White Mountains Lodging Meets Green Living
Sunset Hill House and The Restaurant at Sunset Hill are Green!
Highlights of our eco-friendly lodging and dining:
- Sunset Hill House is an audited Environmental Champion providing green lodging and dining.
- We use ‘Green Seal’ certified cleaning products and offer environmentally friendly amenities.
- We have protected over 60 acres of wildlife and land with a conservation easement; we're one of only a few inns in New Hampshire to do so.
An Environmental Champion
The top ecological award for any hotel or restaurant in New Hampshire is the Environmental Champion award; given after an extensive audit by the NH Lodging and Restaurant Association’s Sustainable Lodging Program. This audit investigates everything from our use of native plants and low-VOC paints, to our laundry practices and support of local farmers.
Sunset Hill House Inn was a founding member of the state sustainable lodging and dining program, is a decade-long recipient of the environmental partner award, and is proud to earn the coveted Environmental Champion designation in 2010.
Green Amenities
Sunset Hill strives to provide our inn guests with the best in green amenities.
Green Bath Products
All our soaps and room amenities are naturally scented, vegetable oil based, and free from animal testing. They are American made, and even the wrapping is 100% biodegradable and printed with soy inks on post-consumer recycled paper. In a continuing effort to minimize our carbon footprint and reduce waste, we have eliminated single-use plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles from our guest rooms. We are delighted to provide you with a high quality, all natural shampoo and body bar in place of liquid shampoo. This glycerin-based soap, scented with natural orange oil is 100% vegetable based, sulfate and paraben free, and free from artificial colors. Unlike most shampoos which are 90% water, ours contains only 10% water.
Most importantly, our soap and shampoo bar has been extensively tested by staff and guests. They love it! It leaves your hair and body clean and soft – without any soap residue. Although the vast majority of our guests prefer this; if you favor liquid shampoo or conditioner, just ask and we’ll be glad to accommodate you.
Green Laundry
At Sunset Hill House we run our own high efficiency laundry to reduce water waste and eliminate the huge power use and chemical discharge of commercial laundries. If you wish to help us reduce our carbon footprint further, consider reusing your towels – just hang them up when you’re done. We’ll gladly replace those left on the floor or in the bath.
Green Cleaning Products
By and large, we use Green Seal certified bulk concentrates, which cuts down on packaging waste as well as environmental (and human!) impact. However, in a hotel setting there are some times where you truly want us to use bleach, Lysol, and the like – and in those cases, rest assured, we do.
Mountain Spring Water
Our water comes from our own spring just up the road. One hundred percent untreated, natural and pure New Hampshire mountain water. Enjoy!
Recycling
Recycling has just recently come to our region of the White Mountains. (We are indeed out in the boonies here!) Please bring your paper, plastics and cans to the bins at the front of the inn.
Our Green Facility
We are working to reduce our carbon footprint and striving to become carbon neutral.
Two big projects are in the works to that end:
We have just completed grant work to install a full solar-powered hot water system to provide all the hot water needs of the main inn, restaurant and tavern, and banquet facility. Simultaneously, we have applied for a grant to replace our very inefficient heat system with a modern super high-efficiency system. Together these projects are expected to reduce carbon emissions by over 200 tons each year.