Australia
Pritzker prize-winning architect Glenn Murcutt has been described as an environmental hero. At Moonlight Head on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, he has designed five luxury eco lodges with an ingenious saw-toothed roof system that maximises solar gain in the winter and minimises it (through cross-ventilation) in the summer. From £269 per person per night based on eight sharing. +61 3 523 75208, moonlighthead.com
Scandinavia
Big doesn’t have to be bad as proved by hotel groups such as Scandic, winner of last year’s ‘Sleep’ award (thesleepevent.com) for sustainability. Today, 109 of Scandic’s 136 mid-market hotels have Nordic Swan eco-certification, while new-builds and refurbishments follow strict guidelines on reducing dependence on fossil fuels, for instance, and using renewable wood rather than plastic and metal. Doubles from £100. scandichotels.com
UK
Newt Cottage on Hunting Hall Farm is the ideal way to discover the magic of Northumberland – Bamburgh Beach, the seals and puffins of the Farne Islands – with minimum disruption to the environment. The restored stone cottage is heated with an air-source heat pump using electricity generated by wind turbines, and has solar panels for hot water. From £285 per week (for four). responsibletravel.com
South Africa
South Africa’s fynbos is the most biodiverse floral kingdom in the world, with some 9,000 different plant species, so it’s good to know you can look at it from somewhere off the grid. Farm 215, near Gansbaai in the Overberg, 200km from Cape Town, has three chic fynbos suites heated by solar energy and a coil system in the chimneys that redirects heat to the floors. Doubles from £130. i-escape.com/farm215.php
China
Hip new Urbn Hotel near Shanghai’s Nanjing Road deserves credit for its reclaimed hardwoods and local bricks, water-based air-con system and carbon-offsetting. Owners Scott Barrack and Jules Kwan claim the 26-room boutique property is the first carbon-neutral hotel in China. They plan nine more. Doubles from £110. urbnhotels.com
Check out soon
The first green boutique hotel in New York is set to open in spring. With its geothermal heating and cooling system, thermal breaks, the 28-room Greenhouse 26 will be registering for Leed (leadership in energy and environmental design) gold status. As part of its bid to be carbon-free by 2010, Six Senses Soneva Fushi in the Maldives is working with XCO2 to introduce energy-efficient architecture.
Every time you fly, offset your flights at ba.com. The fifth Responsible Tourism awards (responsibletourism.com) are 12 November 2008.
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