Restaurant Reformer

The 130-ish room [self-proclaimed] “greenest hotel in the US, ” Gaia Nappa Valley by Wen-I Chang (Butterfly Effect Hotels / Atman Hospitality Group) includes a… restaurant. The menu emphasizes locally-grown food.

There are a good number of reviews, and many of them describe the big plans for the Gaia brand, but even with coverage in bohemian.com, cnet, and USA Today details on sustainability features of the food service operation at Gaia are pretty sparse.

The backstory on Gaia’s development apparently starts in a restaurant – where an effort to save water caught Mr. Chang’s attention. 8 years and $20 million later, a hotel was born – and now there are more (in Anderson, CA and soon, Merced, CA).

Incidentally, Gaia Nappa Valley won the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) 2007 award of excellence for commercial canopies for Rainier Industries. Congratulations.

A new 10, 170 square-foot straw bale welcome center and dining facility for the Presentation Center includes a kitchen and three dining areas with enough room to serve 200. The facility includes photovoltaics, solar thermal, straw-bale construction, a living roof, graywater use for landscaping, and extensive use of recycled construction materials.

Results include LEED-NC Gold [pdf], 50% reduction in energy consumption and 30% reduction in water consumption.