sustainability – Page 6 – The OM Blog by Heizer, Render, & Munson

OM in the News: Designed for Demise

Apple's Liam robot can take apart 1.2 million iPhones a year — Apple’s Liam robot can take apart 1.2 million iPhones a year

Apple just introduced a piece of technology that will likely never be used by any consumer. Instead, it kind of cleans up after them: a robot that breaks down iPhones for recycling. The arrival of Liam—a 29-armed robot –speaks to a big challenge facing tech manufacturers today. Even as they strive to entice consumers to ditch their existing devices for the next new thing, companies must figure out what to do with the growing numbers of devices that are destined for the scrapheap as a result. “We think as much now about the recycling and end of life of products as the design of products itself,” says Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives.

Other electronics makers take a different recycling approach, designing products that simplify disassembly by replacing glue and screws with parts that snap together, for instance. Some also have reduced the variety of plastics used and avoid mercury and other hazardous materials that can complicate disposal. Samsung designed a 2016 model of its 55-inch curved television for easier disassembly, eliminating 30 of 38 screws, replacing them with snap closures. Now the TVs can be dismantled in less than 10 minutes.

The constant churn of new devices has contributed to an increase in electronic waste, some of which ends up in developing nations where local residents must deal with the health and environmental risks, writes The Wall Street Journal (June 8, 2016). “Many of the environmental problems are made during the design process,” says a U. of Illinois professor. He says a product’s design choices for the types of materials and varieties of components are critical.

Classroom discussion questions:

Describe the “design for disassembly” model in Supplement 5.
Why is this issue important to operations managers?

OM in the News: The Energy-Minded Hotel

A guest room key card at a Sofitel Hotel

American hotels have long resisted key cards (where guests must place a room key into a slot on the wall to activate the lights and temperature control system) or other energy-saving systems. Energy was cheap, and hoteliers feared that guests, who routinely left their rooms with the lights and air-conditioner on, would see any check on their energy use as an inconvenience. “But the aversion of hoteliers in the U.S.,” writes The New York Times (May 10, 2016), ” is slowly shifting as Americans have become more energy conscious and more states and municipalities have adopted rigorous building codes for energy use.”

In 2014, 29% of hotels had a sensor system in guest rooms to control the temperature, compared with less than 20% in 2004; and more than 75% had switched to LED lighting, up from less than 20%. Other energy-saving measures had also been more widely adopted. Energy costs typically represent 4-6% of a hotel’s overall operating expenses, with the largest share for heating and air-conditioning.

Many major hotels in the U.S. have digitally controlled thermostats to monitor the temperature in guest rooms. And a growing number have installed sophisticated systems that sense when a room is occupied. When a hotel guest enters a room, the device allows the temperature to be manually controlled within a certain range — from 60 to 80 degrees, for example — and then sets it back into an energy-saving mode when the room is vacant again. Such a system can save a hotel 20% or more in energy costs. And many utility companies now offer rebates to hotels that have installed digital thermostats and other energy management devices.

Classroom discussion questions:

What are the downsides of key card technology?
Why is sustainability of growing concern in the hotel industry?

OM in the News: How Walmart Brought About the Light Bulb Revolution

It was the 1990s, the era of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, and consumers were dubious about the new CFLs light bulbs. Why did they cost so much more than incandescents? What was their quality? As a result, nearly three decades after being introduced in the U.S., CFLs were used in only about 6% of homes. In November 2006, Walmart nearly single-handedly changed that. Walmart’s then–CEO, H. Lee Scott Jr., announced an ambitious initiative: The company would sell 100 million CFLs by the end of the following year. These bulbs would save consumers $3 billion in electricity costs and cut U.S. power needs by the equivalent of 450,000 homes.

Lighting manufacturers balked, and Walmart’s critics leveled charges of “greenwashing,” writes Fast Company (Dec. 2015/Jan. 2016). But the retailer went all-in, redesigning displays, increasing selection, educating consumers, and launching an affordable private-label brand. The campaign worked: In 2007, it sold 162 million CFLs. Shipments of the bulbs surged across the U.S., surpassing 400 million. Walmart’s massive purchase of CFLs allowed it to dictate specs to its suppliers: It required Energy Star–rated bulbs that met strict performance standards and got manufacturers to reduce the amount of mercury in CFLs. Walmart’s actions also helped secure passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which ordered the phase out of inefficient incandescent bulbs by 2015.

