Leela Eco Spa goes carbon neutral

Gaurav Gupta, owner of Leela Eco Spa, has always felt responsible to “do his bit” for the environment. In carrying out his passion for environmental and community initiatives, Leela Eco Spa is now carbon neutral.

Green Knight Environmental helped Leela to figure out its carbon footprint through an assessment of the environmental affects of products used in the spa's treatments, and commute by staff to work. Leela Eco Spa is already 100% bullfrogpowered, so electricity usage wasn't a consideration. 

Carbon offsets are ways of “balancing out” your carbon footprint. With its carbon footprint calculated, Leela Eco Spa was able to identify initiatives to support that would eliminate the impact of its carbon emissions. 

The main offsets come from REAP’s Community Orchards. In 2015 Leela Eco Spa was the project’s largest donor, contributing 40 fruit-bearing trees and shrubs to create orchards at two Calgary Homeless Foundation properties. The balance of Leela Eco Spa’s emissions and offset by purchasing carbon credits through Green Knight Environmental.

Gaurav doesn’t take the “eco” lightly in Leela Eco Spa, and is keen to go the extra mile. Rain water toilets, LED lights, organic coconut oil for treatments, green electricity from Bullfrog Power, and a recent endeavour to be completely paperless are all ways the spa is eliminating its carbon footprint.

Gaurav is quick to debunk one of the common hang-ups about green initiatives:  it costs more money than it is worth. On the contrary, Gaurav is confident that these investments yield substantial value for his business. Going paperless has improved process efficiency and revenue, and just three months after replacing all the lights in the facility with LEDs he started experiencing cost savings.

“I’ve been in the industry for seven years and, being in Alberta, [environmentalism] is a major concern for all of us. All over Alberta, people are doing some sort of innovation to reduce their carbon footprint, and that’s really commendable,” says Gaurav.

“If one small business can have this much impact, I’m really looking forward to what all of us can do together.”

Gaurav plans to continue investing in new and more efficient green initiatives as Leela Eco Spa expands, and he hopes to see more small businesses reach carbon neutrality in three to five years.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Drop by Leela Eco Spa in Bridgeland or in its new location at the International Hotel downtown, and see the green initiatives in action.
2. Follow Leela Eco Spa on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
3. Want to get the ball rolling on offsetting your own carbon footprint? Contact Green Knight Environmental.
4. Want to learn more about carbon offsetting? Gaurav recommends this report by David Suzuki.
5. Click here for more information about REAP’s Community Orchards.