ORLANDO, FLA.—At the 2011 International Builders’ Show (IBS) in February, Panasonic Home & Environment Company will showcase its third generation of the WhisperGreen line of premium ventilation fans. Thirteen ceiling mounted fans designed for 4” or 6” ducts will be featured. The fans offer quiet operation and enhanced energy efficiency and are ideal for light commercial applications.   “The third generation models include all the advanced features that builders and contractors have come to love about WhisperGreen, including SmartFlow Optimum CFM Technology and our super energy efficient DC motor,” said Anita So, marketing manager, Panasonic Home & Environment Company. “At Panasonic,...

PHILADELPHIA—LED Saving Solutions, a supplier of U.S. made high-performance LED lighting, is offering $10 million in grant incentives to private companies to jump-start conversion from energy wasting traditional lighting to more energy efficient LED lighting. The Green Light Program provides private companies and nonprofit organizations in the United States with up to $10,000 in grant funds to be used toward an LED lighting retrofit.  “This grant program is not some Santa’s list rewarding companies that have been nice to the environment,” says Charlie Szoradi, president of LED Saving Solutions. “This is about introducing a simple and measurable way to...

NIANTIC, CONN.—The InterContinental San Francisco hotel is reaping the financial and environmental benefits of implementing the e4 Smart Digital Thermostat developed by Niantic, Conn.-based INNCOM, a leader in advanced guestroom automation systems for hotels and resorts. According to the INNCOM tracking system, the property saved $75,491 on energy costs from January to September 2010. “With the INNCOM EMS and e4 Smart Digital Thermostat, we can allow guests a much greater amount of control and responsiveness than we could with systems that simply turn everything off,” says Harry Hobbs, InterContinental San Francisco director of engineering. “Most of the time the features...

SAN FRANCISCO—As part of its Solid-State Lighting Technology Demonstration GATEWAY Program, the U.S. Department of Energy recently released the results of a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Retrofit Lamp study conducted at the InterContinental San Francisco. The study was prepared by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. At the hotel, multi-lamp linear wall-grazing luminaires, mono-point track lights, and recessed adjustable downlights, all using either 20W or 30W halogen MR16 lamps, were retrofitted with 6W LED MR16 replacement lamps by CRS Electronics. In addition, two kinds of recessed downlights using 75W halogen PAR30 lamps were retrofitted with 11W LED PAR30 replacement lamps by Philips...

SATELLITE BEACH, FLA.—Lighting Science Group recently became the first U.S. company to domestically manufacture one million LED bulbs in less than a year. The one millionth bulb is a new ultra-efficient, omni-directional LED A19 bulb that will replace America’s most commonly used 60 watt incandescent bulb. Available beginning this month, Lighting Science Group’s 850 lumen, 13 watt LED bulb is 75 percent more efficient than the 60 watt incandescent bulb it replaces and will last close to 23 years—based on a usage of 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days/year. The new 60 watt equivalent LED bulb...

BOULDER, COLO.—Despite the general weakness in new construction due to the global recession, one building-related field has continued to grow: retrofits tied to improving the efficiency of facilities. A number of factors have been driving this growth, including the need to improve the energy performance of buildings for cost savings as well as the desire to obtain green building certification. A new white paper from Pike Research identifies 10 key trends that are having a strong influence on the worldwide building industry. The paper, which includes predictions about the building efficiency market in 2011 and beyond, is available for...

VENICE, CALIF.—Enovative Kontrol Systems recently launched D’MAND CIRC recirculation pump controllers that optimize central water heating systems for multi-tenant buildings. To improve the delivery of hot water, D’MAND CIRC operates on an as needed basis, minimizing radiant heat loss and pump run times. This greatly enhances the overall efficiency of water heating systems for hotels, and lowers natural gas consumption as well as heating costs by up to 30 percent. The installation of D’MAND CIRC can also assist in a building’s LEED certification. “We’ve incorporated D’MAND CIRC into all of our buildings and immediately saw a significant energy savings reflected...

ST. LOUIS—Michael Jantzen, an artist strongly influenced by nature and technology, who has been producing conceptual art and architectural projects for almost 40 years, has released his latest hotel design—The Solar Winds Desert Hotel. An idea still in need of a developer, the hotel design, according to Jantzen, evolved from his thoughts about desert plants and how they function in a hot dry climate. The 140-room luxury eco-hotel, vertically cylindrical in design, would be powered by the sun and the wind. The “stem” of the hotel would house the hotel rooms, a vertical axis wind turbine would sit atop...

WALTHAM, MASS.—American DG Energy Inc., a leading on site utility offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality facilities, is now operating a combined heat and power (CHP) system at the Doubletree Guest Suites Boston, an all-suite hotel. Revenue from the project is estimated at $1.3 million over the 15-year agreement. In December 2010, American DG Energy began producing clean energy in the form of space heat and domestic hot water at the Doubletree Hotel. The energy is produced with a 75 kW combined heat and power system, located at the hotel but owned and operated by...

NIANTIC, CONN.—INNCOM International Inc., a leader in advanced guestroom automation systems for hotels and resorts, addressed several hundred delegates at the China Cleantech Industry Investment Summit in Beijing to promote its “cleantech” energy strategy in China designed to reduce coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by millions of metric tons. With offices in Hong Kong and India, the company’s Asian customer base is growing. INNCOM’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region and become part of the overall green solution for China. “INNCOM is still a relatively small corporation, and yet our presently installed systems are saving...