In the second quarter of 2014, shipments of CFLs surpassed traditional incandescents for the first time. Prices dropped and quality rose. But most experts believe the future belongs to LED bulbs, which are even more efficient than CFLs—and increasingly affordable. Today, a CFL, LED, or next-generation incandescent fills 1 in 3 U.S. light sockets, helping to keep millions of tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. A case study of how a company can use its size for good.

Classroom discussion questions:
1. What was the genesis of Lee Scott’s decision? (See our blog of 2011 on the book about Scott).

2. Why was Walmart able to change people’s view?

OM in the News: The Last Mile at UPS is by Golf Cart

Walking down the street today here in Winter Park, FL (temperature 83 degrees), I chatted with my local UPS driver. But, as you see in the photo, it is not a big brown truck he is driving–rather a golf cart. A large storage pod, next to my gym and about a mile away, is his supply depot and he makes several runs a day to replenish his cart and small trailer. It turns out that UPS uses pods throughout the state of Florida where it makes the most sense for golf cart deliveries.

Here are some of the advantages:

(1) Part-time employees are hired to help with this effort, creating jobs. (2) The environmental benefit to the community includes reduced noise. (3) Customers and employees like the approach. (4) UPS reduces energy usage, fuel consumption and emissions while providing an economical way to conduct business. (5) Golf cart helpers provide earlier delivery times. The majority of golf cart deliveries are made prior to 4 p.m. During the holidays, residential deliveries made using a UPS package truck driver are generally made in the late evening due to the additional volume spikes. (5) Golf carts pose an environmentally friendly method of delivering packages–the average golf cart gets 20+ miles per gallon.

A local UPS manager said: “It’s a lot more effective. We can keep the big, noisy trucks away at night by making holiday deliveries during the day. Safety is the main reason why we do it. And with blended in savings of fuel costs, we figured why not?”

Classroom discussion questions:

From an OM perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the golf cart approach?
Should they be used all year round–or just seasonally?

OM in the News: A Touch of Green at the JFK Airport

Herbs and vegetables at JFK's terminal 5 — Herbs and vegetables at JFK’s terminal 5

“JetBlue’s farm, positioned on the JFK airport grounds, takes up half a football field of space which once sat as an empty eyesore to travelers zipping by on moving walkways,” writes The New York Times (Nov.17, 2015). Now, this area is blooming. It had adopted a color that is becoming more familiar to contemporary airports: green. JetBlue’s project — replete with 26 varieties of plants, including potatoes, kale, dill and oregano — is perhaps the most extreme illustration of airports’ efforts to infuse natural elements into sites that have been more commonly associated with asphalt, canned air, loud machinery and noxious emissions.

In Chicago, O’Hare Airport features a soilless aeroponic garden springing up vertically from the mezzanine level of Terminal 3. Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam includes an indoor “mixed nature” park, with ivy-covered chairs and piped-in bird sounds. And Changi Airport, in Singapore, offers weary travelers rooftop cactus and sunflower gardens, and a two-story butterfly house. These themes are becoming more commonplace, and more creative. JetBlue’s new terminal farm is just the latest example.

The chef at Bar Veloce, at JFK, has been known to pick fresh vegetables for his restaurant, but for the time being JetBlue is not serving any of its crops to passengers. The produce is instead hauled off in trucks and distributed to food banks in Queens and Brooklyn. “Airports realize that if they green, it can curry favor with the community, build good will, and it makes them a more welcomed part of the community, beyond just the function they provide,” says one industry expert. Adds JetBlue’s head of sustainability: “You cannot impress customers with a Santa Claus at the T.S.A. line anymore. They have higher expectations when they’re here.”

Classroom discussion questions:

What are sports arenas across the country doing to go green? Why?
Is sustainability a critical issue at airports? Why?

OM in the News: Wal-Mart’s Green Revolution

“For a company that has been lambasted for a range of corporate sins, from low wages and deplorable working conditions to accusations of predatory pricing and monopolistic behavior, Wal-Mart’s energy initiative sometimes smells a little like greenwashing,” writes Forbes (Nov. 23, 2015). But Wal-Mart has installed 105 megawatts of solar panels–enough to power about 20,000 houses–on the roofs of 327 stores and distribution centers (about 6% of all its locations). That’s enough to make Wal-Mart the single biggest commercial solar generator in the country. And it intends to double its number of arrays by 2020. It’s all part of a goal that former CEO Lee Scott set in 2005 for Wal-Mart to be powered entirely with renewable energy. (See our 2011 blog regarding the excellent book about Scott: Force of Nature).

