The Grand Chola (Chennai) and the Grand Windsor (Bengaluru) have been certified with the US Green Building Council (USGBC)’s LEED Zero Carbon Certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
What does this mean?
This certification means that these two hotels do not have any carbon footprint. They are carbon neutral.
Why is this special?
In a hotel, every day, thousands of towels and bedsheets are washed. That washing, ironing, etc. takes energy, and pollutes water. Every luxury hotel also has to use electricity to keep the thousands of electric lights glowing.
There is water, electricity, cooking waste, etc. In short, a luxury hotel is typically a consumer of energy and a generator of waste. The ITC Grand Chola, for example, consumes 70,000 units of power every day. This LEED certification is special because:
- The Grand Windsor and the Grand Chola are the only two hotels in the world to have this certification. The Grand Windsor got the certification in March 2021, while the Grand Chola got it in December 2021.
- The Grand Chola is the world’s largest commercial building to have this certification.
How was this achieved?
According to Zubin Songadwala, General Manager, ITC Grand Chola and Area Manager, South, ITC Hotels, this was achieved without changing the guest experience in any way. A wind turbine was used to get energy, the steam generated by the hotel’s boilers was used as fuel in another process. The by-product of one process is being used as fuel in another process.
ITC Hotels has also achieved LEEDS Platinum certification in the past. The Net Zero certification is the highest possible certification.