In the United States, 16 locations, ranging from entire state policies to county laws, require some type of energy benchmarking. Many regulations are new, and the cumbersome process is costing hotels thousands of dollars every year. Energy benchmarking—the process of tracking a building’s annual energy use and using a standard metric to compare the building’s performance against past performance and to its peers nationwide—is gaining momentum as businesses and building owners see huge savings in crunching the numbers and making small adjustments to their energy use. But as more cities and states adopt annual benchmarking regulations, the new procedures and...

ODESSA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Odessa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes SYLVANIA to its Green Product & Service Directory in the Lighting & Controls category. The company’s ULTRA LED Filament lamps are energy efficient replacements with the traditional Edison look and feel. These clear lamps with LED “filament” technology provide up to 90 percent energy savings over incandescent lamps with 15,000 hours rated life (L70) and are dimmable down to 10 percent. Available in 2700K color temperature, the lamps are ideal for hospitality, retail or decorative applications.

SAN FRANCISCO—Following an extensive review of the Axiom Hotel’s green initiatives, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded the recently opened hotel the Silver level for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. LEED is the USGBC’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings. It is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation, and Design. Certification levels...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIF.—Noritz America has updated its website with a more robust navigation menu that allows the user to quickly and easily reach his or her particular browsing goals. “We wanted to streamline our users’ browsing experience to make it easier to find what they are looking for at a glance,” says Andrew Tran, Marketing Supervisor at Noritz. “Previously, it had taken longer to find specific items because information was more scattered, whereas now we offer a clear ‘table of contents.’” The revamped menu contains six items, each containing a dropdown menu of subtopics. Navigation menu items include: •    Residential: Contains all...

MORRISTOWN, N.J.—Providing a sustainable and cost-effective solution for two- to three-story buildings, Schindler Elevator Corp. introduces its Schindler 3100 machine room-less traction elevator. The Schindler 3100 is an MRL specifically designed to replace hydraulic elevators for the low-rise commercial and multi-unit residential market in the United States. Easy to order, simple to install, with space and energy savings and a smooth, quiet performance, the Schindler 3100 is a cost-effective choice for today’s two- to three-story buildings. The Schindler 3100 is designed to allow for more usable building and design space by eliminating the need for a machine room or a...

ROCK HILL, S.C.—HyLite LED Lighting announces the new Dual-Mode Duluxe Tube. The HyLite Duluxe LED Tube is compatible with both electronic and magnetic ballasts, making initial installation as simple as changing a lamp. It can also work on 120V to 277V line voltage, so when the ballast fails, there is no need to replace it. The 4 ft. HyLite Duluxe LED Tube runs at 18W, provides up to 122 lumens per watt, and can save as much as 63 percent in energy compared to fluorescent tubes. It is also compatible with motion controls and sensors for even greater energy savings. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge webinar series has begun and will run through April. The most recent webinar, earlier this month, was entitled, “Shout it from the Mountaintops!: Working with your communications team to tell your energy efficiency success story.” Additional upcoming webinars will touch on topics ranging from sub-metering to financing. Click here to access the schedule. As part of the D.O.E.’s Better Buildings Goal Achievers Video Series, D.O.E. asked some of the biggest companies to give their energy efficiency elevator pitches. Click here to see what happened. DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge focuses on sharing the...

SAN FRANCISCO—Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, and SolarCity Corp., a leading solar power provider, announced a new partnership that will connect Airbnb hosts and guests with an affordable and sustainable way to power their homes with solar energy, and are releasing estimates of the environmental benefits of home sharing for travelers. Through the partnership, SolarCity will offer members of the Airbnb community a rebate—up to $1,000 cash back—on all solar panel systems. The rebate is available to Airbnb members in each market where SolarCity currently operates, and homeowners can choose the solar option that works for their homes....

WEST WARWICK, R.I.—Lighting Science announced the release of the Durabulb, a shatter-resistant lamp designed to withstand life’s inevitable bumps and drops without breaking, while still providing the high quality of light expected for all of today’s residential, commercial and industrial applications. The Durabulb artfully blends leading-edge LED design and contemporary styling with rugged, yet lightweight, construction that resists breaking or shattering due to impact, vibration and external stresses. This new lamp also provides even, omni-directional illumination. “The Durabulb is just one in a series of differentiated, forward-looking new products that Lighting Science is introducing this year as we re-emerge as...

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—1 Hotels, the mission-driven luxury lifestyle hotel brand announced that the newest addition to its portfolio, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, is set to make its debut in February 2017. Located at Pier 1, just south of the iconic bridge in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and minutes from downtown Manhattan, the 10-story sustainable ground-up development is designed by New York-based architecture studio Incorporated and will feature 194 guestrooms with sliding floor-to-ceiling windows—many offering views of the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge and New York skyline—including 29 two to six bedroom suites and The Riverhouse, its Presidential Suite. Guests of the...