ATLANTA—Bhavesh Patel, Chairman of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), will address attendees today at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s 2017 Better Buildings Summit. The summit, which is expected to draw nearly 1,000 leaders across key industries from around the United States, is aimed at showcasing energy-efficiency measures and sharing best practices for their adoption and implementation. Patel, whose platform as chairman strongly emphasizes professional development among hoteliers, will speak to a hospitality breakout session on Monday morning. “Energy efficiency hasn’t always been a major issue within hospitality, but it is our duty and to our business advantage, both as hoteliers...

DUNSTABLE, ENGLAND—Since April 1, all Whitbread brands, including Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, have been sourcing their purchased electricity in the United Kingdom from renewable sources. The decision means that the energy used to power 68,000 Premier Inn rooms and 2,200 Costa Coffee stores across the United Kingdom, is now coming from 100 percent renewable sources. “As the U.K.’s largest hospitality brand, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to drive change within the industry which is why we have made this decision for the business,” said James Pitcher, Director of Sustainability for Whitbread. “Whitbread is committed to minimizing its...

LAS VEGAS—HD Expo 2017 wrapped up in Las Vegas on May 5 after attracting more than 800 exhibitors and more than 10,000 attendees. The reconfigured show floor allowed for 275,000 square feet of show floor space. The annual event was an opportunity for suppliers to display their latest innovations and that they did. Many of the new products and technologies on hand have a green story behind them—whether having to do with the material they are made of or the energy or water they conserve. It would be impossible in this space to include all of the green news...

COLUMBIA, MD.—Autani, LLC, a leader in building controls and IoT, has announced that its award-winning EnergyCenter building management platform now integrates with OSRAM’s Connected Lighting Module (CLM), allowing customers to easily convert their existing luminaires to be wireless ready while leveraging a robust and interoperable network solution to unlock new and exciting consumer-focused lighting applications. The communication between EnergyCenter and OSRAM’s CLM is based on open standards ZigBee HA. Real-time data is extracted from the fixture(s), and EnergyCenter takes it from there. Its easy-to-use web-based interface provides local or remote access for programming, monitoring, and controlling energy consumption within a...

ATLANTA—UPS announced it will deploy a prototype extended range Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) in its Rolling Laboratory fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles. UPS is working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other partners to design a first-of-its-kind, zero tailpipe emissions, Class 6 medium-duty delivery truck that meets the same route and range requirements of UPS’s existing conventional fuel vehicles. Unlike fuel cell auxiliary power units, this vehicle will use the onboard fuel cell to generate electricity to propel the vehicle. This project is an important step toward demonstrating the commercial viability of zero tailpipe...

WEST CALDWELL, N.J.—MaxLite will demonstrate IntelliMax, an intelligent wireless lighting control system, at LIGHTFAIR International 2017, May 9 to 11, in Philadelphia. The system integrates seamlessly with MaxLite LED luminaires and building systems to enable facilities to save energy and customize light using popular controls such as occupancy sensing, dimming and daylight harvesting. IntelliMax is ideal for new construction and retrofit applications, from single rooms to full buildings, where wiring would be costly or complex. Powered by Cortet wireless technology, IntelliMax is easily merged with HVAC, shade control and other building systems for scalable energy savings. The control system is comprised...

In an age of environmental consciousness, green building in the hospitality sector has increased by 50 percent from 2011 to 2013 and now represents 25 percent of all new construction today.* Why not 100 percent? The one thing that may be holding the hospitality sector back is the price of green building materials, which can often cost at least 5 percent more than regular materials. While the increase in demand for green lodging renovations offers opportunity, it can also be a challenge from an environmentally conscious standpoint. But believe it or not, when it comes to windows, there is another...

BOULDER, COLO.—At the luxurious 201-room St. Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder, Colo., there are many success stories but perhaps the greatest is the property’s waste reduction initiative. According to James P. Farrell, Sustainability Coordinator, in 2007 the property disposed of almost 700,000 pounds of materials. Over the last decade that number has been axed to 400,000 pounds annually thanks to training, recycling, composting, careful purchasing and many different donation programs. A composting program alone has reduced compostable material to landfill from 33 tons a month to just 3.5 tons. The St. Julien Hotel & Spa employs a part-time waste...

COLUMBIA, MD.—Autani, LLC, a leader in building controls and IoT, will unveil the latest release of its award winning EnergyCenter platform at Lightfair 2017. EnergyCenter 4.0 now supports additional EnOcean devices and third party thermostats, features updated BacNET MSTP and wireless BacNET gateway support, includes enhanced security and a real-time update viewing mode, plus more. Additionally, EnergyCenter 4.0 includes out-of-the-box integration with Open ADR for California Title 24 compliance, with no additional hardware needed. “We are constantly enhancing our EnergyCenter platform to provide our customers with an easy—yet very powerful—way to control energy use, save money, and achieve a great...

KELOWNA, B.C.—When the founder of British Columbia’s first all-electric taxi fleet was preparing the launch of his Tesla service, he knew exactly where he wanted to host the launch: outside the internationally recognized environmental award-winning green Kelowna hotel with Tesla Supercharger stations. “From Day 1, we really wanted to hold it here,” says Dale Conway, owner of Current Taxi, which transports passengers in its eco-friendly fleet of Tesla cars. “This Best Western has long been known for its sustainability and that’s what drew us to this hotel—for both the launch and our corporate office.” Current Taxi’s February launch event was attended...