SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Watt Stopper/Legrand welcomed close to 300 guests to the company’s headquarters here last month for its highly successful GreenFair. More than 30 exhibitors were on hand to discuss environmentally friendly products and services that ranged from building materials made from reclaimed materials to electric vehicles to recycling programs and commute alternatives to organic food, wine and pet supplies. Also in attendance were the mayors of Santa Clara and Los Gatos as well as San Jose’s energy officer. Watt Stopper/Legrand president Jerry Mix greeted early attendees, explaining that the fair was the work of Watt Stopper employees who wanted...

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Dave Rutherford, who has more than 10 years of hospitality sales and marketing experience and 15 years of foodservice sales experience, has become an independent representative for several different companies. His company, RDI Sales and Marketing, is specializing in companies that offer “green” products to the hospitality industry. “I started down this path years ago while I was the director of sales and marketing with Sunbeam Products,” Rutherford says. “We developed products that would save energy and show a return to the hotels. The focus now is not only on the hotel but the environment as well. The company...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Seven lodging properties and several Fortune 100 companies, including Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, and Xerox, are among the 96 facilities that have renewed their membership in EPA’s National Environmental Performance Track program. The lodging properties include: Pinewood Cove Resort, Trinity Center, Calif.; Trinity Lake Resort & Marina, Trinity Center, Calif.; Callville Bay Resort & Marina, Las Vegas; Big Bend Resorts/Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend, Texas; Lake Amistad Resort and Marina, Del Rio, Texas; Mammoth Cave Hotel, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; Hurricane Ridge Lodge, Port Angeles, Wash.; Lake Crescent Lodge, Port Angeles, Wash.; and Xanterra Parks & Resorts at Yellowstone...

ELLWOOD CITY, PA.—The Energy Services Division of The Eric Ryan Corp. has been contracted to provide utility bill auditing and energy consulting services to a U.S.-based hotel management company with properties in the Caribbean Islands. The Ellwood City, Pa., company signed its first international contract in June with Caribbean Property Group LLC. The company operates 14 properties in the Caribbean Islands, including The Palm Beach Aruba Marriott and Ritz-Carlton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “It has become very apparent that the energy crisis has catapulted the request for energy consumption and cost analysis to the forefront of business owners’ minds and...

NEW YORK—As a result of its $65 million renovation, the historic New Yorker Hotel, located in the heart of New York City, will decrease its use of energy for heating and air-conditioning by 30 to 40 percent, effectively reducing the hotel’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, the new air-conditioning system will exceed ASHRAE Standard 90.1, an internationally recognized energy conservation standard related to HVAC systems (ASHRAE is the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). The $65 million renovation, to be completed in September of this year, is carefully designed to recapture the style and character of the New Yorker...

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C.—The GE outdoor LED area light from GE Lighting Systems, Inc.—the first of many outdoor LED lighting systems the company is introducing—will provide up to 60 percent energy savings, longer life and significantly improved light-level uniformity compared with traditional HID lamp sources and optical systems, such as a standard 400-watt quartz metal halide system. High performance LED systems from Lumination, LLC, also a GE Consumer & Industrial business, enable the GE LED outdoor area light to deliver excellent system and application efficiency with up to four times the recommended service interval of standard HID systems—a 50,000-hour planned service...

BOSTON—When you host the annual conference of a national environmental organization, there is a good chance you will make some changes to your operations—whether to impress or to meet the demands of the group you are hosting. That is what happened at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel earlier this year when it hosted the Ceres annual conference. Ceres is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. According to David Keamy, director of sales and marketing at the 456-room property, Ceres event...

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. (ECS), a privately held demand response provider, announces the addition of its PowerPay! PLUS program to its menu of demand response programs. PowerPay! PLUS is offered to members of PowerPay! PJM and allows businesses to choose when they want to reduce their electricity, giving them an extra revenue stream for their electric demand reduction efforts. This program is a best-efforts, no penalty program in which participants are paid for reducing electricity when electricity prices in the market reach a threshold pre-determined by the company and ECS. ECS will provide detailed price forecasting...

SAN DIEGO—Bekaert Specialty Films, LLC reaffirmed its pledge to environmental stewardship by announcing that it has defined its carbon footprint. Bekaert Specialty Films’ solar control window films, sold under the Solar Gard and Panorama brands, have long been recognized for their role in reducing energy consumption, and the company is now the first specialized film manufacturer to make this level of operational commitment to environmentally-responsible practices. “The certification of our carbon footprint is an important step in our overall strategy to improve our environmental practices,” said Christophe Fremont, President, Bekaert Specialty Films. “As leaders, we are pushing the...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes HD Supply Hospitality Solutions as a Founding Sponsor. HD Supply is committed to doing business in a manner that is responsible to its associates, customers and the environment. With HD Supply’s new ideallygreen icon, the company has made it easy for its customers to identify environmentally preferable products throughout its catalogs and at www.hdsupplysolutions.com. Products marked with the ideallygreen icon can increase energy efficiency, help reduce water consumption, create a healthier indoor environment, facilitate waste reduction, and prevent hazardous materials from entering the environment. HD Supply is one of...