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...

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...