NewsChannel 36

PHOTOS of the hotel

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- If you were asked the question, where can you find the greenest hotel? You’d probably guess California, maybe somewhere in Europe. The answer is Greensboro, North Carolina.

When you approach Proximity Hotel, something on the roof reveals this place's secret.

“The first thing you’d notice is the solar panels on the roof that lead you to believe that maybe there is something green going on here,” and that’s exactly what owner Dennis Quaintance says he had in mind.

His company's O’Henry Hotel was built 10 years ago nearby. When it came to products for his newest project, Proximity, he asked some different questions.

“We added is there a sustainable angle,” said Quaintance. He says he thought about legacy and about the world his 10 year old twin daughters would grow up in.

“Is there a product that would cause the operation of the business to use less energy? Is there recycled content,” he said his answer became a resounding yes. “We have the first elevators in the country that generate electricity when they descend to use for when they ascend,” Quaintance said.

As much as possible, the hotel used locally manufactured furniture to reduce the need for shipping. Its restaurant, bordered by an outdoor garden on one side and a natural area on the other, serves locally grown food.

“There’s a sensor at the bottom,” said Quaintance. Even the kitchen vent hoods are environmentally friendly only running when necessary and not wasting already conditioned air.

The bathroom urinals use just four gallons of water a month. Quaintance says this makes sense financially, “they say the easiest money you ever make is a dollar you don’t spend. So, you can see where we didn’t add materials if we didn’t need to because why do that?”

What Quaintance added in the 140 guest rooms also keeps with the sustainable theme. The lofts, as he calls them, are day lit with natural light. The walls covered in art, done by a local artist.

And then there’s the bathroom where water used to shower and wash your hands takes the story back up to the roof. “The thermal energy you feel is the warmth of the sun,” he said.

On the roof, 100 solar panels harvest the power of the sun. “Almost all of the hot water in the hotel is heated by the sun,” Quaintance adds.

Quaintance couldn’t be happier with how all of this turned out. And because of that, he’s sharing what he learned about building green. The most important is buyer beware. “There were a lot of things thrown at us as options that I didn’t think made any sense. That’s why we sought third party verification of everything we did and don’t make our own claims we only say what the United States Green Building Council says about us,” Quaintance said.

That council gives this North Carolina Hotel its highest award. Dennis Quaintance highest compliment came from an interior designer who stayed at the hotel as a guest. When asked what she thought of the green practices, she said this, “What did you do? I didn’t notice anything and that is what delights me most.”

Proximity Hotel is located on Green Valley Road off of North Wendover Road in Greensboro.