Improving Air Quality in Your Community
Outside Air - Stationary Sources: Hospitality Industry (Lodging Sector)
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Tools and Calculators
You can help lodging property owners and operators reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) that may affect customers, their families, and the community by encouraging lodging property owners and operators to conduct these activities:
- Change cleaners
- Maintain buildings using low impact products
- Control emissions of HAPs and ozone depleting substances (ODSs)
- Reduce ozone-depleting substance emissions from fire extinguishers
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Change Cleaners
How?- Choose non-toxic products such as baking soda, vinegar, and lemon oil.
- Purchase cleaners with low toxics content and less than 10% volatile organic compound content by weight.
- Choose pump-style sprays instead of aerosols. These sprays emit fewer hazardous air pollutants.
- Cleaning products with low toxics content can be perceived not to clean as well. However, a combination of more conventional cleaners such as baking soda and vinegar combined with elbow grease can accomplish the same jobs.
- Reduces emissions of HAPs and VOC.
- Training employees to use new products.
- Read about the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network's Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project.
Maintain Buildings Using Low Impact Products
How?- Use water-based or less toxic paints and coatings to maintain wood floors and walls.
- Reduce the amount of refinishing needed for hardwood floors by regularly inspecting floors to determine where the most wear occurs. Refinish only those portions.
- If available, use indoor furniture made of wood instead of pressed wood products. If not available, then use pressed wood products that contain phenol resin instead of urea resin, which is more toxic.
- Reduces emissions of HAPs and VOC.
- Labor for floor inspections.
- Training employees to use new products.
Control Emissions of HAPs and ODSs
How?- Limit idling of tour buses around heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit intake vents and entrances to prevent a high concentration of diesel vapors affecting people both entering and leaving the building as well as inside. Diesel emissions can cause respiratory problems.
- Use "good housekeeping" measures, such as checking for leaks in piping, to avoid loss of ODSs during HVAC unit and refrigeration equipment maintenance and operation.
- Recover and reuse ozone-depleting substances after dismantling HVAC and refrigeration equipment for service.
- Retrofit existing HVAC and refrigeration units to avoid leakage and loss of existing ODSs.
- Phase out chemicals that deplete the ozone layer by retrofitting HVAC units and refrigerant units to use chemicals with a low- or zero-ozone-depleting substance content. There are financial benefits to phasing out these chemicals that help offset the expense or retrofitting. The cost savings will result from the prevention of chemical leakages and from the improved energy efficiency offered by many of the newer, zero-ozone-depleting substances and units.
- Reduces emissions of HAPs and ODSs.
- Cost savings from more efficient equipment and reduced purchase of chemicals.
- Capital costs for new equipment or equipment retrofit.
- Training employees to use new equipment and procedures.
Reduce ODS Emissions from Fire Extinguishers
How?- At the end of their service life, replace halon-containng fire extinguishers with alternative non-halon equipment.
- Inspect halon-containing fire extinguishers frequently for leaks. Repair or replace if leaks are discovered.
- Reduces emissions of ODSs.
- Labor for additional inspections of fire extinguishers.