Eco-conscious travelers to Tahiti, Fiji or Easter Island in the South Pacific will find that resorts are making efforts to go "green" in various ways, from harnessing the energy of the sun and the cooling power of deep ocean water to offset power for air-conditioning overwater bungalows to building resorts from the ground up with a goal of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the United States Green Building Council.
Here's a look at several initiatives being used by hoteliers to help preserve the South Pacific's delicate ecosystems.
In Tahiti
InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa: This five-year-old resort, built and owned by Pacific Beachcomber was the first in the world to use a sea water air-conditioning (SWAC) system to provide environment-friendly, cost-efficient air-conditioning and refrigeration. The system, which harnesses the cooling power of sea water pumped from 3,000 feet below the Pacific (also used in the resort's Deep Ocean Spa) has reduced the resort's energy bill by about 40 percent and is chlorofluorocarbon-free.
The Brando: This under-construction eco-luxury resort featuring 47 bungalow villas on Tetiaroa, the private Tahitian island of the late Marlon Brando, is set to open at the end of 2012 with a goal of attaining LEED Platinum certification. Being developed by Pacific Beachcomber, S.C., which also owns the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, The Brando is striving to achieve carbon neutrality by producing as much energy as it consumes. The resort will use solar panels, bio-fuel generators, a sea water air-conditioning (SWAC) system like the InterContinental's, and a wastewater management system to filter water and make it usable for irrigation.
Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa: The most obvious sign of eco-initiatives at this resort are the 178 solar panels on the rooftops of its overwater bungalows, which were installed in 2009. The panels are used to provide about half of the resort's hot water, filling about 15 percent of the resort's total electrical demand and eliminating 650 tons of carbon per year. Under the water, the resort has also installed a Biorock initiative to encourage the healthy growth of coral.
Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa: Like its sister property on Moorea, this Bora Bora luxury resort's bungalows are equipped with 168 solar panels used to heat water. In addition, the resort has 96 solar panels in its public areas. Like Moorea, the Bora Bora resort also has implemented Biorock technology to spearhead coral reef preservation.
In Fiji
Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort: This dive-centric resort on the Fijian island of Vanua Levu describes its environmental stewardship as "evolutionary" and mostly involves initiatives to protect the land, sea and local flora and fauna. These include recycling both biological and non-biological materials and composting, restocking and repopulating the vulnerable giant clam (which weighs 500 pounds and can live 100 years), reef protection policies for divers, use of non-toxic insect repellants and non-chlorinated cleaning products, and a two-acre organic garden growing 70 percent of the resort's produce in the high season. The resort also does not use air-conditioning (with the exception of the Villa) and features Fiji's first and only water reclamation plant.
Matava-Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort: Located on the remote island of Kaduvu in Fiji, Matava accommodates 22 guests in nine traditional thatched Fijian bures, with lighting and hot water suppled by solar panels. The resort espouses an "eco-adventure hideaway" designed to cause minimal impact on the environment. Matava also adheres to a Responsible Tourism code of conduct and excels at conservation of the marine environment, having established three marine reserves as 100 percent "no-take" zones.
Vomo Island Resort: A private island luxury resort in Fiji's Mamanuca group, Vomo's eco-initiatives are focused on a pesticide-free organic garden, a nursery with 50,000 plants used to create native gardens, and daily recycling of plastic bottles. The resort also has a turtle breeding program to help rebuild the local hawksbill turtle population decimated by poaching in the 1980s. Vomo's long-term objective is to be self-sufficient in the generation of energy via solar power.
Easter Island
Explora Rapa Nui: This 30-room eco-lodge, opened in late 2007 on the iconic and isolated South Pacific island of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), is the first lodge in South America (Easter Island is governed by Chile) to be awarded LEED certification for meeting environmental standards in deign, construction and operation. Its environmental practices include a recycling center for cardboard, plastic, glass and aluminum; use of solar panels to heat pools, Jacuzzis and showers; and on-site water treatment and purification plants.