SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—With its recent $1 billion in renovations, the Holiday Inn brand has earned well-deserved publicity. Perhaps the Holiday Inn property deserving of the most buzz this year, however, is the brand new Holiday Inn Northwest/Sea World in San Antonio. The 194-room hotel is on track to be the first LEED certified hotel in Texas and the first LEED certified property within the 3,300-property Holiday Inn brand. The hotel, which opened on October 5, is owned by a group of investors out of Lubbock, Texas, and managed by Dallas-based Hospitality Management Corp. Green highlights of the 100 percent...

NEW YORK—Carnegie, a leading manufacturer and innovator of textiles and wallcoverings, announced that its product line, Surface IQ, has achieved SCS Indoor Air Gold Certification. Surface IQ is built from the polymer up: eliminating the hazardous use of vinyl, chlorine, plasticizers, heavy metals, formaldehyde and dioxin. Built on thermoplastic olefin technology (TPO), it delivers both performance and ecology simultaneously, and features the colors, patterns and textures that the Carnegie name has become synonymous with. SCS is a global leader in the independent certification of environmental, sustainability, food quality, and food purity claims. Products that qualify for Indoor Advantage...

Hotels and restaurants that have been taking steps to green their cleaning operations may mistakenly be setting back their green cleaning programs as a result of H1N1 and other public health concerns that have surfaced in recent years. The problem is that eradicating from surfaces the germs, bacteria, and pathogens that can spread these diseases often requires the use of powerful, EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectants which they erroneously believe cannot be part of a green cleaning program. In the United States today, there are no disinfectants that can be marketed or labeled as green. Currently, disinfectants are classified as pesticides, which are...

NEW YORK—The total number of exhibitors may have been less than previous years due to the economy and other factors but the number of vendors offering green products and services was stronger than ever at this year’s International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show (IH/M&RS). The event was held November 8 to 10 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Visitors to the show found exhibitors featuring amenity bottles that biodegrade much faster than traditional plastic bottles; dispensers that eliminate amenity bottles altogether; a nonprofit that matches up hotels with other nonprofits to help eliminate food, toiletry...

NEW YORK—Perkins+Will, a global integrated design firm, announced the creation of its Perkins+Will Precautionary List. It was unveiled at GreenBuild 2009. The goal of the list is to highlight chemicals, which are listed by government agencies as having negative health issues and the classes of building materials where they might be commonly found, while offering available alternatives in an effort to push the building industry to embrace healthier buildings. “There is an ever increasing focus in the green building movement on the relationship between humans and the built environment,” said Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP and associate principal at Perkins+Will...

ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Refinishing Touch, a specialist in environmentally safe and sustainable on-site furniture refinishing, upholstery and armoire modifications, has added new environmentally-friendly materials to its Touch Textiles fabrics brand. The new line includes a range of 100 percent recycled fabrics finished with GreenShield, a Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) recognized, low fluorocarbon treatment that uses two-thirds less chemicals without compromising the durability, moisture resistance, stain resistance or nonflammable qualities of the fabric. In recent years, the industry has seen a massive increase in the use and demand for eco-friendly textiles. Close to 12 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste ends...

SAINT CHARLES, MO.—Pineapple Hospitality announced that two new hotel management groups have joined FreshStay.com, the largest online directory of 100 percent smoke-free hotels in the world. Potomac Hospitality Services and Charlestowne Hotels combined offer 22 properties that have completely eliminated smoking on their properties, adding to the comprehensive list of more than 4,800 other FreshStay.com hotels, motels and B&Bs. “Potomac Hospitality and Charlestowne Hotels are two well-known, well-respected management groups in this industry, so we are excited they see the benefits and are leading their properties to be smoke free,” says Dave Janicke, FreshStay’s CBO—Chief Breathing Officer. “It’s clear that...

NATIONAL REPORT—Over the past several years public awareness of climate change has lead to a significant shift in the way we all live our lives. This public awareness has also lead to a groundswell of support for green facilities design that supports the desire to save the planet by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and natural resources like forest timber. One integral component in green facilities design is the method of construction, and the method of construction that is the greenest is insulated concrete forming (ICF). ICF is widely used and recognized and has been used successfully for both...

NORTH WALPOLE, N.H.—Len-Tex Corp. announced that its entire line of contract wallcoverings has earned the Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) Indoor Advantage Gold designation. All Len-Tex and Surface iQ branded wallcoverings meet the rigorous standards outlined in the SCS testing protocols for healthy indoor air quality. SCS is recognized as the global leader in providing independent environmental standards and certification, including those for interior building materials. SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification meets the criteria of the most stringent threshold for indoor emissions, California Section 01350, which uses human health-based standards for indoor air quality. SCS certification requires independent...

SOUTH BEND, IND.—Royal Adhesives and Sealants LLC announced that it has launched a new line of Gunther brand mirror mastic, Premier Plus. Developed specifically for the professional mirror installation market, this mirror mastic contains less than 10 grams per liter of VOCs compared to more than 500 grams per liter of VOCs in traditional solvent-based mirror mastics. With this ultra LVOC content, Premier Plus is the first mirror mastic for LEED compliant construction projects. Established through the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program establishes strict guidelines for energy and environmental design. As part...