ATLANTA—UPS announced plans to significantly escalate its investment in solar energy as an owner/operator of solar assets starting with at least eight of its facilities in the United States. The installations will be completed by the end of 2017. The estimated $18 million investment will provide a nearly five-fold increase in the amount of power generated from solar at UPS facilities today. With more than 2,580 UPS facilities worldwide, UPS is ideally positioned to expand its investment in renewable energy. UPS expects additional solar deployments to occur over the next several years as it identifies suitable opportunities. The completion of these...

DALLAS—Kimberly-Clark Corp. has been honored as an industry leader in freight supply chain environmental performance and energy efficiency with its seventh SmartWay Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Kimberly-Clark was one of nine companies in the shipper and logistics category to receive this distinction, which recognizes the best environmental performers among SmartWay’s 3,500 members. Since joining the SmartWay program in 2006, Kimberly-Clark has more than doubled its use of intermodal transport. By replacing trucks with rail, the company has saved an estimated 82 million gallons of diesel fuel and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 830,000 metric tons—the...

ODESSA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Odessa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes ClearWater Tech as a Bronze level sponsor of the Green Lodging Trends Report. The Green Lodging Trends Report is the lodging industry’s annual exercise to assess and catalyze green innovation, best practices, and awareness regarding the state of sustainability across hotels worldwide. This year’s Green Lodging Trends Report will summarize the results of a second annual survey produced by Green Lodging News and Greenview. Established in 1986, ClearWater Tech has served the global market as the leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of ozone generation equipment and related components...

IRVINE, CALIF.—Pacific Hospitality Group (PHG) announced that its Meritage Collection property, Bacara Resort & Spa, is the recipient of the 2016 Cool Planet Award presented by Southern California Edison (SCE) and The Climate Registry. PHG and its Doubletree by Hilton at Irvine-Spectrum and Santa Ana-Orange County Airport properties also received honorable mentions for their green energy initiatives during the awards ceremony that took place last fall. The Cool Planet Award recognizes SCE business customers that demonstrate exemplary leadership in energy and carbon management within its business size and industry sector. Bacara Resort & Spa earned the highest honor for its...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Bractlet, a provider of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) energy analytics platform powered by simulation models, announced that its Energy to Profits software received a Top Product of the Year Award from the Energy Manager Today Awards. The award signifies that judges considered Bractlet’s platform an exemplary product. The Energy Manager Today Awards is a program recognizing excellence in products and services that provide companies with significant energy management benefits, or in projects implemented by companies that improved energy management and increased the bottom line. The Bractlet Energy to Profits platform collects granular, equipment level data via proprietary IoT sensors and builds physics-based...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—SparkFund, a Washington D.C.-based financial technology company, announced the close of a $7 million Series B investment led by Energy Impact Partners. Round participants include existing investor Vision Ridge Partners and new strategic partners in the energy and utility space, with a total expected raise of $10 million. The new funding will allow SparkFund to rapidly grow partnerships and customer reach, giving organizations across the United States a simpler way to access new energy technology. Customers understand that they can save money with energy-efficient equipment upgrades, such as LED lighting or smart HVAC technology, but widespread adoption in the...

NEW YORK—GridNavigator, a manufacturer of smart devices for the commercial market, has announced the availability of an industry-first automated energy budgeting and demand reduction service to help small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) to proactively cap their monthly building energy bills. The service works with GridNavigator lighting and HVAC controls and sub-meters and can deliver a 5 to 10 percent reduction in monthly energy bills with no significant impact on facility performance or comfort. The power budgeting service predicts periods of high electrical demand in real time before they occur, allowing GridNavigator’s smart controller to automatically adjust thermostat set points and light levels....

KANSAS, MO.—The Show Me PACE Clean Energy District has announced approval of the first hotel project in Missouri to use Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing for energy and water improvements. The downtown Kansas City building is also the first in the state to combine the use of PACE with historic tax credits. After sitting vacant for years, the blighted Brookfield Building is being transformed into a boutique hotel with luxury apartments. The use of $2.1 million in PACE funds filled the gap in financing the property owners needed to make this a viable project. As a result, a public...

TORRANCE, CALIF.—LEDtronics announces its new UL-listed filament-style LED bulbs—a product line that recreates the attractive filament look while providing energy-saving, clean lighting for various applications. The FIL series is a higher-efficacy, lower-power lighting option for creating a vintage lighting experience. The LEDtronics FIL series filament-style bulbs are available in a wide variety of types: chandelier, standard A19, globe, décor and tube bulbs, and are ideal for omni-directional lighting projects, being both decorative pieces and functional tools. By directly replacing incandescent lights with these filament-style LED bulbs, users can achieve up to 90 percent energy savings. The chandelier bulbs only consume 2...

WAUKESHA, WIS.—Telkonet, Inc., creator of the EcoSmart platform of intelligent room automation solutions supporting the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), will introduce a new wireless thermostat, the EcoTouch+ Battery, at the 2017 AHR Expo. Part of the EcoSmart platform, the EcoTouch+ Battery features a user-friendly glass touch screen that offers customers the opportunity to optimize energy efficiency while also enjoying easy, wire-free installation. “The EcoSmart platform is a full suite of wirelessly integrated devices designed to work together to maximize energy efficiency to achieve cost savings,” said Jason Tienor, CEO, Telkonet. “The new EcoTouch+ Battery is another option for customers...