Being powered by the sun and cooled by Earth makes it different than any other hotel in Augusta.
The new Comfort Inn & Suites on Gordon Highway near Bobby Jones Expressway welcomed city leaders Friday morning.
"It is such a great day for Augusta, our first green hotel," Mayor Deke Copenhaver said. "It is my hope that this will set the bar for future hotels in Augusta."
The $4 million hotel is open and nearly finished. More solar panels need to be installed on the roof, said owner T.R. Reddy, an
India-born hotel developer and electrical engineer.
Mr. Reddy started a wholesale power control equipment company in Augusta in 1985, Powerline Inc., which designed and installed
the lighting and power controls for the Jacksonville Jaguars' football stadium and General Motors' Saturn manufacturing facility in Tennessee.
There are six rows of pipes 200 feet underneath the hotel that make up the geothermal cooling system, he said. One set of solar panels on the roof of the overhang provide s some electrical power.
The rooms have low-flow faucets and energy-saving light fixtures. The front desk can control the energy usage of each room in case guests leave lights on when not in the room. Infrared sensors sense whether people are inside, Mr. Reddy said.
"The solar panels create 40 percent of daily requirements," he said . "Eventually, we may be approaching 60 to 70 percent power supplied ourselves."
Though the green features added 25 percent to the cost of the hotel, he said he thinks the expense will be paid back through savings - and tax credits - over the next five years.
Having a green hotel is also a selling point to entice visitors, Mr. Reddy said.
"Statistics prove that at least 20 percent more people visit green hotels," he said.
Augusta Commissioner Calvin Holland said he was pleased with the development in that area of Richmond County.
"South Augusta is an untouched area. We feel that the potential of this area will grow," he said. "South Augusta is ready, and south Augusta is growing."
Reach Tim Rausch at (706) 823-3352 or timothy.rausch@augustachronicle.com.
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The only "green" this hotel needs to worry about is paying the bills! Augusta reached its rooms saturation in late 90's (fact, not opinion), yet developers continue to build hotels. Now analysts are predicting the lodging industry to a suffer catastrophic meltdown due to senseless over development. Banks are the primary culprit here and have wrecklessly underwritten commercial loans for hotel development with little regard for the facts provided by impact studies. Historically, hotels were considered "safe" bets for banks. Guess what? The economy turns south and you've put a hotel on every corner. When you have an over-supply of rooms and a declining demand you have the recipe for disaster!