Thursday night in Melbourne saw My Green Butler (Crystal Creek Meadows’ sustainability resource conservation program) win the prestigious global environmental sustainability Banksia Award, with judges saying we developed “a unique product with the potential to have a real impact reducing the footprint of accommodation and strong potential to go global”.
My Green Butler shows our guests the consequences of consumption by giving real-time resource use figures, plus tips to stay comfortable, low/no energy activity options, and setting savings targets – rather like a diet. This encourages guests to adapt their resource use behaviour, and has meant savings of between 20-38% of the guests’ resource consumption whilst staying at our accommodation. The concept of giving guests the tools to be mindful of their resource use is so simple, and so effective, and doesn’t require expensive equipment, and it allows guests to see real savings, not just invisible claimed savings of new technology and infrastructure. The money we saved on resources like gas and electricity, for example, we passed on to local conservation and wildlife funds – a win/win situation for everyone.
We now share with other accommodation businesses worldwide to help holidays have a positive effect on the planet. If you want to learn more about what we have done visit My Green Butler