Wal-Mart uses an incredible amount of electricity–29,000 gigawatt-hours per year, and its U.S. electric bill is around $1 billion per year. The firm now gets 26% of its worldwide power from green sources, including wind, solar, fuel cells and hydropower. “To make it harder on ourselves,” says Wal-Mart’s energy chief, “everything we do has to make business sense.” If Wal-Mart were worried about making the business case for green energy, it could just follow the lead of other retailers like Kohl and Starbucks, which brag of running their operations 70%-plus carbon-free. But they do so by buying carbon credits or “offsets” to balance out their greenhouse-gas emissions. Instead, Wal-Mart has reduced its energy costs per square foot of retail floor space by 9%.

Wal-Mart gives access to its roof space to SolarCity or other installers, which pay to put up the panels (at a cost of about $1.2 million for the average array). SolarCity then sells the power generated to Wal-Mart under a long-term deal–at a price often cheaper than what the local electric utility would charge. The bad news for Wal-Mart and the entire green energy industry is that the federal green energy tax credit is set to expire in 2017.

Classroom discussion questions:

What is the genesis of Wal-Mart’s green revolution?
Why is sustainability an important operations issue?

OM in the News: “Greenwashing” Becomes a Corporate Ethical Dilemma

“Until recently, Volkswagen was waging a relentless campaign to portray itself as an environmental steward, its cars on the vanguard of a clean energy revolution,” writes The New York Times (Oct. 18, 2015). It promoted diesel as a low-emissions alternative to gasoline and spent $77 million this year in the American market to advertise its diesel cars, often proclaiming their greenness. As everyone now knows, at the same time VW was waging this eco-friendly public relations offensive, engineers at the German automaker had rigged 11 million of its supposedly clean diesel engines with software that tricked emissions tests, allowing the cars to spew far more pollutants than legally allowed. No matter how hard VW works to resolve this crisis, the episode is likely to live on in infamy as the latest and perhaps most egregious example of greenwashing.

Greenwashing, when a company tries to portray itself as more environmentally minded than it actually is, has intensified in recent decades as consumers have warmed to sustainable and organic products and services. Brands, trying to capitalize on that trend, often try to outdo one another with eco-credentials. “Social and environmental responsibility should not be a competitive sport,” said a Drexel U. prof.

A recent study that 95% of the products marketed as eco-friendly had committed at least one of what it called the “seven sins” of greenwashing. Those sins include relatively benign offenses like using weak data to more deliberate deceptions like inventing bogus certifications. VW is hardly the first automaker to be called out for exaggerated claims. Last year, Kia and Hyundai paid $300 million to settle with the government after overstating the gas mileage for 1.2 million vehicles. But VW’s efforts to deceive regulators and customers while trading on the supposed cleanliness of its diesel engines make it an exemplar of the least frequent — and most serious — form of greenwashing: outright lying.

Classroom discussion questions:

What are the six other sins of greenwashing?
How is sustainability the purview of operations management?

OM in the News: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainability

“In the last 20 years, life-cycle assessment (LCA) has grown from an academic exercise to an accepted decision making tool for sustainability management,” writes MIT Sloan Management Review (Sept. 22, 2015). As we note in Supplement 5 (Sustainability in the Supply Chain), a large number of companies, from UPS to Frito-Lay to Coke, employ LCAs in their sustainability work, often at substantial expense. At its roots, LCA is a method to quantify total sustainability impacts — like resource use and environmental damage — over the entire life of a product, from “cradle to grave.” While there is value in the basic exercise, the real utility of LCA is in comparing one product’s sustainability impacts with another’s. These comparisons can be made with existing products, or they can be made with future drawing board innovations.

Companies perform an LCA on existing products to assess baseline environmental performance. An LCA product profile will highlight “eco-hotspots” in the lifecycle, which are where the bulk of environmental impact occurs. At Siemens, an LCA of lighting found that the majority of environmental impact came from the use phase in customer’s homes and spurred the company to improve lamp efficiency. Alternatively, LCAs identify hotspots in manufacturing processes, as in the microchip industry, where LCA fingered toxic solvents in chip production as a major impact and led to cleaner substitutes like lemon juice.

