NEW YORK—Green Mountain Energy Company announced that Trump SoHo New York has committed to purchasing renewable energy from Green Mountain for 100 percent of the hotel’s electricity usage. Green Mountain is a leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions.Trump SoHo is expected to purchase more than 5.5 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of wind energy annually from Green Mountain over the two-year term of its agreement. By purchasing the clean energy, Trump SoHo will offset 100 percent of the hotel condominium’s annual electricity usage, which generates an estimated 4.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually....

RALEIGH-DURHAM, N.C.—Concord Hospitality Enterprises, one of the nation’s top-ranked hotel developer/owner/operators, has opened the first LEED-designed Courtyard by Marriott.  Located in Settlers Ridge in west suburban Pittsburgh, the state-of-the-art property design, created by Concord with support from Marriott, will be the prototype for all future LEED-compliant Courtyards. The new design is expected to reduce energy usage at Courtyard hotels by an average of 24 percent annually and save more than 300,000 gallons of water per year, the equivalent of 21 swimming pools. This improved energy efficiency is expected to produce average annual operating savings of $50,000 at current energy costs,...

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA.—TRACO announced that it has launched a new 4-inch aluminum architectural double hung window system that is ideal for applications with historical sightlines and replication requirements. The new double hung window system has been life cycle tested to the latest AAMA architectural standard and carries a designation of AW-PG50-H classification. The window system features 1-inch insulating glass and a NEXGEN Warm Edge Energy Spacer system that is a non-metallic air spacer that provides high performance heat insulation. The TRACO TR-9800 offers spring load tilt latches for automatic jamb engagement, AAMA Class 5 heavy duty spring balances, stainless steel...

EAGLE BEACH, ARUBA—Bucuti & Tara Beach Resorts has added a new feature to its expansive environmental program: INNCOM’s Glass Series Guest Interface Device Suite. The device is an eco-friendly, central control system that allows guests to opt in to the resort’s conservation program with just the touch of an aptly named “Green Button” that controls the lights, thermostat and humidity of guestrooms. The fully automated system uses motion detectors and door sensors to identify when the room is occupied and unoccupied and adjusts energy settings accordingly. For example, when the sensor identifies that a guest has left the room, lights...

DURANGO, COLO.—The Strater Hotel, established in 1887, announced that it will begin adding the Energy Star rating—the most recognized national metric for evaluating building energy efficiency—to its Durango, Colorado property. “We believe that with the help of Energy Star our commercial building will continue to achieve a higher level of energy efficiency, which also leads to an increase in the financial value of the property,” said Michelle Thom, general manager for the New Strater Corp.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star-labeled hotels are independently verified to meet strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the agency. Hotels...

SAN FRANCISCO—The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) joined California business leaders earlier this month to launch a 2010-2012 Zero Net Energy Action Plan designed to help California commercial building owners take advantage of the latest technologies and financial incentives to help reduce building energy use to “net-zero” through greater efficiency and on-site clean energy production.“This is an innovative action plan to transform the state’s commercial buildings into clean energy powered, energy-efficient structures by 2030,” said CPUC commissioner Dian M. Grueneich. “Zero net energy isn’t just a big, bold goal—it’s a reality today. By tapping into the innovation and entrepreneurialism...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, has added a ClearWater Tech, LLC case study to the Green Lodging News website. The case study details how Manoir Pierrefonds in Pierrefonds, Quebec has benefited from an EnvirO3matic Advanced Laundry Oxidation System. (For the record, the name EnvirO3matic was developed and trademarked by Coinamatic for equipment manufactured by ClearWater Tech in the United States, for which it is the exclusive Canadian distributor.) The senior care facility has benefited in many ways from the ozone system: 16-minute reduction in cycle time, resulting in an increase of 26 loads per...

HOWARD, PA.—For Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the 16-room, 18,500-square foot Nature Inn at Bald Eagle is just the first of many more green buildings to come. DCNR has committed to pursue the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for the inn and at least LEED certification for all of its future buildings. The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle is green from ground to rooftop and a great start for DCNR. The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle had its grand opening on September 2 earlier this month and innkeeper...

ITHACA, N.Y.—Putting sustainable ideas into practice will be a top focus of the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit (CHRS), scheduled for October 6 to 8, 2010, on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Breakout sessions will cover both sustainable design and sustainable operation, with a focus on the specific areas where sustainability can be most effective. Presenters will share their first-hand experiences with sustainable hospitality practices. Building on his firm’s 150-plus years of experience in innovation, Paul Hamilton, Schneider Electric’s senior vice president for Energy Efficiency, will focus on the immediate and long-term risks and challenges to implementing energy saving...

SALT LAKE CITY—Salt Lake County, owner of the Salt Palace Convention Center, recently announced a project guaranteed to set a new standard for hosting sustainable meetings and conventions: the installation of the nation’s largest rooftop solar array atop the Salt Palace Convention Center in the heart of downtown Salt Lake, scheduled to be completed and online by January 2011. The 600,000-square-foot project—larger than six football fields, including 11,319 solar panels—will more than double the current solar capacity of the state of Utah and generate approximately 25 percent of the annual energy consumed at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Salt Lake...