SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—WattStopper, a leader in energy-efficient lighting controls, recently announced expansion of its Birmingham, Ala. office, adding new positions to support commercial building control projects throughout the United States and Canada. The added staff includes a newly formed Customer Care group and expansion of the Technical Services Group with new Project Managers, Application Engineers, and Drafters. The expansion solidifies the company’s commitment to position the Birmingham office as a hub for applications and technical support for design professionals specializing in advanced lighting control projects for commercial buildings. “As controls projects continue to grow in importance, they also exhibit...

TAMPA, FLA.—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Xeros as a Founding Sponsor. According to Xeros, its polymer bead technology significantly reduces laundry costs, increases the life of linens, and helps hotels advance their commitment to green operations. The system uses up to 80 percent less water, 50 percent less energy, and approximately 50 percent less detergent as compared to conventional washing. The reusable beads have a lifespan of hundreds of washes before being collected and recycled.Xeros’ polymer beads replace water as the primary cleaning agent, reducing the amount of water needed to get items...

NATIONAL REPORT—Selecting an ice machine is a major purchase consideration for any hotel manager. The energy used in the average hotel restaurant for refrigeration and ice production is between 13 and 18 percent of overall energy costs for that section. Saving money on these costs not only helps the environment, but also helps the bottom line. How can we reduce energy usage and water usage while still generating enough ice to maintain service quality? Water efficiency in ice machines is based on number of gallons per 100 pounds of ice produced. This can range between 18 gallons to 200 gallons...

VANTAA, FINLAND—Vancouver, B.C.-based Water Wall Turbine Inc. (WWT) has selected The Switch to provide a 500 kW full-power converter for its innovative self-floating power plant. This new commercially viable system extracts potential and kinetic energy from large, fast moving water currents for conversion into electric energy.The Switch will supply its first 500 kW full-power converter in October 2014 for WWT’s prototype project, which will be used for the Dent Island Resort, near Vancouver Island off the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. System testing of the integrated equipment is planned for the first quarter of 2015.The vessel will power...

HARVEY, ILL.—Litetronics introduces its LED Omni A-19, a replacement for 40 or 60 watt incandescent bulbs with 80 percent energy savings. The Omni A-19 is designed to meet the new, more stringent V2.0 Energy Star requirements for omni-directional beam angles, effective this month. LED Omni A19 produces even light output in all directions.The Omni A-19 bulb is ideal for floor and table lamps, chandeliers, ceiling fixtures, sconces and even weather protected exterior fixtures. The Omni A-19 lamps are a retrofit solution for higher wattage incandescent or halogen lamps in hospitality applications.The LED Omni A19 lamps closely resemble conventional A19...

DEATH VALLEY, CALIF.—In keeping with its “pillars of sustainability,” the AAA Four Diamond Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley National Park has enacted a series of initiatives designed to minimize the impact of its operations and of its guests. The resort has put in place programs to reduce waste and water usage, generate electricity and offer sustainable choices to its guests.Those efforts are working as the resort reports solid waste has been reduced by 44 percent, water usage has dropped 19 percent and electricity use is down 18 percent since 2010. In that same time period sustainably sourced food...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF.—ClearWater Tech, representing EcoTex Ozone Laundry Systems, has been evaluated and approved for energy and water efficiency by the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Department of Energy commissioned a report to evaluate energy efficient technologies within the commercial on-premise laundry (OPL) market. After consideration of several alternative technologies, they chose to do their research on ozone for the report.The study proved the validity of EcoTex Technology as a quick return-on-investment, energy and water savings, and customer satisfaction.“Although this report does not begin to reflect our more typical eight month ROI from EcoTex,” says ClearWater Tech’s...

NEW YORK—The American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Sustainability Committee has added a session entitled, “Measuring Hotel Carbon Footprints Using HCMI Methodology,” to the lineup of sessions at the Hospitality Leadership Forum which leads up to the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS). The session will take place from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, November 8 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. IHMRS will take place at the Javits Center from Sunday, November 9 through Tuesday, November 11.Pat Maher, partner, The Maher Group, LLC, will moderate the panel discussion that will include:...

TORONTO—Aerelight Design, a product design studio focused on developing innovative OLED-enabled lighting, announced the aerelight desk lamp. Powered by an advanced energy-efficient OLED light panel, the aerelight lamp provides a warm, natural light source unlike that of a traditional lamp or overhead light.Organic light emitting diode (OLED) is the next-generation of energy-efficient lighting, generating natural light by passing electricity through a thin layer of carbon-based organic dyes. OTI Lumionics started Aerelight Design with an exclusive focus on OLED light to demonstrate that the technology is finally ready for the consumer market. While the technology has been successfully implemented into...

MILWAUKEE, WIS.—Telkonet, Inc., whose complementary business divisions include EcoSmart, an energy management technology platform featuring Recovery Time technology, and EthoStream, one of the largest hospitality High-Speed Internet Access providers in the world, announced the launch of its EcoCentral Virtual Engineer mobile applications for iOS and Android phones. The native apps, internally created by Telkonet’s software engineers, are unique in being the first applications developed within the energy management and efficiency market for commercial properties spanning the hospitality sector, education campuses and military facilities, among other building environments. These mobile apps enable comprehensive connectivity and control for Telkonet’s EcoSmart solution,...