When used as a product development tool, LCA can evaluate the environmental implication of design choices at each step of the development. Product modifications, such as new material choices, can be screened not just for immediate environmental impacts but impacts further down the life cycle — say, in the customer use phase or end-of-life. Levi Strauss used this approach when developing its Dockers WellThread line of clothing; through careful design choices it improved manufacturing, use, and end-of-life performance of its clothing. Improving LCA performance may also mean rethinking sourcing decisions. SC Johnson, for example, uses screening approaches to identify toxic materials in the inputs it purchases from suppliers and works to find more environmentally responsible substitutes.

Classroom discussion questions:

Why is LCA now being frequently used as an operations tool?
Provide an example of how a company you are aware of could use LCA to improve its product line.

OM in the News: Volkswagen and Ethics

While VW cheated behind the scenes, it publicly espoused virtue, using the Super Bowl to run a commercial showing its engineers sprouting angel’s wings.

Volkswagen just got caught cheating, writes The New York Times (Sept. 27, 2015). The global auto giant finally admitted last week that it had installed software in 11 million diesel cars that misstated emissions tests, allowing the vehicles to spew far more deadly pollutants than regulations allowed. About 500,000 of the cars were sold in the U.S., including Passats made in Chattanooga. Disabling the emissions controls brought major advantages, including much better mileage — a big selling point in the firm’s push here.

In 2013, a nonprofit group proposed testing on-road diesel emissions from cars — something never done before, teaming up with California regulators. It was only by chance that the group’s testing of 3 vehicles began with 2 VWs and a BMW. Researchers hit the road, traveling 5 routes with varying terrain and traffic. Almost immediately, the 2 VWs set themselves apart from the BMW with much higher emissions. It was difficult to know what was going on: When the two VWs were placed on a “car treadmill,” they performed flawlessly.

By 2014, the California regulators alerted the E.P.A., which opened an investigation. VW fired back. “They tried to poke holes in our study and its methods, saying we didn’t know what we were doing,” said a researcher. “They were very aggressive. Meeting after meeting, they would try to explain it away.” For a year VW continued to maintain that there was a problem with the testers.

Then the regulators changed tack, examining the company’s software. Modern cars operate using millions of lines of computer code. The regulators made a startling discovery: A subroutine, or parallel set of instructions, was secretly being sent by the computer to what seemed to be the emissions controls. The revelations were stunning and VW’s push to dominate in America may have collapsed in one big lie.

Classroom discussion questions:

Discuss the ethical implications of this case.
How could so many VW engineers and executives have allowed the cover up to last for so long?

OM in the News: Sensors and Sustainability–A New Look at Autos

Cheap, powerful, microscopic sensors are ubiquitously entering the $2 trillion automotive industry, reports Diamandis.com (Sept. 21, 2015). It’s a big, inefficient, wasteful and dangerous industry. Here’s how the annual numbers stack up for the U.S.:

33,000 lives are lost and a million injuries.
$230 billion of accident cost in the U.S. –about 2-3% of GDP.
50 billion hours (or 1 trillion dollars) of people’s time–around 8% of GDP.
50 billion gallons of imported gasoline (12-15% of the USA’s CO2 emissions).

Autonomous cars appear to be coming fast. Google is leading the way, but Apple, Tesla, Uber and every major car company is following. Today, Google’s self-driving cars have driven far more than 1.5 million miles, safely and fully autonomously. Google’s car are made possible because of their suite of sensors. One in particular is a 64-beam Velodyne LIDAR sensor (Laser Imaging Radar) that, combined with cameras, sonar and GPS, is collecting and analyzing 750 Mb of data per second. The car knows everything that’s happening within 100 meters of the sensor.

The impact: In 20 years there will be more than 54 million autonomous cars on the road, meaning:

Saved Lives: Autonomous cars don’t drive drunk, don’t text and don’t fall asleep at the wheel.
Reclaiming Land: You can fit 8 times more autonomous cars on our roads. Today, in the U.S. we devote over 10% of the urban land to parking spaces and to our paved highways and roads.
Saved Energy: Today we give close to 25% of all of our energy to personal transportation, and 25% of our greenhouse gases are going to the car. If cars don’t crash, you don’t need a 5,000-lb SUV driving around a 100-lb passenger.
Saved Money/Higher Productivity: Trading out 4,000-lb. cars for lighter electric cars that don’t crash will save 90% on a person’s automotive transportation bill–plus regain 1- 2 hours of daily productivity, reclaiming hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. economy.

Classroom discussion questions:

In what other ways are sensors revolutionizing operations management?
What are the downsides of autonomous cars?

