The Oxford Hotel in Bend markets itself as an Eco-Chic Boutique Hotel. It is in application for LEED certification and employs a number of sustainable measures.
One sustainable practice in particular caught CleanOregon’s attention – The ElectroCide System – from which the Oxford Hotel manufactures it’s own cleaning solvents.
According to Ben Perle, the Oxford’s General Manager, The ElectroCide System is only the size of a medicine cabinet. It’s located in the hotel’s laundry room and creates two products, a cleaner/sanitizer and a degreaser.
The ElectroCide System is based on electrolyzed water technology. A diluted salt water solution is passed through an electrical field and two separation membranes.
This process generates two separate outputs simultaneously. The first is alkaline water with a pH of approximately 11.8. The alkaline water is used as a cleaner and degreaser. The second is acidic water with an approximate pH of 2.7. The acidic water, containing 50 ppm free available chlorine, has bactericidal/viricidal benefits.
According to an article in the Bend Bulletin:
The solutions work just as well as other all-purpose cleaners, said Alisha Stone, housekeeping manager.
“It’s kind of hard to believe it works as well as it does,” she said.
The cleaners give off little, if any, odor, and because they are essentially salt water, they contain no toxic chemicals.
“Healthwise, it has a huge impact,” Stone said. “You don’t have to worry about breathing toxins into your system.”
By creating the cleaners on-site, the hotel saves on storage and cuts down on deliveries, reducing truck traffic and any associated pollution.
With installation and other initial costs, the system costs about a penny a gallon, Perle said. He expects it to pay for itself after 18 to 24 months.
The Oxford, which opened at 10 N.W. Minnesota Ave. in January, is the newest hotel for the Bend-based Baney Corp.
Perle said it will serve as a green pilot site for the company, which owns 17 hotels and inns in Oregon, California, Idaho and Washington.
Currently The Oxford is the only hotel in Oregon employing electrolyzed water technology. As Oregon is the leader in green technologies and has a growing number of LEED hotels we can only hope the trend spreads quickly.
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