The managing partners of Habitat Suites Hotel, Eduardo Longoria and John McCready, had a vision and commitment to a sustainable future, and the resulting award-winning hotel is a model of environmental consciousness for other hotels to follow. Programs in air quality, land use, energy efficiency, waste reduction and management, recycling, resource conservation, water quality and conservation, human health, and public education make Habitat Suites a pleasant place to stay for guests and a more profitable business. Environmental practices are entrenched in every aspect of our business. We started with simple ideas for air quality like a smoke-free environment and live plants in each suite. We have eliminated chemical pesticides and toxic/aerosol cleaning products, and we use non-ozone depleting fire extinguishers. Energy efficiency starts outside where trees have been planted to shade suites from the summer sun, lowering air conditioning costs. All suites have windows that open for natural ventilation, window tinting, radiant barriers, proper insulation, weather stripping ; duty cycling timers on circuits ; and high efficiency air conditioning units. Water heaters are lowered to an efficient temperature and lighting fixtures have been changed to compact fluorescent. We have partnered with Austin Energy to reduce electricity demand by installing programmable thermostats, which the city can "cycle off" during peak demand times. About 20% of our energy needs are satisfied by our on-site 18 Kilowatt 108 solar panel PV ( photo-voltaic ) system. The PV system will pay for itself in 5.7 years. In June 2007, a solar-powered hot water system was installed which reduced the hotels our dependence on natural gas by 60%.
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