LAS VEGAS—CityCenter announced that it has received three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council for: ARIA Resort’s hotel tower; ARIA Resort’s convention center and theater; and Vdara Hotel. ARIA and Vdara will open in December on the Las Vegas Strip and are the first of CityCenter’s developments to be LEED certified. CityCenter anticipates Gold or Silver LEED certification for its remaining developments which include Las Vegas’ first Mandarin Oriental; Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district; Veer Towers, the community’s only strictly residential buildings; and The Harmon (opening late 2010),...

SAN DIEGO—Bekaert Specialty Films LLC announced it has earned ISO 14001:2004 certification, solidifying its commitment to minimizing the manufacturing impact of its energy saving window films, sold under the Solar Gard, Panorama and Quantum brands. ISO 14001 is an international standard for environmental management systems. Its goal is to reduce the ecological footprint of a business and decrease pollution and waste. To achieve this voluntary certification, Bekaert Specialty Films established an environmental management system (EMS) to ensure the company’s activities and products have minimal impact on the environment. Bekaert Specialty Films’ EMS helps monitor and improve energy efficiency, resource...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Environmental Protection Agency has revised the qualifications for televisions to achieve the Energy Star label, requiring TVs to be 40 percent more energy efficient than conventional models. These requirements will help consumers save even more energy and money and fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions while allowing them to continue to enjoy the features, performance and quality they expect. Televisions meeting EPA’s new, more stringent Energy Star specifications will be available in stores nationwide starting May 1, 2010. The new requirements raise the bar on how energy efficient a TV must be to earn the...

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA.—Tozour Energy Systems, Inc. a full-service HVAC and building automation provider, has been selected to work with the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel to implement an energy reduction plan that will save the hotel hundreds of thousands per year in energy costs. This is the first building in Atlantic City, Atlantic County and the entire Starwood chain in New Jersey to take advantage of this program. The Sheraton Atlantic City is a full-service hotel conveniently located next to the convention center and in walking distance to outlet shopping, the Atlantic City Boardwalk and casinos. Tozour will identify...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council stepped up its commitment to improved building performance with the launch of the Building Performance Initiative, designed to put in place a comprehensive data collection effort from all buildings that have achieved LEED certification; implement an appropriate analysis methodology of that data; and provide feedback to building owners so they have better information with which to address any performance gaps that stem from predicted building performance versus actual performance. This initiative complements the announcement earlier this year that will require ongoing performance data from buildings as part of their certification under the...

CLEVELAND,OHIO—The Holiday Inn brand is currently undergoing a $1 billion global relaunch—the largest in the hospitality industry with more than 3,200 hotels being updated to improve quality and drive consistency at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world. A redesign of the iconic brand logo required new exterior signage for more than 3,200 locations. The signage incorporates energy-efficient, long-life GE Tetra LED lighting systems, which are GE ecomagination certified solutions from Lumination, GE Consumer & Industrial’s LED business. The new signage will save Holiday Inn an estimated $4.4 million annually over previous neon and fluorescent lighting...

PERKASIE, PA.—Hotel owners and facility managers struggle with high energy costs because rooms are often left unoccupied with the HVAC system continuing to heat or cool at comfort set-point levels. With an onboard occupancy sensor incorporated into the case, PSG’s new OS-1 solves this problem. The OS-1 determines when a room is unoccupied and places it into set-back economy mode. To provide flexibility, the length of time without motion before going into set-back is configurable, as is the temperature setting of the setback economy mode, so that the property owner or manager maintains control over the room environment while...

ASPEN, COLO.—Altech Solar recently completed its latest solar installation at the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, Colorado. The St. Regis Resort contracted Altech Solar to install its custom solar thermal technology, which has already dramatically decreased the resort’s dependence on natural gas; the price of which has skyrocketed in recent years. Using the sun’s energy, more than 1,300 solar e-tubes mounted in solar array panels on the resort’s main building roof heat a liquid solution housed in vacuum tubes, resembling copper and glass torpedoes, to temperatures exceeding more than 2 million BTUs (British Thermal Units) per day. The heated solution...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes EverGlow NA, Inc. as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. EverGlow NA is a provider of photoluminescent exit signs and exit path markings. The company’s aluminum signs, stair nosings and strips, and acrylic tapes are of durable construction. EverGlow non-electrical emergency lighting replaces or supplements electrical lighting and reduces maintenance and energy costs. All EverGlow photoluminescent signs, markers, coatings and films are free of toxic and radioactive components. There are no batteries, electrical wiring or lamps to change or maintain. All EverGlow photoluminescent signs and markings are...

SHEFFIELD, MASS.—Cypress Bath, Bed & Spa, a leading designer and manufacturer of luxury bathrobes, towels, slippers, and sheets for the global hospitality and spa industries, is encouraging hotels that are participating in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to consider implementing the Green Earth towel into their linen purchase program, due to documented LEED credits that the Green Earth towel can potentially contribute to. The seven LEED credits identified under the Existing Building certification category that are applicable to use of the Green Earth towel include: • Water Efficiency Credit 1: Water...