CHICAGO—A dirty packaged terminal air conditioner (PTAC) often has to work twice as hard and consumes twice the electricity to reach cooler room temperatures. To help hoteliers select the best A/C coil cleaning process as they plan their 2015 budgets, Cintas Corp. released a complimentary white paper covering the results of two independent A/C coil cleaning studies while providing tips for improving unit life.“Dirty A/C units have to work a lot harder and longer to cool the room, causing both increased noise and annoyance to guests,” said Todd McKeown, Vice President of Direct Sale Strategic Markets, Cintas. “This guide...

Name: Harith WickremaTitle: Chief Visionary OfficerProperty: Eco Serendib Villa and SpaYears property open: Three Primary responsibilities: “One of my most important responsibilities as chief visionary officer is to ensure the villa stays true to the original concept.”   Organization’s most significant sustainability-related accomplishment: “Educating guests while using resources to give back to the St. John Community.”  Organization’s most significant sustainability-related challenge: “Recycling. On St. John we don’t have recycling. Garbage gets shipped to St. Thomas.”  ST. JOHN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS—As Chief Visionary Officer and owner of the eight-suite Eco Serendib Villa and Spa on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Harith...

EXETER, N.H.—Hay Creek Hotels is now providing Tesla electric charging stations at all of its properties. “The Tesla stations are a great service to be able to provide to our guests and we are proud to be able to offer this amenity to our travelers,” said Norman MacLeod, President & CEO of Hay Creek Hotels. “We continue to seek ways to surprise and delight our guests, and hope these charging stations make them feel at home, while providing us with an opportunity to contribute to the environment.”The Tesla connectors provide a convenient and fast charging solution for Tesla owners...

ST. PAUL, MINN.—A partnership between 3M Architectural Markets and designer Todd Bracher has resulted in the development, and now the commercialization of Lightfalls, an innovative new architectural lighting fixture. The fixture capitalizes on the laws of physics to distribute light from a single LED source over a large space, pouring light from one highly reflective surface to another.“Lightfalls is the result of physics meeting design,” said Bracher. “We are able to extend the reach of a single LED further than ever before—it is the work of optical engineers with unique materials who created it to steer light in efficient...

NEW ORLEANS—The world’s largest sustainable building conference, The Greenbuild Conference and Expo, featuring the first “net zero” exhibit space, was held in New Orleans, October 22 to 24, with 23,000 attendees and 600 exhibitors.The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center helped Greenbuild set up the first “net zero” exhibit space by utilizing the building’s balcony as the location for solar generated panels that powered an on-site microgrid, generating power to the exhibit booths. The Net Zero Zone showcased how booths in the exhibit hall can unplug from the utility grid and operate totally on power generated by solar...

NATIONAL REPORT—Hotel bars and restaurants operate, at least in terms of energy efficiency, much the same as free-standing commercial restaurant operations. Small energy inefficiencies add up in the same ways that they do in commercial operations. When you create any personal budget, the first thing that you do is look at how much you’re currently spending.  Saving energy in your commercial kitchen begins the same way: know what your energy expenditures are. •    List everything that uses power. •    Make notes about appliances that you use on a constant basis. •    Watch the kitchen’s operation and take notes on the practices and...

NEW YORK—Turks & Caicos has deepened its commitment to advancing renewable energy by joining the Carbon War Room’s Ten Island Challenge. The Premier of Turks and Caicos, The Honorable Doctor Rufus Ewing, and Carbon War Room’s Operations Director, Justin Locke, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, committing to work together to reduce the island’s dependence on fossil fuels through increased renewable energy production and improved energy efficiency.The Ten Island Challenge provides the Government of TCI the opportunity and platform to define and realize its own vision of a clean economy. In order to achieve this vision, the Carbon War Room,...

EVERETT, WASH.—Electric Mirror, a global leader in lighted mirrors and mirror TVs, announced its Best of BDNY (Boutique Design New York) award for its innovative and energy saving feature called Keen.Keen Technology is an energy-saving, environmentally-friendly feature that can be added to any of Electric Mirror’s collection of lighted mirrors. Keen has capacitive touch controls for eight levels of lighting and a night light. Offering almost a 60 percent reduction in lighted mirror energy costs, Keen has an intelligent sensor that automatically dims the mirror after one hour of non-use.“Hotels are responding enthusiastically to Keen,” said Jon Johnston, Senior...

CHARLESTON, S.C.—ISI Technology has created the world’s first fully electronic water heater. The Heatworks MODEL 1 is the world’s first 100 percent digital water heater. The system allows one to replace or improve any existing water heating system and offers instant and infinite hot water, a significantly longer lifespan with zero required maintenance, and ultimate control.Using electrical current to silently heat water while monitoring power 60 times per second, the MODEL 1 is capable of maintaining temperature within 1 degree Fahrenheit. As a result, the Heatworks MODEL 1 saves up to 40 percent of energy costs devoted to heating...

ATLANTA—Registration is open for ASHRAE’s 2015 Winter Conference in Chicago where attendees have the chance to discuss and examine the latest topics in the building industry, network, participate in technical tours, attend ASHRAE Learning Institute courses, earn professional credits, and obtain ASHRAE certifications.The ASHRAE Conference will take place January 24 to 28 at the Palmer House Hilton, while the ASHRAE co-sponsored AHR Expo will be held January 26 to 28 at McCormick Place. Complete conference information and registration can be found at www.ashrae.org/chicago and Expo information at www.ahrexpo.com.In keeping with ASHRAE’s goal of continuing education, the conference offers over...