Given today’s climate concerns – both economic and environmental – more meeting planners are striving to be “lean and green”. According to a recent study, 66% of corporate sales and marketing executives surveyed plan on implementing, or have already implemented, green meeting initiatives – that’s a 32% increase from 2008. Hotels are “going green”, but did you know that the cruise industry is using the latest technology to implement environmental initiatives on new ships as well as ships already at sea?

For example, Celebrity Cruises’ new eco-friendly cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice, delivers a green cruise experience with a solar energy, fuel-efficient design. Among the ship’s environmental initiatives:

•    Celebrity Solstice is the first cruise ship to use solar energy, with 216 solar panels – enough to power all of the ship’s guest elevators, or more than 7,000 LED lights.

•    The hull was designed with energy efficiency in mind, with every angle closely tested and examined to achieve optimal cruising speed, guest comfort, and fuel consumption.

•    On Celebrity Solstice and across the fleet, a special silicon coating has been applied to the entire underwater area to reduce frictional resistance and trim fuel consumption. The coating also prevents a breakdown of paint chips into the ocean.

•    Celebrity began transitioning from higher wattage halogen and incandescent bulbs to longer-lasting fluorescent and LED lights more than a year ago, as they generate less than 50 percent of the heat of conventional bulbs – resulting in reduced energy consumption and more efficient air conditioning.

•    The high-glazed glass of Celebrity Solstice’s windows reduces heat transfer into staterooms and public areas to reduce the energy required for air conditioning. On the balance of the fleet, state-of-the-art window film produced by 3M has been installed to achieve the same benefits.

•    Advanced wastewater purification systems have been installed on every Celebrity ship. These systems are capable of treating all wastewater streams onboard – including grey and black water – and restoring it to close to drinking-water quality before discharging.

•    An innovative application across the Celebrity fleet is the use of river rocks instead of ice beds in buffet areas, reducing both water and energy consumption due to a lesser need for ice.

•    Every ship in the Celebrity fleet also houses low-energy reverse osmosis plants (water makers) to produce fresh drinking water. The line also is installing reduced-flow dishwashers and low-consumption laundry equipment.

Celebrity Solstice is just one example of a cruise line taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. To read about other “green ships” and find out more about the cruise industry’s commitment to the environment (including 100 examples), go to Seasite’s Knowledge Center Environmental Issues.

Filed under: Cruise News