AVONDALE, ARIZ.—Home2 Suites by Hilton, part of Hilton’s All Suites portfolio, announced its newest property, Home2 Suites by Hilton Phoenix Avondale. Designed for travelers who want to maintain their normal routine, the hotel features 127 suites and a range of value, tech-focused and eco-conscious amenities. “We are excited to welcome sports enthusiasts, players and their families as well as the many tech professionals visiting our region to our hotel; it’s a great location and the newest Hilton in the market,” said General Manager Matt Hallinan, a Phoenix native returning to his hometown after years of serving in hospitality leadership roles around the nation. “Avondale...

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.—SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. announced the appointment of Kyle Ballarta, Senior Strategist of Corporate Innovation. Ballarta is Founder and CEO of Falkon Ventures, where his portfolio Co-Investors include Tim Cook (Apple), Eric Schmidt (Alphabet), Google Ventures, Y-Combinator, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Singularity, DFJ, and others. Falkon investments made by Ballarta include SpaceX, Icon, Eight Sleep, Matternet, Happiest Baby, and sustainability player Nebia. Ballarta makes investments and leads the commercial development of technologies and products which promise positive global impact and improvements to everyday life. At SolarWindow, Ballarta will support the Executive Leadership Team in its introduction of the company’s clean-energy...

The CEO of leading sustainability solutions company Green Places, Alex Lassiter, recently sat down with Eric Corey Freed, an award-winning architect, author, and global speaker, to ask him a few questions about the importance of building sustainably. They touched on: what makes a building sustainable, costs involved with building sustainably, scaling green building programs, common obstacles, financial considerations, and the importance of broad adoption. His insights are important for the green building sector overall—including hotels. A big thank you to Green Places for allowing me to share this insightful Q&A article. (You can also see it here in its...

PENSACOLA, FLA.—The eight-room Oyster Bay Boutique Hotel, with its geothermal heating and cooling system throughout the property, becomes the 28th U.S. lodging establishment to be listed in the “Geothermal Powered” section of Green Lodging News under “Renewable Energy All Stars”. The hotel opened in late April of this year and was previously the Lee House, a B&B completed in 2008. After being sold last year to the current owners, the Studer Family of Companies¸ $2 million was invested in renovations. The geothermal system came with the property but it, along with new investments in efficiency, has made Oyster Bay...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Fresh produce, locally sourced ingredients, herbs grown onsite—and a little bit of sunlight. These are the tools that Chef Josh Murray uses to create five-star dishes at SUMMIT the Rooftop at Conrad Washington D.C., a restaurant that’s making strides toward becoming a zero-waste kitchen. Working with pure and natural ingredients comes easy to Murray, who grew up on a farm in Spotsylvania, Va. He was raised dining on local ingredients—many from his own backyard. His appreciation for the healthy qualities that locally sourced produce can offer is just one of the factors that make Murray perfect to helm the eco-conscious cooking efforts...

DALTON, GA.—Shaw Industries Group, Inc. (Shaw) recently earned top honors in the Floor Covering Weekly annual GreenStep awards, which recognize the flooring industry’s contributions to sustainability. Shaw received the magazine’s most prestigious recognition, the Pinnacle Award, in addition to winning the Practice/Process and International award categories and being named honoree in the People and Promotion/Communication categories. “We’re proud to be recognized as an industry leader in sustainability,” said Kellie Ballew, Vice President of Global Sustainability at Shaw. “We’re steadfast in our commitment to minimizing our impact on the environment and maximizing human potential. It’s about people and the planet. The events...

WATERTOWN, MASS.—Bosch Thermotechnology, a leading global source of high-quality heating and cooling systems, announced the availability of its new, ultra-quiet heat pumps, the QV Series, for commercial spaces in multiple sizes and both horizontal and vertical configurations. The commercial grade QV Series, a Florida Heat Pump (FHP) geothermal system, is an industry leader in sound reduction and represents one of the most comprehensive sound performance offerings on the market. In addition to the lower sound levels, the QV Series also delivers a compact cabinet, in a very competitive package, making it ideal to fit into small spaces in commercial buildings. The QV Series...

DALLAS—Hoteliers can now control INTEREL’s EOS thermostat by voice command. The IoT device for smart buildings leverages Volara’s secure integrations hub to respond to voice commands spoken by guests who seek touchless control over the guestroom environment. The joint solution expands on Volara’s existing integration with INTEREL. “We are very excited to make this integration with Volara available on our new EOS WiFi Smart thermostat,” said Florian Gallini, INTEREL CEO. “Together, EOS and Volara provide a powerful combination of energy management and voice-based customer engagement with no on-premises infrastructure required. EOS leverages its built-in IoT radios and environmental sensors to enable any hotel to be retrofitted as a Smart Building, all packaged...

CORK, IRELAND—Atos and Johnson Controls, the global leader for smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings, announced a global partnership. Atos and Johnson Controls will help private and public sector customers accelerate their journey to Net Zero by providing a unique set of end-to-end advisory services, digital and other key decarbonization capabilities which aims to help clients formulate and sustainably achieve their Net Zero strategy by reducing their commercial, industrial and office building carbon emissions. Over the next decade, global greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut by 45 percent to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of containing global warming to 1.5°C....

NATIONAL REPORT—There are many ways to improve the green credentials of your property. You can transition to renewable energy, adopt a green design, and use various systems to reduce consumption and waste. From minor steps like installing smart light bulbs to major steps like installing solar panels, there’s a lot of potential for improvement. Are green improvements worth the investment? Read on to discover the financial benefits of owning a green property. Higher Market Value The market value determines how many prospective buyers show an interest in your property and how much you can sell it for. Green properties have...