Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to slash energy use in each of its 1,000 hotels by 30 percent by 2020, in addition to a 20 percent drop in water consumption.

The company worked with Conservation International to formulate the goals, which are to be measured on a per-room basis, Starwood said last week.

A 30-member cross-discipline team partnered with the NGO last year to develop Starwood's environmental strategy, which also includes sustainable meetings guidelines introduced two weeks ago. The guidelines will be used at all North American locations before rolling out worldwide next year.

"These efforts make sense operationally and our guests are choosing brands that share their sense of purpose for reducing environmental impact," Starwood CEO Frits van Paasschen said in a statement. "Meeting and exceeding these expectations of our brands is a critical aspect to the way we see the future and importantly, our future success."

Earlier this month, Starwood introduced green meeting guidelines at its North American properties for events held on its premises. The best practices cover food and beverages, meeting supplies, tools and services as well as the meeting planning process. The company plans to roll out the guidelines globally next year.

Starwood's 1,000 hotels include a variety of banners: W, St. Regis, Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien, Aloft and Element. Its Element brand, launched in 2008, only uses LEED guidelines in construction after determining that LEED certification can be achieved with a modest cost premium that is typically recouped within a few years.
Starwood's Aloft brand ventured into adaptive reuse last year when it converted a former Santa Fe Railroad freight terminal and commercial dry goods warehouse into a 193-room hotel in downtown Dallas.

To help its employees maintain momentum for its green initiatives, Starwood created an online sustainability resource center in 2009. It includes an environment initiative assessment survey and initiative tracking tool.

The company began collecting environmental data in 2007, confirming the baseline two years ago.

Image CC licensed by Flickr user U-g-g-B-o-y.