The Irish Green Building Council's annual Green Room event takes place this year on 2 May in the Alex Hotel, Dublin, and this year’s conference focuses on the imminent arrival of nearly zero energy building standards, and on the role of 'corporate action in our transition to a low carbon built environment’.

Hotels typically take a heavy toll on the environment, with large amounts of energy used for heating, hot water, lighting, air conditioning and laundry, and huge amounts of waste being landfilled each year. John Hearne visited the Westport Woods Hotel and discovered a highly successful approach to reducing environmental impact that is also yielding substantial dividends in terms of cost savings and positive publicity