Wen-I Chang, CEO and founder of Atman Hospitality Group Inc., claims Gaia Napa Valley in American Canyon is the “greenest” hotel in the country.

The $20 million hotel located in California’s premier wine region is pursuing a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

With 133 rooms, Gaia is designed to use 15 percent less energy than conventional hotels. The hotel pipes natural sunlight indoors through tubular skylights, and it provides 12 percent of its energy needs from onsite solar panels. Gray water from showers and sinks feeds outdoor ponds and permaculture landscaping. Designers incorporated recycled carpets, low-toxic paints and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, and a kiosk educates customers about the building’s green features.

“A customer told me, ‘Your hotel reduced my guilt,’” Chang says. Data is still being collected to see how much energy and water the facility actually saves.

Gaia opened in late October 2006, just one week before San Francisco’s 86-room Orchard Garden Hotel [see “San Francisco lands its first LEED hotel,” SIJ, April 2006].

The Orchard is also pursuing a LEED Gold rating.