Westin Princeville Reduces Its Carbon Footprint

The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas has completed their multimillion-dollar project to reduce their carbon footprint.

The resort installed a cogeneration plant to generate electricity for the property. This plant will power the resort’s eight buildings. It will also heat water in the guest villas, the pools, and the whirlpools. Through this process, the Westin Princeville will become the first resort in Hawaii to be 100% powered by a cogen system.

Due to it’s location and consumption of imported diesel fuel, the island of Kauai has some of the highest energy costs in the U.S. As one of the largest resorts on the island with 346 villas, the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas are responsible for a large portion of this energy consumption.

The system is known as a Combined Cooling, Heat, and Power (CCHP) system. The CCHP system uses Capstone Turbine generators to produce up to 1 megawatt of power. On a daily basis, the system will power 100% of the resort’s heating needs and 90% of the resort’s electricity. This includes heating the water in all villas, the pools, and the whirlpools. The resort expects to see a 50% decrease in energy expenses, thanks to the cogen plant.

The Westin Princeville General Manager, Denise Wardlow, shared that the resort also considered using wind- and solar-generated power before settling on the cogen plant. However, wind-generated power is not yet permitted on the island of Kauai. The island is home to many endangered bird species and experts fear that the wind-generated power turbines could harm them.

The other alternative, solar power, would require more effort to run and would be less reliable due to weather. Ultimately, the cogen plant is the most efficient and reliable energy source for the resort.

Wardlow shared, “We recognize that the vitality of the resort is directly linked to the vitality of the community where it operates. In addition to doing the right thing for the environment, The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas is proud of the economic benefits that our project provided to Kauai’s local contractors and vendors.”

This update is just one of the many ways that the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas and Starwood are embracing green practices. To learn more about how Westin and Starwood are reducing their carbon footprint, visit StarwoodHotels.com/corporate/about/citizenship.