IHG to Take Part in the Department of Energy’s Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative

IHG will work with other leading commercial real estate firms, retailers, financial institutions, and two of the DOE’s national laboratories to produce measurable energy saving design solutions

ATLANTA .- As a part of the effort to find real-world solutions to the growing problem of climate change, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), [LON: IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], the world’s largest hotel company by number of rooms, is pleased to be one of the 23 companies selected to participate in the ground-breaking Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The CBI brings leading commercial real estate firms, retailers, and financial institutions and two of the DOE’s National Laboratories - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) together to produce real-building design solutions that yield significant and measurable energy savings in commercial buildings.

To be considered, the DOE requested proposals from its National Labs and private sector companies to achieve cost-effective savings of 50 percent above the standard set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers for new commercial building designs, and a savings of 30 percent for retrofits to existing buildings. Each private sector company proposed to have their design and facility management teams work with DOE’s PNNL and NREL to design, build, tune and operate at least one new prototype building and to

retrofit an existing building project for 50 percent and 30 percent energy savings, respectively, over the next three to five years.

The DOE is awarding $15 million in technical assistance to provide access to the labs’ unique expertise in low-energy building design and retrofit. These real building projects will provide unprecedented insight into private sector decision processes, business models, and financial drivers for achieving low-energy buildings.

“Sustainable tourism means tackling the environmental impact of hotel development and operations from the inside out - evaluating everything in the lifecycle of a hotel from site and design to management and operations. We’re thrilled to be a part of this effort in the U.S. Being chosen to work with other world-class companies and the DOE to design and deliver real world commercial building solutions to help minimize our carbon and ecological footprints supports our commitment to be a responsible hotelier,” says David Jerome, senior vice president of corporate responsibility, IHG.

As a part of its longtime commitment to corporate responsibility and environmental protection, many of IHG’s more than 4,000 hotels, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo® around the world already have in place a number of environmental initiatives, please visit our online CR report to find out more.

"Our partnership with the DOE is part of our efforts to more effectively minimize greenhouse gas emissions, conserve energy and water resources and manage our waste and recycling. With more than 4,000 hotels around the world we are committed to a long-term strategy to deliver real environmental benefits, Jerome went on to say.