by Julia Bainbridge

Every travel company wants to reduce energy consumption. But does sustainability go beyond conservation? This morning at the World Savers Congress, Condé Nast Traveler Consumer News Editor Kevin Doyle moderated a panel of travel industry professionals, asking, among other things, how they determine which expensive new technologies to adopt.

The word of the morning was "future proofing," which panelist William McDonough, architect and author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, said "grows out of anticipatory design science." He said we're getting to the tipping point where technologies like solar power are becoming commonplace--which means they'll be more cost-effective and hotels will start using them heavily.

McDonough stressed vocabulary in another way: "If I ask you how your relationship with your wife is and you say 'sustainable,' I'd say 'I'm sorry.' Instead of 'sustainability,' we talk about a 'sustaining' thing. We use 'eco-effective' instead of 'eco-efficient.'" Being less bad isn't being good, he said, being good is good. "This whole thing has to be characterized as the intelligent business doing the effective thing--the right thing."

An example of something that's eco-effective? The golf course at Four Seasons Papagayo in Costa Rica is seeded with a species of grass that lives off of sea water. Other courses use gray water, as well, according to John MacKinnon, senior vice president of the company.

Several Four Seasons properties are also giving guests the option to not have their linens washed in the evening. This garnered a response from McDonough, who said if we find a green way to wash towels, washing them can, in and of itself, be efficient. "Solar water heating is very cost effective. If the water is solar heated and you're providing jobs for people by washing towels, that is something to be celebrated."

He closed with a positive thought: "A twist should be brought to the sustainable movement: It can be delightful. You don't have to go without."

But perhaps one of the more powerful closing statements came from CEO and Chief Design Officer of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels Dennis Quaintance: "We are empowered. We can affect the market with our proactivism--we respond to what you want. Capitalists always respond to market demands. Demand it."

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