Good OM Reading: Sustainable Supply Chains

Climate change is once again rising up the global agenda. Physical climate, and regulatory and consumer preference changes expose supply chains to growing levels of climate risk. This new 21 page report, called Supply Chain Sustainability Revealed, by Accenture, discusses threats and opportunities for companies at the top of supply chains. Findings include: (1) High levels of climate risk in key supply chains, and inadequate supplier response; (2) Supply chains in the US, China, and India are considered ‘vulnerable’; (3) Suppliers in India and Canada are not doing enough to manage climate change risks; (4) Suppliers in Brazil have done the least to manage climate exposures and recent water shortages; and (5) Suppliers who demonstrate a high propensity to collaborate with supply chain partners to reduce climate risk and, and who invest in emission reduction initiatives, deliver the greatest ROI.

The report also shows an increasing level of climate risk management within supply chains, which in turn is generating better climate risk outcomes. Water risk remains a concern – despite its potential for shocks – with 45% of exposed companies surveyed not carrying out a water-risk assessment.

The report states that the onus for changing lies with the customers, the large multinational companies like Wal-Mart whose procurement spending drives the global economy. Accenture writes: “Leading companies already understand their ability to drive change among their suppliers. It is incumbent upon more of their peers to require that their suppliers measure and disclose their carbon footprint, and work with their suppliers to find and, if necessary, incentivize emission reduction initiatives.”

Suppliers, meanwhile, should recognize that it is in their own interest to embrace more sustainable modes of operation. Not only do these offer a means to reduce costs by driving efficiency in resource use, but sustainability is likely to become a key differentiator in the marketplace. The report also urges policymakers must acknowledge their responsibility, and provide regulatory support to encourage companies.

OM in the News: United Turns to Farm Waste for Jet Power

Airlines are under growing pressure to reduce carbon emissions and lower costs

“Sometime this summer,” writes The New York Times (June 30, 2015), “a United Airlines flight will take off from Los Angeles for San Francisco using fuel generated from farm waste and oils derived from animal fats.” For passengers, little will be different — the engines will still roar, the seats will still be cramped — but for the airlines and the biofuels industry, the flight will represent a long-awaited milestone: the first time a domestic airline operates regular passenger flights using an alternative jet fuel.

For years, biofuels have been seen as an important part of the solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And airlines, with their concentration around airports and use of the same kind of fuel, have been seen as a promising customer in a biofuels industry. Airlines have every reason to adapt, not only to reduce pollution but also to lower what is usually their biggest cost: jet fuel.

United is announcing a $30 million investment in one of the largest producers of aviation biofuels, Fulcrum BioEnergy. Fulcrum has developed a technology that turns household trash into sustainable aviation fuel that can be blended directly with traditional jet fuels. It is building a biofuel refinery in Nevada, and has plans for 5 more plants around the country. The technology can cut an airline’s carbon emissions by 80% compared with traditional jet fuel.

United’s deal is one of many that airlines are making. Alaska Airlines aims to use biofuels at least at one of its airports by 2020, and Southwest just announced it would purchase 3 million gallons a year of jet fuel made from wood residues. Last year, British Airways joined with Solena Fuels to build a biofuel refinery near Heathrow Airport. The airlines seem to have little choice. Unlike automakers, they cannot turn to other options like electrification.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. Why is sustainability so important to the airlines?

2. What other measures can airlines take to become “greener”?

OM in the News: Sustainability Technology Defeats an Old Foe–Drought

Desalination plants in Israel are marked in red

As California and other western areas of the U.S. grapple with an extreme drought, a revolution has taken place in Israel, reports The New York Times (May 30, 2015). A major national effort to desalinate Mediterranean seawater and to recycle wastewater has provided the desert nation with enough water for all its needs, even during severe droughts. More than 50% of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is now artificially produced. Six years ago, Israelis were told to cut their shower time by 2 minutes. Washing cars with hoses was outlawed and those few wealthy enough to absorb the cost of maintaining a lawn were permitted to water it only at night. “We were in a situation where we were very, very close to someone opening a tap somewhere in the country and no water would come out,” said a Water Authority spokesman.

The turnaround came with a 7-year drought, one of the most severe to hit modern Israel, that began in 2005 and peaked in 2009. The country’s main natural water sources — the Sea of Galilee and the mountain and coastal aquifers — were severely depleted, threatening a potentially irreversible deterioration of the water quality. Desalination emerged as one focus of the government’s efforts, with 5 major plants going into operation or opening soon. Together, they will produce a total of more than 130 billion gallons of potable water a year, with a goal of 200 billion gallons by 2020.

