hospitalitystyle.com

(February 2010) posted on Wed Feb 10, 2010 EST

Bardessono’s energy-efficient design wins highest-level green certification

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The Bardessono Hotel in Yountville, Calif., has been awarded LEED Platinum status by the U.S. Green Building Council. Helping the 62-key hotel achieve the highest level of level of certification for its sustainable and environmentally friendly design are the following features:

• Reused materials: The stone featured on both the exterior and interior of the building was recycled from the stone blocks of an old wine cellar on the property. All the wood visible on the exterior and interior of the buildings was milled from salvaged trees.
• Solar power: 947 solar panels are installed on the flat roofs of the buildings and are note visible to the neighboring community. The 200-kilowatt solar energy system provides a significant portion of the hotel's electrical energy requirement.
• A geothermal heating/cooling system of 72 300-ft.-deep geothermal wells were drilled to work with a ground source heat pump system to heat and cool rooms and heat the hotel's water.
• Heat retention: Guest rooms are constructed to minimize solar heat gain with wide overhangs and motor-controlled exterior Venetian blinds. Large expanses of glass allow winter sunrays to naturally warm rooms and enhance daytime lighting.
• Energy-efficient lighting: LED and fluorescent lamps are used throughout the property and IP network driven sensors in the rooms extinguish lights when rooms are unoccupied.
• Low water use: Low water flow fixtures, dual flush toilets and waterless urinals are used. Outdoors, drought-resistant indigenous landscaping prevails, serviced by an efficient buried drip irrigation system.
• Water recycling: All grey and black water is treated and recycled for irrigation uses by the town of Yountville.

The Bardessono received word that it had achieved LEED platinum status on the first anniversary of its opening. The hotel is the first in California to gain the highest-level LEED, and only the third to do so overall. Bardessono owner Phil Sherburne said he built the property with the intention of creating a hotel that provides guests with a luxurious experience while simultaneously protecting the environment.

"I believe it is critical for the development community to be a leader in the effort to preserve a healthy planet,” said Sherburne. “We can't just continue to talk about environmental problems; we have to begin to act. I hope we have provided an example from which others can benefit."

Posted Feb. 10, 2010