RED DEER, ALBERTA—The 88-room Comfort Inn & Suites Red Deer in Alberta, Canada, would have a pretty hefty heating bill given its northern location. “Would” is the key word here. It does not have high energy costs thanks to a roof-based solar heating system. The system employs equipment normally used as a ground-source heat pump, designed to exploit the stable ambient temperature of the earth to provide seasonal heating and cooling. The Comfort Inn design, however, does not have an underground loop of liquid-filled tubing for geothermal exchange; the heat pump is connected to 60 roof-based solar collectors and a...

NATIONAL REPORT—The United States has developed an extremely dynamic population made up of many different nationalities. The Spanish population has become the second largest group in America. Statistics also show that Spanish is the second most common language spoken in America. We have all noticed that Spanish-speaking adults now make up a substantial portion of our workforce. The hotel industry employs a significant number of Spanish-speaking workers in all of the departments throughout the hotel. This is common in almost all size cities today. Spanish-speaking employees pose a unique problem in the hotel business because most of the...

NATIONAL REPORT—No engineer will dispute the connection between preventive maintenance (PM) and energy efficiency. Ask a roomful of engineers the best way to conduct PM, however, and you may get a wide variety of answers. Fortunately for hotel owners and operators, there are myriad automated systems available that help ensure that proper PM gets done, and that energy and profits do not disappear into thin air. The following are descriptions of a few PM system vendors and their solutions. Dunedin, Fla.-based Mintek Mobile Data Solutions’ WinTrack PM system incorporates mobile devices and bar coding to help engineers...

DENVER—The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) recently honored the winners of the AH&LA Achievement Awards, part of the Stars of the Industry Awards breakfast, held during the AH&LA Summer Summit at The Brown Palace Hotel and sponsored by U.S. Foodservice. The awards, created in 1966, recognize individual hotel properties that have developed outstanding public relations campaigns. Among the categories is Good Earthkeeping. The Onyx Hotel in Boston won the Good Earthkeeping award, small property category, for its integrated approach to sustainable lodging practices. The hotel demonstrates a strong commitment to purchasing eco-friendly products and amenities, as well as innovative...

LAS VEGAS—Power Efficiency Corp., a developer and manufacturer of advanced energy savings technologies for electric motors, announced that it completed successful tests on two escalators at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower, one of the most recognizable properties on the Las Vegas Strip. The Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower is part of the American Casino & Entertainment Properties family of casinos. “Our products performed very successfully in these tests, the latest of four tests we’ve recently announced,” says Steven Strasser, Power Efficiency’s chairman and c.e.o. “Energy is a core national and environmental concern. With energy prices constantly rising,...

NATIONAL REPORT—By now, everybody is aware of the soaring price of automobile gasoline and natural gas used in homes and hotels. Natural gas prices rise because more gas is drawn from surplus storage than is put in storage by suppliers; this is known more commonly as the supply and demand theory. On the east and west coasts of the United States, the cost of natural gas rose to about $1.70 per therm during peak use periods last winter. The heart of the country saw increases in the range of $1.40 per therm during peak demand periods. This represents...

TORONTO—Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has introduced a new way for hotels to go green. Guests arriving at the brand’s destinations across North America will soon be welcomed at check-in by agents using front desk computers powered by the wind. A longtime leader in environmental stewardship, Fairmont’s recent purchase of Eco-Logo certified wind power for 249 check-in computers will result in a greenhouse gas reduction of almost 100 tons over the next year. Fairmont’s Green Partnership program places significant emphasis on energy issues and recognizes the importance of sustainable energy technology. After evaluating a number of ways to incorporate...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO—The Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) recently announced that it has launched its “Canada Goes Green” initiative. At a press conference held at the Marriott Chateau Champlain, Montreal, the HAC, accompanied by lodging and energy representatives from across the country, declared that as one of the largest industries in the world, it is time to make changes to the way in which it consumes energy. Lodging properties make up the fourth most energy intensive type of commercial space. Through the Canada Goes Green initiative, hoteliers will commit to making a significant and positive environmental impact by improving...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Marriott International Inc. has been named an Energy Star Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for implementing programs that save more than 83 million kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electric energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 68,000 tons annually. Marriott is the only lodging company to be recognized and the only company to receive the EPA’s highest honor for two consecutive years. “As an Energy Star partner, Marriott has distinguished itself by demanding superior energy performance in their business and by generating real results,” says Kathleen Hogan, director of EPA’s Climate Protection...

SAN DIEGO—FuelCell Energy Inc., a manufacturer of ultra-clean power generation plants for commercial and industrial customers, announced an additional 500-kilowatt Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plant installation at Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. This increases Starwood’s commitment to base load heat and power from DFC power plants to 2.25 megawatts at four hotels in California, New Jersey and New York. The Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina’s original installation of 1 MW of DFC power generation at its East Tower has been increased by 500 kW with a second installation at its West...