I came back to my hotel room from day three of Mac OS X Server training this evening, and found the room to be in an amusing state. All the lights were left on.
Let me explain. From what I can tell, the trend at hotels nowadays (exhibited both here and at the Bolger Center last month) is to post material saying that first of all, they are committed to energy and resource conservation, and that secondly, they are not replacing towels or bed linens (the latter only every third day) unless specifically requested.
I’m all for that. Since I’ve been living on my own, I have invested in greener fixtures in the interest of saving money. A small financial reward in the form of lower bills is an excellent incentive to save energy and therefore conserve resources. Likewise, I don’t wash my towels daily at home, usually letting them go three or four days before a wash. I have big towels at home, and so it’s especially fine there.
Now I’ve been around online, and many have indicated that the move is likely more about saving money than it is in conservation. But you know what – saving money is a good incentive to go green. That’s why I found it somewhat amusing that all the lights were left on today when I got back. Seriously. I think the housekeepers probably negated any energy savings gained from my not having them wash the towels after one use and not changing the sheets every day by leaving the lights on. When I left this morning, I turned all the lights off. I’ve gotten into a good habit about that ever since I started living on my own, since I’d otherwise be lighting the house for no one whenever I’m away. Saves me money that way, even with the CFL bulbs in my light fixtures. And now they left all the lights on here, with non-CFL bulbs to boot.
One would think the housekeepers would be more cognizant of this, but oh, well…