Name: Wes Shirley Title: Director of Engineering Hotel: Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead Years with hotel: Six Primary responsibilities: “It’s my responsibility to make sure every single guest that stays in our hotel has a flawless and enjoyable stay. I do that by making sure that my employees are happy, well trained and completely engaging with our guests. It’s my responsibility to the owners to ensure that their building is well maintained. At all times it should look and run like a new hotel. It’s also my duty to spend their money wisely, always looking for new, inventive ways to lower their costs...

Solar is now more cost-effective than ever, offering a number of compelling financial and environmental benefits for the hospitality industry. Solar technologies have been proven over decades in the field, and are becoming increasingly efficient, reliable, and affordable. Large corporations are investing billions in the industry, powering a record number of installations in 2015. Total solar installations hit the 1 million mark in February of this year, and total industry growth is projected to hit a staggering 119 percent this year. As the solar market expands logarithmically, the costs of installation are plummeting. A hotel can reap the benefits of...

ROCK HILL, S.C.—HyLite LED Lighting has introduced a new Plug-in LED lamp for down lighting applications. With its compact size, the new HyLite LED VL lamp efficiently delivers illumination at 116 lumens per watt with a 120° beam angle. At only 12W, the HyLite VL Lamp replaces up to a 42W CFL, effectively reducing energy consumption by up to 71 percent.Designed for reliable performance, the HyLite VL lamp, with a rated life of 50,000 hours, lasts up to seven times longer than CFL lamps. The lamp operates on 120-277V and does not require any ballast or additional equipment to...

NEW YORK—The Light Human Hotel, a new eco-friendly brand and concept created by two France-based entrepreneurs—Jean-Pierre Bandeira, CEO of Light Human Hotel and Julien Veyron, Architect and CEO of atelier arcau—will make its first appearance in the United States later this year in Miami. That 80-room hotel on Collins Ave. will be the first of now eight Light Human Hotel properties to open. Additional hotels are planned in the next few years for Miami, San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York, Sao Paulo, Antibes, Rio de Janeiro and London.Bandeira says Light Human Hotels will go beyond LEED in regard to...

ODESSA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Odessa, Fla.-based publisher of Green Lodging News, has added Hartdean Ltd. to its Green Product & Service Directory in the “Linens & Towels” category. The company’s EcoKnit Terry Towels are luxury hospitality cotton towels with two to three time’s longer lifespan and provide energy and water savings which recover the cost of the product. EcoKnit Towels are snag free, dry up to 40 percent quicker than standard terry towels, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and use 15 percent less water with every laundering cycle. EcoKnit Towels also require less detergent. E-mail enquiries@hartdean.com, or go...

NEW ORLEANS—Control4 Corp., a leading global provider of automation solutions, introduced the new Control4 Hospitality Solution. Offering hotels in-room automation functionality, along with back-end management software, hotel staff are provided extensive guestroom status updates, whether that is a need for new batteries for a remote control or a mini-bar requires a restock. With Control4, hotels can greet guests with automated lighting, shades, entertainment and climate control as soon as they enter their rooms. The Control4 Hospitality Solution maximizes operational efficiencies gained through hotel room automation throughout the property.“From doors to drapes, Control4 provides a complete automation solution for the...

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Lunera Lighting, Inc. announced a new lighting and control technology platform called SensAble Technology. This new platform integrates advanced Doppler radar occupancy sensors, IR daylight sensors, power usage monitoring and Zigbee wireless connectivity into Lunera’s next generation commercial Helen Lamp Linear T8, Helen Lamp PL and Susan Lamp HID plug and play LED lamp families. The new Helen ST and Susan ST lamps, which automatically respond to their environment when plugged in (no commissioning required), will deliver up to 30 percent more energy savings compared to standard LED lamps, while eliminating the need for discrete sensors. Installation is...

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIF.—The new Commercial Water Heater System from Noritz America is designed to speed and simplify the installation of multiple tankless water heaters for plumbing and mechanical contractors. Noritz combines commercial-grade tankless units with system controllers, manifolds and other necessary components and accessories into fully assembled metal rack systems for shipment anywhere in North America. The prefabricated system significantly reduces the burden on the installer, who needs only to connect the water and gas lines, build the vent runs and set up the pre-wired system controller.“Our goal is to reduce installation time and expense while maximizing safety, performance...

Recent advancements in battery technology, rising electricity demand rates, and the advent of no/low-risk financing models have made energy storage systems a financially attractive option for hoteliers. However, critical questions remain for hotel managers and owners even after they have decided to invest in energy storage: What is the best way to finance the system and how can it generate the highest ROI? In this article, we’ll evaluate the costs, benefits, and risks of a proposed hotel energy storage system given three financing options and using actual utility cost and use data. California is currently the only state that offers...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Hubbell Control Solutions has announced an update to the wiSCAPE Gateway. The wiSCAPE system makes it easy to manage, monitor and measure wireless outdoor lighting networks.The wiSCAPE Gateway manages up to 1,000 wiSCAPE fixture modules, controlling dimming, scheduling and motion detection features. For enhanced network management and security, the device operates on Windows 7 Professional Edition. IT administrators can easily manage it as they do all the PCs on their network. The wiSCAPE Gateway is now available with BACnet IP built-in support. This allows a Building Management System BACnet controller to see the Gateway as a BACnet device. After...