of Miami, the Hotel Intercontinental, and the US Conference of Mayors to green the 76th Annual Conference of Mayors meeting held in Miami in late June. The annual meeting is a gathering of Mayors from across the country to discuss issues and vote on policy recommendations to forward to Congress and the new Administration.
Green aspects of conference included:
Choosing a hotel certified by the Florida Green Lodging program. To obtain certification the Intercontinental Hotel has implemented a number of conservation measures. These include:
- Using Energy Star rated washing machines, LCD monitors, and computers.
- Regulating the air conditioning in the hotel’s meeting rooms by increasing the thermostat setting and turning it off when the rooms are not in use.
- Using timers on outdoor lights and motion sensors in meeting rooms to minimize unnecessary lighting.
- Installing water efficient showerheads, faucets and toilets throughout the hotel.
- Providing guests with the option to have linens and towels laundered every 3-days through the Project Planet Program.
- Installing CFLs in all of the guest rooms.
- For the conference, the hotel also installed additional CFLs throughout the hotel’s meeting spaces.
Waste Reduction
- Handouts at the Conference were reduced, printed on recycled content paper with soy ink, and double sided.
- USB drives were provided to download conference materials.
- Recycling bins were used throughout the Conference to collect office paper, beverage containers, newspapers, and recyclable food service items.
- Plastic coverings from the nametags were collected and will be reused. Paper tags were printed on recycled content paper.
- Tap water was used and served from pitchers.
- Unused food was donated to local charities.
- Locally grown flowers were used and potted plants were donated to local charities.
- No Styrofoam was used.
- Condiments were served from bulk containers & silverware was not individually wrapped.
- All paper towels and napkins were made from recycled, unbleached paper.
Transportation and Energy
- The conference utilized nine biodiesel buses and thirty hybrid vehicles to transport guests.
- Biodiesel generators were also used to power outdoor events.
Tree Planting
- Each Mayor received a tree sapling to plant in their city.
- A Florida native tree will be planted in the City of Miami in honor of each Mayor attending the conference.
