WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently moved to reduce exposure to formaldehyde vapors from certain wood products produced domestically or imported into the United States. The agency worked with the California Air Resources Board to help ensure the final national rule is consistent with California requirements for composite wood products.“We are carrying out important measures laid out by Congress to protect the public from harmful exposure of this widely used chemical found in homes and workplaces,” said Jim Jones, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “We have worked with the state...

NORCROSS, GA.—ChlorKing’s new Chlor MSM (Mini Switch Mode) line of salt chlorinators is designed to meet the lower capacity needs of spas and smaller commercial pools, such as those at hotels and motels, while giving them the operating efficiencies and safety benefits offered for larger pools by the company’s Chlor SM (Switch Mode) line. Two models are available: Chlor MSM2 for spas and pools holding up to 2,500 gallons of water and Chlor MSM5 for pools holding up to 75,000 gallons. They are capable of using salt to produce up to 2.2 pounds of chlorine or 6 pounds, respectively,...

NATIONAL REPORT—Two months ago, Delos announced the expansion of its Stay Well hotel room program into six Marriott hotels in the United States. According to Paul Scialla, Founder and CEO of Delos, the Marriott properties are the first hotel additions to the Stay Well program since October 2012. It was then that Delos landed the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as a client. (Delos has since launched a Stay Well Meetings program.) Stay Well rooms feature a number of upgrades to enhance the health and quality of a room environment—water purification, vitamin C infused shower, mattress...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—Global public health organization NSF International and ASHRAE have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) dedicated to protecting public health by establishing safe management practices for building water systems. These systems include cooling towers, air-conditioning units for large buildings, hot tubs, large complex water systems (in hotels, hospitals, cruise ships and institutions) and decorative fountains, which can be attributed to public health concerns such as Legionella.Under the terms of the MOU, NSF International will provide its 70-plus years of water industry expertise and ASHRAE will leverage its building systems expertise to jointly develop NSF 444: Prevention of...

SMYRNA, TENN.—Franke Foodservice Systems announce that their variable speed kitchen ventilation control system, called VariVent, has been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 Energy Star Emerging Technology Award. As a recipient of the 2016 Energy Star Award, VariVent is recognized as a promising technology that has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to high standards set by the EPA. Franke’s VariVent is an exhaust management system that offers savings on energy consumption for exhaust fan motors and HVAC systems. Without an exhaust management system, exhaust fans typically run at 100 percent regardless of the cooking load....

Until recently, fixing leaky ventilation shafts has been a non-starter for most hotels, motels and other hospitality facilities. The expense and disruption typically involved in finding, accessing and sealing leaky ductwork made remediation measures impractical at best. As a result, a tremendous number of U.S. lodgings across the country are plagued by the poor indoor air quality issues and high-energy bills that come from improper ventilation. That is changing. A new approach to duct sealing developed by the U.S. Department of Energy is helping solve this near ubiquitous problem. Case in point: While the JW Marriott hotel in Atlanta’s affluent Buckhead...

One of the big factors for success in any industry is customer care and satisfaction. In the hospitality industry it takes precedence over everything else. Customer experience in hospitality is what drives the popularity and hence, the revenue. So the more the customers are comfortable in the environment the better experience they will have. The biggest driver for their comfort is the feeling of being safe. However, recent incidents have marred the hospitality industry with health concerns over water safety. If the Global Risks 2015 Report by Global Economic Forum is to be believed, the spread of infectious diseases is...

OBERLIN, OHIO—One of the world’s most innovative green hotels—The Hotel at Oberlin—is just one month away from its soft opening in Oberlin, Ohio. The hotel is owned by Oberlin College and eventually will qualify for the rare LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The 70-room Hotel at Oberlin is the first LEED Platinum hotel owned by a college and anchors the Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center, the cornerstone of Oberlin’s Green Arts District, an ongoing development conceived by the city and college to transform Oberlin into a model for environmentally aware economic development based on education...

NEW YORK—Sina Pearson, designer/manufacturer of New York City-based Sina Pearson Textiles, premieres Fast Track, a new high performance upholstery fabric collection. Five complementary patterns in a total of 30 colorways reference iconic athletic motifs and colors from the world of competitive sports. The collection consists of a knit mesh, a textured chenille, a PVC-free polyurethane, a bleach cleanable polyester/acrylic, and an indoor/outdoor Sunbrella Contract jacquard weave. Fast Track is ideal for workplace, healthcare, institutional, hospitality, or any application calling for visually striking, exceptionally durable solutions.Marathon is a large scale pattern featuring dramatic diagonal bars that seem to be on...

NATIONAL REPORT—Many hotels rely on a Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner (or PTAC) system to reliably provide both heating and cooling for individual rooms as well as other areas of the hotel; such as the lobby, meeting rooms and gyms. PTAC units are popular heating and cooling solutions for any single living space such as those provided by hotels, motels, dormitories, hospitals and apartments. There is no need to install expensive and intrusive ductwork to use PTAC units. The units are self-contained and can easily be installed through a wall.Older PTAC units are relatively inefficient compared to the increased energy...