ATLANTA—With concern for our nation’s environment and conservation of its natural resources on the rise, today’s travelers want a safer, more healthy and sustainable experience while on the road. Now, two hotel chains—America’s Best Inns & Suites and Country Hearth Inns—will feature a green initiative known as EcoRooms with products that are energy efficient, water efficient, waste reducing, and non-toxic and/or biodegradable. The systemwide program was announced by America’s Best Franchising Inc., franchisor of the hotel brands. “EcoRooms are more comfortable for guests and more cost-effective for hotels,” says Doug Collins, chairman and CEO of America’s Best Franchising...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Classic Metal Roofing Systems, Piqua, Ohio, as a Founding Sponsor. Classic Metal Roofing Systems specializes in the production of aluminum, steel, and copper roofing systems that are attractive as well as environmentally friendly. The company’s aluminum roofing has 95 percent recycled content with a life expectancy of over 50 years. The special Kynar 500/Hylar 5000 finishes it uses feature special pigments to reflect radiant heat. The company’s customers have reported energy savings of up to 20 percent and even more due to their buildings being kept...

NATIONAL REPORT—Metal roofing has a long, successful history in the United States and the world. Its proven track record spans all types of projects—commercial, industrial and residential, new construction and remodeling. With today’s heightened interest in and demand for ecologically-sound building materials, metal roofing is an ideal choice. In fact, The Metal Construction Assn. says metal roofing should be included on all lists of environmentally friendly or “green” roofing materials. Metal roofing’s durability can virtually eliminate the need for future raw materials to be used to produce roofing. Other roofing materials are heavily affected by weather extremes. Metal roofing, however,...

ASHLAND CITY, TENN.—A. O. Smith has introduced a new high-efficiency modulating VF boiler. This boiler replaces the A. O. Smith Legend. The VF boiler is a totally new design that provides up to 88 percent thermal efficiency while maintaining low NOx emissions that are better for the environment. The vertical tube design allows for a large heat transfer area, which maximizes efficiency, while maintaining the small footprint ideal for retrofit applications and multiple boiler installations. The VF boiler can be direct vented for up to 70 equivalent feet of intake and exhaust piping, and it can also be...

LAS VEGAS—It was pretty easy to determine what vendors were selling green products at this year’s HD 2007 Expo and Conference. A separate vendor directory was created for them and green, circular markers sat within each participating exhibitor’s booth. A separate Green Room on the show floor also featured environmentally friendly products. Vendors had to pony up additional funds to have a presence there. There is no possible way to mention every company that introduced a green product at this year’s show but here are some noteworthy examples: Simmons Hospitality Group announced its EverNU mattress top to help hotels get the...

MONTREAL—Groupe Germain announced a brand new concept for cheap-chic hotels that will be gradually introduced in Canada. A first in that country, ALT Hotels will offer the qualities sought by a growing range of consumers who want affordable accommodation without compromising on design and comfort. The hotels will feature a series of energy-efficient measures: heating and cooling with geothermal systems, recovery of heat from outdoor air and exhaust air leaving the building, recovery of heat from water used in commercial washers, energy-efficient lighting throughout, a main light switch for controlling all lights in the room when guests check out, geothermal...

ATLANTA—To reduce the building design industry’s impact on the environment, key leaders in that sector are collaborating to establish carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Architecture 2030, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), supported by representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy, finalized an agreement of understanding, establishing a common starting point and a goal of net zero energy buildings. “This agreement allows the building design sector to move forward with...

TOKYO AND NEW YORK—Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. (collectively KM) and the General Electric Co. announced that they have signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years. “Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, lightweight, and sheet form OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future,” says Masatoshi Matsuzaki, President, Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. “We are...

ALSIP, ILL.—Litetronics introduces its plug-in compact fluorescent tube (PFT) lamps. The pin-based compact fluorescent lamps use 80 percent less energy than incandescents and last 13 times as long. The two-pin starter lamps work with magnetic ballasts, while the four-pin starter models are for use with electronic ballasts. The two-pin PFT lamps have a 10,000-hour average rated life, and the four-pin lamps boast a 15,000-hour average rated life. Compared to other compact fluorescent lamps, the four-pin PFT lamps offer a 33 percent longer life. All PFT lamps offer a 2700K correlated color temperature and a high CRI of 82....

ATLANTA—IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, announced that The Hotel Management Group, the company’s Americas Operations division, will launch a new environmental initiative to replace more than 250,000 incandescent light bulbs with new energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL) in guestrooms at over 200 company-managed hotels across the Americas. This is the first of several new environmental programs, both global and regional, that the company is scheduled to introduce throughout 2007. According to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, a CFL’s...