CLEVELAND, OHIO—General Electric has unveiled its new 40-watt LED bulb that will last 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, which are being phased out in the United States. The bulb, part of GE’s Energy Smart line, will last more than 25,000 hours, compared to the typical 1,000-hour lifespan of incandescent bulbs. When used for three hours a day (the average used by Energy Star for comparing bulb performance), the GE 40-watt LED would last close to 23 years. At four hours per day, the average GE uses, it would last 17 years. The bulb consumes 9 watts of energy, produces the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—What do 34 U.S. hospitality organizations—including Hilton Worldwide, Mauna Lani Resort, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, and Wyndham Worldwide—have in common? They are all members of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership program (GPP). The initiative is a voluntary program that supports the purchase of green power by offering advice, technical support, recognition programs, tools and resources. Green power, as defined by EPA, is electricity produced from a subset of renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and low-impact hydro. Hospitality organizations can participate in GPP by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from Green-e certified providers,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is launching an Energy Slasher Challenge. The year-long challenge asks hoteliers to track their quarterly energy and natural gas consumption from April 1, 2009 thru April 1, 2011, and report the totals via www.ahla.com/slasher. Participants can benchmark their progress through GreenQuest, a Web-based service free to AH&LA members; EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager; or their own corporate benchmarking program. Each quarter AH&LA will update an online leader board, and Green Guru Pat Maher will provide monthly strategies, assistance, and best practices to help...

ST. LOUIS—CPFilms Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solutia Inc., and a leading producer of professional window films for automotive, residential and commercial markets, has introduced a new film product. The EnerLogic Series is the latest addition to the Vista lineup of architectural window films. Featuring a patent-pending, low-e coating, EnerLogic window film adds up to 92 percent more insulating power to existing commercial and residential windows—improving energy efficiency in every season. In summer, heat from the sun is reflected away from windows, easing the stress on air-conditioning. In winter, radiant heat from heating systems is directed back into the...

MCLEAN, VA.—Following two years of testing, Hilton Worldwide has unveiled LightStay, a proprietary system developed to calculate and analyze environmental impact. In the first full year of findings, the 2009 LightStay results show that the 1,300 Hilton Worldwide properties using the system conserved enough energy to power 5,700 homes for a year, saved enough water to fill more than 650 Olympic-size pools and reduced carbon output equivalent to taking 34,865 cars off the road. Reductions in water and energy use also translated into dollars saved for hotel owners, with estimated savings of more than $29 million in utility costs...

MINNEAPOLIS—Entropy Solutions, Inc., a Minneapolis-based thermal technology development company, has introduced PureTemp for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air- conditioning). A vegetable oil derivative, PureTemp is a phase change material (PCM) that captures wasted ambient energy, and then releases this energy as necessary to hold specific temperatures for extended periods of time without requiring additional energy. PureTemp for HVAC is the world’s first and only 100 percent renewable, biodegradable and environmentally friendly material designed to work with HVAC systems. When integrated into the infrastructure of an HVAC system, PureTemp captures the tremendous amount of wasted energy generated every time a furnace,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) jointly announced changes to the Energy Star product certification process to ensure that only products meeting the program requirements can receive an Energy Star label. These changes accelerate steps DOE and EPA have initiated over the past several months to bolster the verification, testing and enforcement aspects of the Energy Star program. “The Energy Star program started out small and has grown quickly, and now the brand is immensely valuable to consumers and businesses,” said Gina McCarthy, EPA assistant administrator for Air and Radiation....

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Windsor/Aughtry Company announced an agreement with FLS Energy to provide solar hot water technology for the new Courtyard Marriott hotel at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets in downtown Greenville, S.C. This marks the first Marriott property in the United States to boast a commercial-scale solar hot water system. The plan includes 60 solar panels that have been installed to heat 2,900 gallons of hot water a day for the hotel. The hotel is scheduled to open late this month or early May. According to Paul C. “Bo” Aughtry, III, principal with Windsor/Aughtry Company, this environmentally sustainable venture represents...

WESTMINSTER, COLO.—The Westin Westminster announced that it will capitalize on Colorado’s 300-plus days of annual sunshine with the installation of a state-of-the-art solar panel system to help provide power to the 369-room hotel. The solar panels, which are scheduled to be installed next month on the roof of the hotel, will produce 42,576 kilowatt-hours per year—the equivalent to planting more than 192 trees annually. The Westin Westminster has applied to receive a grant from the federal government and a solar rebate from Xcel Energy, making it the first hotel in Colorado to take advantage of these programs. The 32-kilowatt solar...

SAN FRANCISCO—The four-diamond W San Francisco made history this week by earning the first LEED certification of an existing building belonging to a major hotel brand. With its Silver LEED certification, W San Francisco becomes only the seventh hotel in the United States to receive the recognition for an existing building. Stringent criteria for an existing building certification measure “operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale, with the goal of maximizing operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council, which administers the LEED program. “For our guests, the green experience at W San Francisco...