Green Luxury: Hyatt Andaz Maui Earns LEED Silver Certification

Looking to go green on your next Hawaii vacation? Check out the Andaz Maui at Wailea, which just earned the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction, maintenance and operations of green buildings.

 

Andaz Maui at Wailea has a design approach that reduces energy and water consumption, minimizes waste and harmful emissions, and stresses sustainable design as an integral component of its overall strategy. Brightworks consulted on LEED program design and project management along with Hyatt’s Project & Brand Design and Development Asset Management teams. 

Some noteworthy elements of securing the LEED Silver status include: 

• Reuse of 93 percent of the existing hotel’s structural walls, floors and roof
• An integrated master site approach offering ample open space for recreation, access to views and on-site stormwater. 
• The use of low-emitting materials throughout the hotel. 
• Energy systems design offering an annual energy-cost savings of 19.9 percent
• On-site renewable solar thermal system to provide almost 4 percent of project’s annual energy costs

Sustainable elements throughout the resort include a solar hot water system, variable speed chillers, motion sensor lighting controls, LED lighting, and low flow plumbing fixtures. Environmental practices continue in-room, with automized temperature control and guestroom glassware made from recycled wine bottles.
 
Even the spa and bar are getting in on the action: The `awili spa and salon uses whole fruit to zest its house-made infused oils for massage and body treatments, and then the whole fruit (after being zested) goes to the bar lab for juices used in hand-made cocktails. 

Coconuts have many different uses at the hotel: Whole, local coconuts, are husked and then drained to extract coconut water. The meat is dehydrated to create body scrub, and the remainder is fermented to produce coconut oil for massage. 
 
In the kitchen, a food hydrator composts food waste and repurposed for gardening/ landscaping. Bio-plastic straws and reusable bamboo cutlery are used in outdoor food and beverage outlets; biodegradable disposable potato starch cutlery and bio-plastic cups are used for to-go orders. Linenless tables are used to reduce laundry, energy and water consumption. And perhaps best of all, for both taste and the environment, almost all of the hotel’s food and beverage ingredients are locally procured.