Israel has, in the meantime, become the world leader in recycling and reusing wastewater for agriculture. It treats 86% of its domestic wastewater and recycles it for agricultural use — about 55% of the total water used for agriculture. Spain is second to Israel, recycling 17% of its effluent, while the United States recycles just 1%. Wiser use of water has also helped, and led to a reduction in household consumption of 18%. Water Authority representatives actually went house to house offering to fit free devices on shower heads and taps that inject air into the water stream, saving 1/3 of the water used while still giving the impression of a strong flow.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. In what other nations is resource sustainability a major issue?

2. What can manufacturing firms do to conserve water?

OM in the News: Sustainability Hits the School Bus Fleet

Blue Bird factory workers installing windows on a bus in Fort Valley, Ga. School districts are increasingly ordering propane-fueled buses.

For many Americans, propane is that stuff from Home Depot that fuels backyard barbecues. But in a growing number of cities across the country, it is what gets children to school. Of the top 25 school bus markets, 19 have propane-fueled vehicles in their fleets, including New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Phoenix. Boston just bought 86 of the alternative-fuel buses for the fall, while in the Mesa County Valley district in Colorado just signed a 5-year, $30 million contract that includes 122 propane buses.

And southeast of Atlanta, Bibb County school administrators are so happy with the 33 buses they started running last year that they have ordered 20 more. “They’re healthier, they’re cleaner burning, they’re much quieter than the diesel option,” said the transportation director. “Right now, it’s projected that over time we’ll see significant savings.” Burning propane reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 22% compared to gasoline-powered buses or 6% compared to diesel.

The number of alternative fuel fleet vehicles on the road has steadily increased in the last decades, reaching nearly 1.2 million in 2011 from 247,000 in 1995, reports The New York Times (May 22, 2015). Most run on ethanol, propane, compressed natural gas and electricity. The fuel, a byproduct of oil refining and natural gas processing, is abundant and less expensive than diesel, running about $1 less per gallon equivalent. School districts using the fuel have generally been able to claim a federal alternative fuel tax credit of 50 cents per gallon. The buses, which now represent about 20% of manufacturer Blue Bird’s business, come at a premium — about $103,000, roughly $15,000 more than a diesel model — but they are cheaper to operate and maintain, requiring less oil and fewer filters than conventional vehicles.

Classroom discussion questions:

1.Have your students prepare a life cycle analysis, as we present in Supplement 5, comparing the propane vs. diesel options. Gather data from the internet on costs and mileage.

2. What are the advantages of propane over diesel or gas buses?

OM in the News: Hotels Embrace Sustainability With Unwashed Towels

Stuart Gitlow traveled this month to the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta for a conference. During his three-night stay, he dispensed with housekeeping. “I don’t need my bed made every day and can certainly use the same towel three mornings in a row,” he wrote. Gitlow was rewarded for his green efforts with 500 Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty points for each night of his stay. Had he not chosen points, he also had the option of receiving a $5 voucher for food. The program, called Make a Green Choice, allows all guests, not just frequent travelers, to opt out of housekeeping. About 6.4 million guests have participated since 2009.

As the drought in California and the Western states draws increased attention to conservation, hotels are turning to sustainability as a way of both attracting guests and cutting costs, reports The New York Times (April 28, 2015). Hotels have 3 reasons to pay attention to conservation: corporate sustainability; better expense management; and consumer interest. A study by TripAdvisor found that 79% of travelers placed an importance on properties that use environmentally minded practices.

Hotels here and abroad are introducing or augmenting farm-to-table cuisine in restaurants to lower their carbon footprint, providing charging stations for electric vehicles and using kitchen scraps for compost and even recycling cooking oil for experimental biodiesel fuel. Behind the scenes, hotels are installing energy-efficient light bulbs and digital thermostats and are using recycled water for landscaping. They also are displaying discreet cards in guest rooms about the energy saved by not changing sheets and towels daily. At the Westin Peachtree Plaza, groups are offered behind-the-scenes tours to learn about hotel sustainability. Sites include the kitchen, loading dock and laundry. The hotel has conducted seven tours since the beginning of the year.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. In what other ways can hotels practice sustainability?

2. Why is this a good OM strategy?