Has red gone green?

Has no-frills Tune Hotel decided to go green? Environmentally, yes, but surely not in experience, providing international accommodation at good deals and great savings. Complementing the newly opened second terminal in Sepang, Tune Hotel klia2 recently launchedits first green, energy-efficient
hotel within its chain. The hotel received plaudits in the industry.
Beyond the conventional green products of LED lights and energy efficient equipment, Tune Hotels klia2 has taken the green initiative further by employing a holistic sustainable agenda and driven it into its building design right from the beginning.
The hotel has since been awarded a provisional Gold Rating by the Green Building Index (GBI) accreditation panel and was subsequently presented as the first
demo-project under the Building Sector Energy Efficiency Project (BSEEP), a national project implemented by the Malaysian Public Works Department in
collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), co-funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
BSEEP’s goal is to reduce the overall impact from the building, where emissions are concerned, by promoting energy conserving processes in the design and
blueprint of new buildings. On hand to officiate at the opening of the hotel was Deputy Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir
Khalid, who also presented the Gold GBI certification to TuneHotel CEO Mark Lankester at the event. The GBI body was represented by its chairman Von
Kok Leong. Tune Hotel klia2’s blueprint demonstrates various aspects of energy efficient buildings. As a BSEEP demonstration project, Tune Hotel klia2 will provide real-time data to help gain the confidence of others where feasibility, unabridged performance and economical as well as environmentally-friendly
benefits of using energy-efficient building technology is concerned, The hotel is intended to be anexample, an archetype in supporting the design and construction of future real-life energy efficient buildings in the country.
A key green feature of Tune Hotel klia2 is its water efficiency scheme, which is estimated tosave more than 40% in water consumption compared to the conventionally-designed approach used in hotels. The harvested water in this scheme is used for water closet (WC) facilities, cleaning and irrigation purposes. Landscaping and the selection of plants also play a major role, where only native or locally adaptive greens which require minimal or almost no
irrigation are used. In terms of connectivity and location, guests of Tune Hotel klia2 will be able to enjoy easy access to Kuala Lumpur city and its suburbs as the klia2 terminal is serviced by buses and taxis, as well as the Express Rail Link (ERL) that connects it to KL Sentral.
For guests arriving at or departing from the KLIA main terminal, they can use the shuttle service via the ERL that costs just RM2 one way or take a stroll via a
covered link bridge to get to Tune Hotel klia2.
There are currently 45 hotels under the Tune Hotel chain. These are located in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, England, Scotland, Australia, India and Japan.