BOQUETE, PANAMA—Sometimes the cold weather can be just too much. When Gina Cronin, a Cleveland, Ohio area native had enough of the long northern Ohio winters, she headed south—far south—to the Boquete area of western Panama. After helping to run a successful business and then selling it, she and her business partner at the time decided they not only wanted to move but also start a resort. It took time to find the right property, but now, approximately seven years after the move from the United States, Cronin owns and operates the nine-villa Rancho de Caldera on 50 acres...

SAGINAW, MICH.—Duro-Last Roofing, Inc., a national manufacturer of thermoplastic commercial roofing systems, announced that the company has been endorsed by Hilton Worldwide International Inc. Duro-Last’s custom-prefabricated, reinforced single-ply roofing system provides a quality-assured product manufactured in a controlled factory environment, a process that eliminates up to 85 percent of rooftop seaming. This amounts to savings in labor costs and improves the long-term performance of the roofing system. Duro-Last is a “charter partner” in the ENERGY STAR Roof Products Program, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The highly-reflective white membrane delivers energy cost savings for building owners and managers. “We’re excited to...

LAS VEGAS—MGM Resorts International this week debuted the company’s first electric vehicle charging station and the first such facility on the Las Vegas Strip for environmentally conscious consumers driving the cleanest, most advanced vehicles on the road. This new charging station is located at the valet entrance to The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, between Mandalay Bay and Luxor resorts. Charging service is available free of charge to retail and resort customers driving personal electric vehicles, like the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt. “This is a tremendous first for The Shoppes and our customers,” said Brian Robison, vice president and general...

MOONACHIE, N.J.—BULBRITE has received a Platinum ADEX award for its 2012 EISA-compliant Halogen A19 lamp, an energy-efficient lamp designed to comply with the 2012 Energy Independence and Security Act that is scheduled to take effect January 1. The upcoming legislation requires general service light bulbs to operate up to 30 percent more efficient than current standards require. The Eco-friendly Halogen A19 was introduced 20 months in advance, to help lighting distributors, specifiers and other professionals prepare for the lamp changes. “Our EISA-compliant lamp has received a strong response from the industry,” explained Cathy Choi, president of BULBRITE “ADEX recognizes our...

SAINT PAUL, MINN.—3M Architectural Markets introduces the 3M Sunlight Delivery System, a new daylighting solution that captures and harnesses sunlight in an energy-efficient lighting system for commercial buildings. This hybrid system combines multiple technologies to bring sunlight deep into interior spaces and provides consistent light levels throughout the day. The technology holds promise for both energy efficiency and improving the productivity and morale of building employees.  The 3M sunlight delivery system provides the industry with a new method of daylighting that offers significantly greater capabilities than existing alternatives. Traditional daylighting methods such as skylights or tubular daylighting devices present a...

SAN RAMON, CALIF.—The EnOcean Alliance, a consortium of companies working to standardize and internationalize energy harvesting wireless technology for green intelligent buildings, recently announced that its wireless, battery-less energy harvesting sensors and associated control systems are now fully interoperable with TCP/IP. With escalating customer demand to manage and monitor building automation controls over IP networks, the EnOcean Alliance has responded, enabling building owners to fully leverage the flexibility of IP technologies that offer interoperability and convergence advantages to more effectively manage their facilities’ energy consumption. By establishing TCP/IP interoperability with its wireless, battery-less enabled end-devices and their associated IP-based control...

NIANTIC, CONN.—By adding INNCOM’s Integrated Room Automation Systems (IRAS) to Intelity ICE (Interactive Customer Experience) Touch on iPads, guests can now control room temperature, lighting, drapes and alarm clock directly from their iPad tablet computers—even when they are not in their rooms. INNCOM is an industry leader in advanced guestroom automation systems for hotels and resorts. IRAS is INNCOM’s customizable multi-purpose platform for in-room guest controls. Intelity is the hospitality software developer of ICE, the award-winning integrated, customizable, branded interface that enables hotel guests to request all services instantly via in-room tablet, TV, laptop or mobile device. “By placing the INNCOM...

SNOWMASS, COLO.—Viceroy Snowmass, which opened to rave reviews in late 2009, announced that it has been awarded LEED Gold certification, established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Viceroy Snowmass is the first hotel in Aspen/Snowmass to be awarded LEED Gold as well as the first luxury hotel in Colorado to receive this prestigious designation. By incorporating sustainable design and construction, innovative operational practices, and a culture of environmental stewardship, Viceroy Snowmass aims to...

DALLAS—VingCard Elsafe, part of the ASSA ABLOY Group, has launched a new combined corporate website. The newly designed site is meant to replace the current individual sites for the company’s brands, which include VingCard, Elsafe, Orion and Polarbar. VingCard Elsafe is a leader in developing locking systems and electronic in-room safes for the hospitality industry, offering security systems that meet the operational needs of hotels and resorts. Additional product lines include Orion energy management systems and Polarbar minibar systems, which are offered in selected regions of the world. This newly launched VingCard Elsafe website unifies the company’s comprehensive hospitality product range...

SAINT CHARLES, MO.—Pineapple Hospitality introduces the new TruDim CFL from TCP, Inc. The TruDim CFL performs like a traditional incandescent bulb—with dimming capability all the way down to 2 percent of lighting capacity—with all the environmental benefits of CFL technology. “In the past, dimmable CFL bulbs would flicker when they got to the lower end of their lighting range,” says David Geraci, CFL product manager for TCP. “This is because typical dimmer switches are built for incandescent bulbs, not CFLs. This flicker creates not only a bad visual experience, but it can actually cause early failures for the bulbs. The...