Resort uses Intelex software to go green, targets paperless office in 2011

TORONTO — In the spirit of its mission to preserve, protect and inspire, the Grand Teton Lodge Company (GTLC) has turned to Intelex, a global pioneer in environment management solutions, to become a leader in sustainability among its peers in the tourism and hospitality industry.

GTLC, based in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, used to struggle with the minutiae of environment management: controlling and managing documents, training new employees, conducting audits, ensuring employees followed internal processes, conforming to ISO 14001, and complying with regulatory requirements.

“On the advice of a consultant, we implemented Intelex’s software-based environment management system (EMS),” says Gina MacIlwraith, EHS Director at GTLC. “Suddenly, all the minor administrative, yet imperative, tasks associated with running an environment program disappeared. We found opportunities to focus time and energy on monitoring sustainability key performance indicators (KPI), advance our green mandate, and boost revenue through efficiency savings.”

Now that GTLC has streamlined its environment management system and unlocked new capabilities, it has set the exciting goal of going paperless in 2011.

“Monitoring environmental impacts by tracking sustainability KPIs is essential for any business,” says Mark Jaine, President and CEO of Intelex. “Sustainability has been overcomplicated in recent years and business leaders often feel overwhelmed by the array of seemingly complex requirements associated with environmental performance. But it is straightforward, and basically involves tracking and reporting on waste, wastewater and air emissions. By monitoring these factors, a business can develop and implement new policies to mitigate environmental impacts and save money.”

According to Jaine, substantial savings can be generated by implementing a software-based EMS. The return on investment (ROI) from a system that tracks, analyzes and reports on the metrics associated with environmental performance can be enormous, and manifests in a number of ways:

• Efficiency: Environmental personnel commit a substantial amount of time and effort to basic tasks, including the collection, assessment and reporting of environmental data – all tasks that can be streamlined with environmental management software.

• Risk Avoidance: Software can correlate real-time emissions and wastewater statistics to permit thresholds and issue automatic email notifications to warn environment personnel when permit violations are imminent, allowing businesses to proactively manage emissions sources and discharge points to ensure costly fines are avoided.

• Brand Image: A software-based EMS curbs the amount of time spent on the minutiae of managing an environment program, freeing-up resources for businesses to focus on improving environmental performance by implementing aggressive sustainability initiatives.

A fulsome software solution also provides cost savings associated with continual audit preparedness, the elimination of duplicate data, and the tracking of (and automatic following-up on) corrective actions.

As with GTLC, results continually show environment management software is the most effective and efficient means of implementing and maintaining a robust EMS as well as ensuring continued compliance with regulatory and legislative standards.