ACTON, MASS.—The parking lot adjacent to your building may soon be good for more than just parking cars. If Acton, Mass.-based Novotech, Inc. is successful in the development of its new technology, the heat energy in the pavement in your lot could soon be used to heat hot water or be used in absorption chillers to provide cooling (see illustration below). According to Tracy Snelling III, vice president of business development for Novotech, the company is currently testing its technology that incorporates plastic PEX tubing that is located about an inch below the pavement. The tubing, arranged in a serpentine pattern, carries...

NOVATO, CALIF.—SPG Solar, a leading U.S. solar installer and recently ranked as the second largest in California, announced that it will offer access to a full array of financial resources and expertise on public funding and tax credit opportunities for commercial solar projects. SPG Solar’s Structured Finance Group will be headed by Michael Johnson, the former managing director of the Renewable Energy Investment Program for the National Development Council, who joined SPG Solar in June, 2010 as vice president of project finance. With the formation of its Structured Finance Group, SPG Solar becomes one of the few companies able to...

WALTHAM, MASS.—American DG Energy Inc., a leading on site utility offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality facilities, has reached an agreement to supply clean energy to the Doubletree Guest Suites Boston, a premier, all-suite hotel in Boston. Under the terms of the agreement, the Doubletree will soon receive a significant portion of its energy from a 75 kW combined heat and power (CHP) system, which will be owned and operated by American DG Energy. The hotel will receive a discount on the energy produced by the CHP system and reduce its carbon emissions by...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Green Lodging News has just added a new case study to its website. The case study focuses on the 130-room  (Ala.) and its installation of a 17-unit tankless water heating system from Noritz America. The original specification for the hotel called for a pair of 750-gallon, 750,000 BTU per hour (BTU/h) boilers, each measuring roughly five feet by 12 feet. The mechanical room where they were to be squeezed into could accommodate both pieces of equipment, but with just a few inches of clearance between each unit and the surrounding walls. Contractor Anthony Crouch, owner of Crouch & Sons...

OREM, UTAH—ILLUMRA, a supplier of self-powered, battery-free, wireless lighting and HVAC controls, recently won the “Best Dimming or Control” award at The LED Show in Las Vegas. A panel of LED experts reviewed the dimmer. The constant voltage dimmer is available in a wireless or wired configuration that responds to hardwired or wireless battery-free controls to adjust the brightness of LED fixtures. “ILLUMRA is providing the LED community with game changing technology,” said James Highgate, lighting consultant and director of the LED Show. “We are impressed with the dimming capabilities in such a small package. We see the potential for...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Reflect and Glow Products as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Find-A-Light from Reflect and Glow Products helps guests find the light switch at night without leaving a light on and wasting electricity. With exposure to day light or electric lights the advanced technology of this material provides a super bright glow. Find-A-Light products come in different styles and are available for both rocker and toggle type switch plates. They are easy to install. Simply use the existing screws on the wallplate to fasten Find A Light.For...

CARLSBAD, CALIF.—The La Costa Resort and Spa, a 400-acre property located near the beach in Carlsbad, Calif., has reduced its kitchen food waste volume by a factor of almost five times thanks to two industrial compost machines that rely on heat and agitation. According to Sam Bumgarner, purchasing director for the property, the machines, which each handle 250 pounds of food waste per day, are located in two different kitchens and compost 182,000 pounds of food scraps annually. Each day, approximately 40 pounds of compost is produced and given to the groundskeeping team to use around the property. "It sends...

ROANOKE, VA.—Lodging Technology announces the addition of their newest team member, Susan deRosas, as Northeast sales representative. Susan will be responsible for all sales and marketing of the company’s room energy management products in the Northeast territory, consisting of the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Susan has more than 20 years experience in the sales and marketing field. She has worked as a corporate recruiter for a national hospitality management company, and most recently as an energy sales advisor focusing on viable clean technologies for businesses and educational institutions. Susan has been...

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa announced that it has entered into a partnership with FLS Energy to add solar panels to the resort’s modern Sports Complex. The 12-panel solar thermal system at the Sports Complex will provide about 600 gallons of hot water a day for use in the locker rooms. The project is being developed using an innovative solar Power Purchase Agreement, in which FLS Energy will design and install the system on the roof of the complex with no up-front cost to The Grove Park Inn. Grove Park Inn will in turn purchase the thermal...

TAMPA, FLA.—LEDnovation, a leading innovator in LED lighting and replacement lamp technology, unveiled its new EnhanceLite LED MR16 replacement lamps. LEDnovation’s new lamps are suitable to fully replace both 20-watt and 35-watt halogen lamps in a package that is sized for exact fit into any standard MR16 fixture. The new lamps boast center beam candle power (CBCP) figures ranging from 1100 candela for the 3.9-watt MR16 to 1420 for the 6-watt version, at efficacies of 64 lumens/watt and 54 lumens/watt respectively. The EnhanceLite MR16 family joins the Tampa, Fla.-based company’s previously introduced line of A19 or “Edison” type LED replacement...