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Sabre Campus One of Largest US Facilities to Receive LEED
Designation
SOUTHLAKE, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Sabre Holdings has received The State of Texas Governor's
Proclamation as part of a five-year celebration commemorating the
designation of its global headquarters campus as a Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building. The
Southlake-based facility is one of the largest in the U.S. to receive
a silver award from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program.
The proclamation was presented to Dean Sanderson, vice president
of Corporate Real Estate for Sabre Holdings, who, seven years ago, had
the vision to create an environmentally friendly facility at a time
when the construction industry was just beginning to explore
sustainable facilities.
"Rather than just celebrate what we have already accomplished, we
wanted to use this occasion as a way to encourage all of our employees
to take the environment personally," Sanderson said. "We want our
employees - whether they are part of this campus or are located in any
of worldwide facilities - to get personally involved and look for
opportunities that they can make a difference. We find that most
people do want to contribute - they just don't always know what they
can be doing on a personal level - so that's what we focused on for
this celebration."
Some of these suggestions include: turning off their computers
nightly, using refillable water bottles and coffee mugs, and
refraining from using disposable items like Styrofoam cups and food
containers. Sabre employees currently participate in daily paper,
plastic and aluminum recycling programs. In addition, during the
celebration, employees signed up to participate in the company's
Ride-Share program that earns wellness points for participants that
can be applied to reduce their co-payment benefit costs.
These initiatives are organized by Sabre's Southlake Employee
Sustainability Committee, which is working with the company's
Corporate Real Estate group to explore future certifications for
ongoing sustainable building operation.
The Sabre campus environmental efforts include:
-- Incorporating several energy and water conservation practices,
including the use of natural lighting, low-energy fluorescent
lighting, low- or no-water appliances in the restrooms, and
landscaping comprised of low-water, heat-tolerant native
plants, to name just a few examples.
-- Fifty percent of the building's materials used for Sabre's
headquarters are from recycled content, the exteriors are
comprised of locally available stone, rooms are wired with
motion sensor lighting and daylight is maximized for workplace
lighting energy conservation, among other features.
-- Recycling: In 2006 alone, the Southlake campus recycled 98.52
tons and several other offices participated in recycling
initiatives. And we continue to focus on identifying recycling
and waste management opportunities at our larger offices.
The environmental focus at the Sabre campus is part of its
Corporate Social Responsibility program. The company has initiated a
number of other programs in recent years which include:
-- Travelocity was the first major travel agency to offer
travelers the option to purchase carbon offsets when booking a
vacation package by contributing to the Conservation Fund's Go
Zero program. Through Go Zero, 100 percent of every donation
goes toward planting native trees to absorb and reduce carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. In 2006 alone, Go Zero donations
helped the Conservation Fund plant nearly 10,000 trees, mostly
in the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana.
-- Through lastminute.com's Carbonwise program, customers can
exclusively fund two sustainable energy projects that reduce
CO(2). When booking a flight, a calculator indicates how much
carbon that flight will generate and how much it will cost to
"neutralize" the trip. With Carbonwise, Sabre has now offset
20,000 tons with 15 percent of flight-only customers adopting
it. That's the equivalent of all UK households switching off
their lights for three hours.
-- In 2007, GetThere launched GetThere Green, a set of
enhancements that facilitate the implementation of
sustainability policies into managed online travel programs,
including tools that help educate business travelers on carbon
emissions. GetThere earned a commendation from the U.K.'s
Institute of Travel Management in October 2007 for this set of
enhancements.
-- Sabre Airline Solutions' consultants and experts work with
airlines around the world on fuel savings engagements. Every
gallon of fuel we save our clients keeps 20 pounds of carbon
dioxide from being released in the atmosphere. Thanks to
Airline Solutions' Dispatch Manager Solution, which allows
flight planning based on Variable Cost Index and takes into
consideration current and forecast winds as well as specific
aircraft performance data, a growing airline in India is
saving on average 500 Kilos (176 gallons) of jet fuel per
flight.
About Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings connects people with the world's greatest travel
possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution
and technology solutions for the travel industry. Sabre Holdings
supports travelers, travel agents, corporations, government agencies
and travel suppliers through its companies: Travelocity, Sabre Travel
Network and Sabre Airline Solutions. Headquartered in Southlake,
Texas, the company has approximately 9,000 employees in 59 countries
and is owned by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and TPG.
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Sabre Travel Network
Kathryn Hayden, Media Relations, 682-605-2252
mobile: 817-296-7693
Copyright Business Wire 2008