More businesses going green

When you pull up to your hotel in your electric vehicle after a long day on the road, you will no longer need to worry about charging your battery.

Carbon Day Automotive recently announced a partnership with Element Hotels to install a ChargePoint Charging Station at the Element Lexington. The “Element” brand is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s new eco-chic branded hotel chain. The Element Lexington is located in a suburb of Boston and opened in July 2008 and the charging station will be “unveiled” very shortly.

The Element hotels are the testing ground for green design, practices and operations, and all hotels are LEED certified (the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is a certification offered by the U.S. Green Building Council).

In addition, the Element Lexington has preferred parking for those driving hybrids or all electric vehicles and also offers guests the ability to use bikes to get around town.

“By offering a charging station for electric vehicles, we are deepening our commitment to greener travel as a key part of an environmentally responsible lifestyle,” said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President, Specialty-Select Brands, Starwood Hotels. The ChargePoint Charging Station was developed by Coulomb Technologies in conjunction with Green Power Technologies and have been installed in cities in California, Oregon, Wisconsin and elsewhere.

In another twist to the technology, drivers will be able to both locate the charging station and determine if it is in use through Google maps. As with other stations, drivers who have a “ChargePoint membership” will be able to swipe their keyfob and charge up. Scott Emalfarb, a principal with Carbon Day Automotive hopes that other hotels across the country will follow suit. “By installing the ChargePoint charging station at Element Lexington, we are preparing for the influx of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles expected on America’s roads in 2010. We hope that other hotels will follow Starwood’s lead and take the initiative to encourage this important change in the automobile industry.”

There is an orchestrated push to develop more hybrid-electric cars and this past March, President Obama announced $2.4 billion in funding for electric vehicle development. However, where the government tends to fail is in funding infrastructure development but this hasn’t halted the private sector in taking the lead. At this rate there will be more EV charging stations across the country than E85 stations within the next few years…

Source : Gas2.0, by Joanna Schroeder, July 20th, 2009