Several luxury travel and real estate companies are starting to show their green wares and promote eco-friendly travel. You can spend over a $1,000 per night and sleep comfortably in the knowledge that you’re not trashing the environment. We’ve already told you about the efforts to fly carbon neutral. Here’s our round-up of ideas on how to sleep carbon neutral.

Ten New Trees Per Guest

First, there’s a good list over at Forbes Traveler about the ten greenest hotels in America. The editors at Forbes have noticed that lots of resorts are just ‘greenwashing’ – making cosmetic changes in order to issue a press release about how environmentally conscious they are. However, the hotels on the Forbes list seem to be taking the extra steps. The list includes the Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco, and the Fairmont in Washington, DC.

The editors of Sherman’s Travel Magazine also surveyed the luxury travel market and found several lodges that meet a real green test (but we can’t find the article on their website). They include the Sompole in Kenya and the Papoose Creek Lodge (photo, right) in Montana. We’ve stayed at Papoose Creek and can confirm that the owners there walk the green walk. For them, it’s more than putting a sign in the bathroom asking guests to reuse their towels. At this ultra-luxury fly-fishing destination, they plant ten new trees for every guest that visits.

GreenHome

Now, luxury vacation home club BelleHavens has just announced its plan to become a green destination club – with a program called GreenHome. They are working with Carbonfund.org to reduce their energy consumption in all their homes, and where they can’t, to buy carbon credits as offsets.

“We are serious about making our homes models of environmental efficiency where possible, and we have already begun the implementation of these initiatives,” said BelleHavens CEO Darin Gilson. Some of the energy innovations that they will adopt for their 15 home portfolio include compact fluorescent bulbs, solar heating for swimming pools and tankless water heaters. (We suggested to BelleHavens that they consider purchasing some ecopods for each home, too.)

It can be hard not to be a little cynical about some of these efforts, as they are no doubt intended to take advantage of the current green fad – it’s strong enough to have people thinking that Al Gore should run again. But it’s also real – and affluent consumers are early adopters when it comes to green – from hybrids to Whole Foods. And now travel and vacation real estate. It may not be the reason why you would consider joining a destination club like BelleHavens, but it will probably make you feel good after you did. Hopefully other destination clubs and private residence clubs adopt the same green philosophy as BelleHavens.

Other good resources for luxury green travel include Treehugger.com and the Conde Nast Green List.