....makes LEED history by being the first existing hotel belonging to a major hotel brand to receive LEED certification. The hotel recently received silver certification and it is among 7 other hotels in the US to gain this status.

According to an article on inhabitat.com, "As of its LEED certification, the hotel features energy efficient lighting throughout 70% of its guest rooms and 90% of it’s back-of-house, motion sensors, and efficient HVAC systems that save 300 kWh of energy every year. What is even more amazing is that to further cut down on carbon emissions, the hotel management is considering installing a wind turbine on the hotel’s roof, which, if it goes ahead, would make the hotel the first commercial building in the city to have a turbine." http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/04/08/san-franciscos-w-ho
tel-makes-leed-history/

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc, who operate the W, have plans to certify even more of their hotels across the country. Good news, huh?!!? Have you ever stayed in a LEED certified building? I wonder where the other 6 are across the country?

Wow, this sounds pretty awesome! I'd love to visit their rooftop to see the wind turbine, if I could. I've actually recently stayed at a few hotels out of state, and I was shocked to see how both did not offer a recycling bin. I hope this trend continues throughout the country so that my eco-conscience can rest a little easier when I stay in a hotel.

Here's one article's list of some great green hotels around the country. According to this website, the Jackson Hole in Wyoming also achieved Silver LEED certification. It has dual-flush toilets, radiant-heat flooring, refillable bath products, and organic cotton mattresses, bed sheets, and towels. Sounds amazing!
http://www.travelmuse.com/articles/ecotourism/best-gree
n-hotels

But you're right, it's actually pretty hard to find the other Silver LEED certified hotels. That's a shame, since I know a lot of people would want to support a Silver LEED certified hotel if they knew about it.

I believe the Intercontinental, located at 888 Howard Street is a Gold LEED building that is working on becoming the first Platinum LEED building.

The key to LEED O & M which is the highest level is not any particular technology but rather how well you optimize all areas. If a building wide approach is taken correctly you can take any commercial facility and turn it into a LEED O & M from basic to Silver and do it within a 1 to 3 year payback. Going beyond Silver generally is where the paybacks start getting out of what most would consider realistic. I have performed combination energy / LEED studies and while the paybacks can be relatively short right now most ownerships do not value the extra .25 to 1 year increase in payback beyond just focusing on the pure energy efficiency, but I am sure eventually that will slowly chage.

Also you can obtain LEED O & M by spending money and NOT obtaining a really energy efficient operations as there are many points that are not directly affecting the measured efficiency of the building.