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Page 2 of 7 The Visionary: David Sklar When Star Island, a 35-acre private resort in the Bahamas, opens in late 2009, it will offer every luxury and still rack up a carbon footprint of nearly zero. CEO David Sklar talks about why and how he turned away from fossil fuels. 
David Sklar/Dalu Design
I was going through an analysis of providing the basic services. I started asking myself, Where are we going to bring all of these resources from? Almost all the power in the Bahamas is generated from diesel-fed power plants. When I really started to explore this, I thought to myself, There’s got to be a better way. How did you get from alternative energy to bamboo sheets, fair-trade furniture, and shade-grown coffee? You can’t explore and learn about these different fuels without becoming more cognizant of all of the environmental issues. I really started to believe and accept as fact that we have a serious environmental crisis on our hands on a global scale. Up until that point, I’m kind of ashamed to admit, I didn’t really know it. Was going green a smart economic decision? Initially it seemed like it was going to be a really poor economic decision. It was more of a personal-belief decision. I have a six-year-old son, and it was a decision I made as a parent realizing that if I didn’t do something, I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye because clearly the problem is going to be more his than mine. What’s your favorite green feature? The more high-tech one is gasification. It’s a process where you’re taking a lot of waste—things such as packing material, boxes, things that are carbon-based—and you actually put them through a process, and it generates power. The low-tech one is rainwater harvesting. Based on the average rainfall that we get, we’re going to see somewhere between five and ten million gallons a year just coming off of our roofs. That’s a lot of fresh water. What will your guests have to give up for the sake of an earth-friendly vacation? They’ll have to give up their guilt. Is there a take-home lesson? Hopefully what people will take away is, “Wow, it was great. I didn’t have to give up anything.” And then, “Why can’t I have it like this at home?” The answer is, if enough people start demanding it, the economics will evolve. I was raised on fossil fuels just like everybody else. But eventually, our children are going to laugh at us because we burned things to make power. starislandbahamas.com |
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