Just as the Earth keeps getting hotter, Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort announces its newest designation for its role in the race to halt global warming. Having long-known that man-made changes must be made to fix the man-made climate crisis, Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort continues to expand its green initiatives with its new LEED® Silver certification. Known as the Caribbean property with the most sustainability certifications, Bucuti’s new LEED designation is from the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the world’s foremost program for buildings, homes and communities that are designed, constructed, maintained and operated for improved environmental and human health performance.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), January through July 2015 was the warmest seven-months in recordkeeping history and 2015 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. Even a fraction of a degree average temperature change creates warmer oceans and rising sea levels that can be devastating for sea-level Caribbean islands like Aruba. While Bucuti is proud to be the only Caribbean hotel awarded LEED Silver certification, its goal is far greater: to inspire others to join them and invest in green initiatives now to ensure a safer future for generations to come.
“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most-important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “The work of innovative projects such as Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts is a fundamental driving force in the green building movement.”
“Becoming LEED-certified is a critical step in our efforts to protect the world we share especially here on Aruba where rising sea levels threaten our very existence,” says Ewald Biemans, owner of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts. “We must act together and we must act now. We want to inspire others near and far to make the environment and our earth’s future a top priority. This is a critical time for our endangered environment, so for the future of our planet and our wellbeing, environmental standards and certifications must become common practice on Aruba and throughout the Caribbean.”
Ewald Biemans, owner of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort and noted environmentalist, led a team of resort personnel to achieve its LEED Silver certification. Arnold Solognier, Bucuti’s sustainability and certifications manager, worked with the resort’s employees and vendors to implement practical and measurable solutions, mostly in the areas of water efficiency, energy efficiency, sustainable purchasing, solid waste management, green cleaning and indoor environmental quality.
Retrofitting an existing property to meet LEED standards is much more difficult than building a new structure from the ground up. Even so, hoteliers should know that in addition to being more eco-friendly, retrofitted properties notice immediate savings based on the resulting reduction in energy and water consumption.
