Xanadu Island Resort Earns a Green Globe

Ocean view from Xanadu.

Ocean view from Xanadu Island Resort.

The Xanadu Resort in Belize was the first Monolithic Dome resort in Central America and the Caribbean when it opened in 1998. Now it can lay claim to another first. The property recently became the first Green Globe Certified Island Resort in the town of Ambergis Caye, according to The San Pedro Sun.

The Green Globe program was launched at a United Nations Summit in 1992 as a way of stemming environmental degradation from the consumption of non-renewable resources. Companies that choose to participate in the program are required to measure their environmental impact, and then develop and implement strategies to reduce their impact.

Xanadu is sustainable on many levels. First there is the dome building itself, which is energy efficient. Then the owners, Ivan and Judy Sheinbaum, added a number of other environmentally friendly features such as low-flow shower heads, CLF lighting and rain water collection stations. In addition, half of the property has been preserved as a nature walk and bird sanctuary with natural and local vegetation. “At the inception of Xanadu, the idea was to be in harmony with nature. If a tree was in the way of the building design, we would move the building, not remove the tree,” Ivan Sheinbaum told the newspaper.

Even though they have their certification in place, the owners have not stopped their efforts to improve the property. For example, they are currently switching over from R134A gas in refrigerators and from Freon 22 gas in air conditioners to Hydrocarbons, which is a natural gas and does not harm the ozone layer.