Sustainable Living

Since opening in 1989, HI-Austin has worked diligently to minimize our impact on the physical environment while providing a comfortable, fun, and educational hostel experience for hostel guests. As a result, HI-Austin is recognized as a “Sustainable Living Center” by our national organization, Hostelling International-USA. At our hostel, individuals from more than 35 countries each year see that Austinites care enough to take action to protect our natural resources.

2010 Neighborhood Beautification Grant Recipient from Keep Austin Beautiful 

Funding from Keep Austin Beautiful was used to plant a vegetable garden for travelers to eat from, plant native plants, paint peace inspired murals and complete a beautification project in the front yard area.  

The goal of this project is to make the space much more reflective of Austin for visiting travelers from all over the globe.

Click here for a news story filmed Earth Day 2011. For more information and before/after photos click on the link below.

http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/nbg2010hia 

Renewable Electricity

For more than eleven years, HI-Austin has collected solar energy on our roof. This reduces the burning of fossil fuels that produce conventional electricity. Our first solar panels were an early design that lasted approximately ten years until early 2002. In June 2003, through a service project, Austin Energy, The Texas Solar Energy Society, Sandia Labs, Janet’s Electric, and CRS Engineering installed new photovoltaic panels for the hostel. These new solar panels generate nearly 3 kilowatts of electricity each hour the sun is shining brightly. The new panels are guaranteed to maintain at least 90% of their power producing capacity for 20 years, which will be double the life of the earlier design. Especially in the summer, photovoltaic panels reduce power demands on the grid at the time of peak power usage.

Click here to read the full story!

In 2001, HI-Austin signed on with the City of Austin Green Choice program. This program provides long-term contracts for wind generated power from west Texas. This program pays in a number of ways. In addition to being an environmentally responsible energy source, energy charges to the customers are fixed for the term of the program. This protects customers from unpredictable swings in price that often apply to fossil fuels.

Through these two actions, HI-Austin gets as much electricity as is practical from renewable energy sources.

Lake Cleanups

The photo is an example of how HI-Austin takes action to help our lakeside environment clean. In conjunction with other groups such as Keep Austin Beautiful and the Austin PaddleFest, HI-Austin has participated in or supported many cleanups of Town Lake. Our largest cleanup netted over 79 bags of garbage and recyclable materials.

Recycling

Early in the life of HI-Austin, when all recycled goods required separation, we were issued a grant from Motorola, Austin to build a recycling kiosk. These recycle bins showed what items to recycle in different languages and colored pictures of those items. Since that time, the City of Austin Recycling Program has made it easier for everyone in Austin to recycle. Our staff and volunteers set a good example by recycling every day and encouraging our guests to do the same.

Tinted Windows

Our "wall of windows" overlooking Town Lake is tinted and solar screened to increase efficiency of our utilities.

Paint

Through a service project with Austin paint contractor Schnurr Inc. and the Sherwin Williams Paint Company along with many energetic volunteers, in March 2003 we painted the hostel exterior a light color. Choosing a light color helps reflect solar heat.

Saving Water

Our shower facilities are equipped with low-flow showerheads, a special environmental plus in arid Texas where summer water rationing is a common fact of life. We let nature take its course on the hostel lawn and we do not water the lawn at all. In spite of this, the grass rarely loses its green color. In the few times it has turned yellow, the hearty native grass sprouts back with the first rain.

Inspiring and Educating Future Generations

HI-Austin has a long history of providing services to programs for young people and has also piloted programs. These programs inspire and educate youth about hostelling, environmental stewardship, and many related subjects. Of the programs launched at HI-Austin, the longest lasting and most notable program is called HOST (Hostelling Opportunities for Summer Teens). It ran for multiple years up to 2001 through grants from our national organization. Prior to each HOST, Lanier High School sophomore and juniors competed to enter the program. Two winning students per week for 8 weeks stayed at the hostel under the supervision of a university intern. Many of the 15-16 year old students in this program entered HOST with little knowledge or experience about other countries, and some had never been further than 90 miles away from their hometown of Austin. After completing the program, countless testimonials from students and parents told us that the program changed the lives of these students for the better.

HI-Austin frequently provides hostel accommodations for groups and other non-profits of all types and especially encourages those that have environmental education components. We have meeting space that is available by reservation via donation for groups and organizations.

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