Stephanie and Jack Isenberg talk with Dave Herrand, right, of the Hilton Garden Inn, in Warwick, about their “green” cleaning products at a ceremony yesterday honoring environmentally friendly businesses.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE –– The amenities list in a hotel guidebook may soon look like this: indoor pool, premium movie channels and low carbon footprint.

The major tourism groups in Rhode Island are embracing the public’s growing concern about global warming and its causes and using that to drive more business to area hotels.

Yesterday, 32 hospitality companies were awarded the first Green Hospitality Certifications by the state’s Department of Environmental Management during ceremonies at the Rhode Island Convention Center.

The DEM partnered with the state’s Division of Tourism, the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association and a dozen other entities to establish a certification program for measuring how well a particular hotel, restaurant or convention center has “green” business practices.

Those practices can include recycling paper, bottles, cardboard and printer cartridges; purchasing locally produced foods; using biodegradable cleaners and detergents; composting food scraps, grass clippings and yard waste; donating left-over food to local food banks; sending cooking oil to be used to make biodiesel fuel; eliminating the use of chemicals in gardens; offering guests the option not to have sheets and towels changed every day; using refillable dispensers for soap and shampoo rather than individual containers; using water-conserving shower and faucet fixtures; and using low-energy lighting and energy-saving appliances.

A company gets points based on its adherence to these practices, as well as dozens more.

“One of the biggest [tourism] trends is people seeking ‘green’ destinations,” said David DePetrillo, director of tourism for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.

More and more, he said, people are choosing to stay at hotels that follow environmentally friendly business practices.

“The customer is demanding it,” said Dale J. Venturini, president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association.

“Not only is it the right thing to do for the environment,” she said, “it is the right thing to do for the bottom line.”

Some of the hotel owners being honored yesterday said that while it may cost money to make these types of changes in the short term, some will pay for themselves over time.

Angelo De Peri, general manager of the Renaissance Providence Hotel, said that it was more expensive initially to establish a recycling program and required more effort on the part of employees to sort recycleable materials. But the hotel saved some money by choosing a waste hauler that could resell those materials, thereby charging a lower fee for disposal.

Utitilty costs are among the hotel’s biggest expenses, he said, so it just makes smart business sense to install devices that cut down on heating, air conditioning and electricity use. The hotel is about half-way finished with a project to replace energy-hogging incandescent bulbs in its 272 hotel rooms, said Dennis Cockroft, the Renaissance’s director of engineering.

The new bulbs, compact fluorescent lights, use far less energy, but are five times as expensive, he said. But the energy savings will more than pay for the extra cost of the bulbs in less than one year, Cockroft said.

These changes do attract customers, De Peri said. Meeting planners, who arrange hotel accommodations for groups and conventions are now asking about the facilities’ environmental business practices, he said.GREEN AWARDS

Lodging Facilities

Bay Voyage Interval Owner’s Association

Hilton Garden Inn Providence/Warwick

Hilton Providence

Holiday Inn - South County/Newport

Hotel Viking

Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa

Inn on Long Wharf/Wyndham Properties

Inn on the Harbor/Wyndham Properties

Long Wharf Resort/Wyndham Properties

Newport Onshore/Wyndham Properties

Providence Marriott Downtown

Radisson Hotel Providence Harbor

Renaissance Providence Hotel

The Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina

The Hotel Providence

Vanderbilt Hall

Westin Providence

Restaurants

10 Prime Steak and Sushi

22 Bowen’s Wine Bar & Grille

Boat House Waterfront Dining

Chinese Laundry

Citron Wine Bar and Bistro

Gregg’s Restaurant

The Mooring Restaurant

Pranzi Catering

Rick’s Roadhouse

Rue De L’Espoir

Ted’s Montana Grill

Eleven Forty Nine Restaurant

XO Steakhouse

Other

Newport Hospitality, Inc.

Rhode Island Convention Center

Source: R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management

tbarmann@projo.com