Hotel Marcel New Haven, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, will soon make history as what is believed will be the first net-zero hotel in the United States. The revolutionary property will utilise renewable solar power sources on site to generate the electricity needed for its common areas, restaurant, laundry, meeting rooms, 165 guest rooms and suites.

Holiday surcharges are a real possibility in the travel and tourism industry as companies grapple with the rising energy prices.

Thomson Airways will become the UK’s first airline to fly customers on biofuel when it operates a service from Birmingham to Mallorca, Spain next month. The carrier said the flights would operate on a 50/50 mix of Jet A1 fuel and recycled cooking oil in both of the plane’s engines. Subject to safety approval the service would then run weekly for a year.

Europe’s first solar-powered rail tunnel has opened in Belgium. The two-mile-long stretch of high-speed track, near Antwerp, has been covered with 16,000 solar panels that will generate sufficient energy to power the country’s entire train network for one day per year, as well as cutting C02 emissions by 47kg million over the next 20 years.

As an organisation that encourages and promotes sustainable tourism, the World Travel & Tourism Council is leading by example by endeavouring to minimise the environmental impact of its foremost event, the Global Travel & Tourism Summit, which is currently underway in Las Vegas.

TUI (Thomson and First Choice has announced 20 sustainable travel commitments for 2011. Launched at The Economist’s Sustainable Business Summit, the ambitious three year commitments reinforce the company’s position at the forefront of sustainable tourism – it is the only travel company to introduce such wide ranging and measurable objectives.