WASHINGTON, D.C.—The latest American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF) and Smith Travel Research 2006 Lodging Survey provides valuable insight into industry availability of liquid soap dispensers, recycling programs, air purifiers, energy management sensors, linen/towel reuse programs and nonsmoking rooms. A total of 42,407 hotels were polled and twenty-one percent (9,300 hotels) responded to the survey that wrapped up the first quarter of this year. Survey results were released earlier this summer. The survey was funded by AH&LEF, the nonprofit affiliate of AH&LA, and tracked the size, scope and emerging trends of the U.S. lodging industry. The AH&LA...

ALSIP, ILL.—Litetronics International Inc. announces an innovation in cold cathode fluorescent technology. All Litetronics Micro-Brite decorative 3- and 4-watt candelabra base lamps are now dimmable. Litetronics has successfully miniaturized its patented cold cathode technology to bring candelabra-based Micro-Brite into the dimming family. Now it is possible to have the decorative look of candelabra lighting, the long life and energy savings of fluorescent lamps, and the ability to adjust the light level for any situation. The 3- and 4-watt Micro-Brite candelabra base lamps have a 25,000-hour life and offer more than 80 percent in energy savings over incandescent lighting....

NATIONAL REPORT—Imagine as a hotel general manager or chief engineer never having to worry about energy budgets, energy deviations and energy conservation. This is a new marketing strategy being employed by suppliers of gas and electricity to the hotel industry. These suppliers are commonly known as energy “remarketers.” The concept is fairly simple. The remarketer approaches the hotel owner, general manager or chief engineer with a proposal that entails just one payment every month for all forms of energy, regardless of how much energy the hotel uses. At first glance, this proposal may seem very attractive, as the negotiated figure...

DUNEDIN, FLA.—Mintek Mobile Data Solutions has released a white paper entitled, “The Case for Automated Asset Management & Preventive Maintenance.” The document makes the case for implementation of an automated solution such as Mintek’s Lodging Asset Management Suite to protect and extend the life of a hotel’s physical assets. The white paper includes examples of hotels that have implemented the company’s handheld, bar code and ASP-based systems. “Smart hotel owners and operators know that proper maintenance and management of hotel’s assets will result in extended asset life and fewer breakdowns,” says Lind Hutton, executive vice president and c.o.o....

DANBURY, CONN.—FuelCell Energy, Inc. a manufacturer of ultra-clean electric power plants for commercial and industrial customers, announced an advanced cell stack design that boosts the power output of its Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants by 20 percent. The company is incorporating the enhancement across its entire line of power plants. By improving thermal management of electrochemical activity within the stack, the company has increased the power output from each cell and can produce more electricity from the same basic power plant components. The 20 percent increase in electric power output, combined with the company’s progress in its value...

MADISON, WISC.—By implementing a guestroom energy management system called Entergize from DBS Lodging Technologies, the Holiday Inn and Suites in Madison, Wisc. is saving more than $17,000 a year in energy costs. Entergize is installed in 157 guestrooms at the hotel. In addition to managing heating and cooling, the controls also work with the master entry switch to activate lighting. Holiday Inn and Suites partnered with Focus on Energy’s Business Programs to implement the new energy efficient technology. Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative offered incentives that helped offset project costs. The project came about when Wisco...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Three years after installing its first Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants at its Sheraton hotels in Edison and Parsippany, N.J., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is taking the technology to a new level at its 1,044-room Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. Soon, Starwood will launch a 500-kilowatt power plant there that will make it the largest commercial DFC installation in the world. Through an agreement with Alliance Star Energy LLC—a joint venture of Alliance Power and FuelCell Energy Inc.—Starwood purchases power generated by four 250-kilowatt DFC plants currently running at the San Diego property. The addition...

LUDLOW, VT.—Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont, Mount Sunapee Resort in New Hampshire, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado, have entered into an agreement with Gunnison County Electric Assn. to purchase 27 million kilowatt hours of Renewable Energy Certificates from Sterling Planet, one of the United States’ leading retail renewable energy providers. Gunnison County Electric Assn. is a member owned, nonprofit cooperative located in Colorado. The amount of kilowatt hours represents enough renewable power to fully offset the annual use of electricity by the Mueller’s three resorts. “Protection of the environment...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program has come a long way since it was first introduced in 1992. Then, it was a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Today, Energy Star is far more and hoteliers can benefit directly in many different ways. Here are some of those ways: • By purchasing products with the Energy Star label, hotel operators can save thousands of dollars in energy costs each year. The Energy Star label is currently on products in more than 40 product categories. Some of these categories include...

SPRINGFIELD, MO.—Less than two years after opening as the first all nonsmoking hotel in Missouri’s third-largest city, Springfield’s Krystal Aire Inn & Suites recently introduced yet another amenity designed to provide guests with even greater comfort during their stays—specially designed light bulbs that eliminate airborne odors. The Fresh Bulb light bulbs, developed by Aurora, Ohio-based Technical Consumer Products and introduced to the hospitality industry earlier this year by St. Charles, Mo.-based Pineapple Hospitality Inc., are titanium dioxide-coated fluorescent light bulbs that consume one-fourth the wattage of a regular light bulb—cutting lighting costs by as much as 77 percent....