September | Travel
King Skyfront Tokyo Rei, Japan
This innovative Japanese location is powered by a ‘clean’ generator
Susan Ward DaviesWe’re loving the fact that as the war against waste intensifies, forward-thinking companies are coming up with ever more inventive ideas. Imagine running a hotel on recycled toothbrushes and combs? Well, the King Skyfront Tokyo Rei in Kawasaki does just that. The first hydrogen hotel on the planet, it uses technology invented by Toshiba called H2Rex, a ‘clean’ generator that emits only water, and creates heat and electric power from hydrogen, without producing carbon emissions. 30% of the energy comes from recycled plastics, including room amenities such as all those discarded toothbrushes and hair combs, as well as locally-sourced plastic waste used to supplement the hotel’s own, and a whopping 70% comes from food refuse.
Just because it is the world’s first hotel to be totally powered in this way, their eco-efforts don’t stop there: you’ll find rows of lettuce sprouting in reception, nourished by hydroponics and LED light source photosynthesis. They are pesticide free, grow year-round and are harvestable every 4 – 6 weeks.
As a guest you can do your bit by earning Green Coins for not using the disposable room amenities such as razors and shower caps. These Green Coins are tallied at check out and the hotel donates the value to local forestation projects.
Now we just need Japan to make it onto the Green List …
Doubles from £73, room only
For carbon offsetting see trees4travel.com
