Fifty-four hotels around the country were presented with the Green Hospitality Award today by the Minister of State for the Environment Michael Kitt.
The award recognises achievements in becoming more energy efficient while still offering a high quality service to guests.
The awards are funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Waste Prevention Programme, which works with Irish hotels to improve environmental management practices, prevent waste and encourage resource efficiency, while reducing operating costs for the sector.
By using leak-detection programmes and water-efficient taps in showers and toilets, hotels in the scheme have saved 280,000 cubic metres of water. This equates to 600 swimming pools and translates into hard cash savings of between €5,000 and €100,000 per hotel.
Reducing packaging, preventing waste and increasing recycling and segregation, the hotels saved 4,000 tonnes or 1,600 full skips of landfill waste. This lead to cash savings of between €5,000 and €45,000 per hotel.
Energy awareness and management programmes, installation of energy efficient equipment and lighting and adoption of alternative energy sources has resulted in savings of between €10,000 and €100,000 per hotel.
Other actions undertaken by hotels in the scheme included reducing chemical use, sourcing sustainable and local food, carbon offsetting, educating suppliers and customers and developing environmental policies.
Presenting the awards, Mr Kitt said the hotels had demonstrated that taking measures to reduce environmental impact need not be seen as a burden or a threat to business.
"Critically they have discovered that environmentally sustainable businesses are also economically sustainable businesses with savings of over €3 million achieved by Green Hospitality Award participants in 2008," he said.
Laura Burke, director of the EPA office of climate, licensing and resource use, said the project had had a “significant environmental impact”.
“The EPA is delighted to recognise the achievements of the successful participants who have made savings of over €3 million in 2008 alone,” she said
A full list of Green Hospitality Award winners is available on the EPA website.