For evidence of the Hilton Asheville’s unique commitment to eco-stewardship, you need only to look up. Atop the Hilton is one of the nation’s first hotel solar water heating systems. This system will be one of the largest installations in the Western North Carolina region.
Water throughout the hotel, including the pool, will be solar heated, eliminating twenty-five tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of planting 7,377 trees. Here guests can feel good about relaxing in one of the Hilton’s Whirlpool Tubs or taking a dip in the heated saline pool. Moreover, the solar water heating system is just one of the hotel’s many environmentally focused features.
The 165-room hotel is set in the heart of Biltmore Park Town Square, the largest mixed-use district outside of the city’s downtown. The Hilton Asheville was built to blend green practices with the Hilton’s acclaimed commitment to guest comfort, and was designed to LEED Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards from the Green Building Council. LEED certification is based on numerous metrics including energy savings, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
The Hilton Asheville aims to bring sustainability to its hospitality when it opens this month. Representatives for the hotel outlined goals for green practices, including reduced use of natural resources and the implementation of a solar water heating system (the first in the United States). It also pledged to embrace of the hotel’s western North Carolina surroundings into its design and operation.
Green efforts will extend to the hotel’s Sparrow Spa, which will include organic treatments, and the on-site restaurant will offer a menu that draws on local growers. Select staff will even wear uniforms made out of regenerated plastic bottles.
The Hilton Asheville will offer shuttle service in an alternative fuel or hybrid automobile and will reduce unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The hotel will also offer preferred parking for energy efficient hybrid vehicles.
Guests of the Hilton Asheville will have access to bicycles for exercise and/or alternatives to driving, ultimately reducing the use of gasoline, production of carbon monoxide and the release of other automobile emissions.
All hotel staff will be specially trained to comply with the company’s environmental program and practices. Now if that’s not out with the old and in with the new, I don’t know what is.












Many of the items we buy and use can be recycled. Craft projects from recycled goods are one great way of ensuring that our limited natural resources are optimally used.




































