LAS VEGAS—With their ubiquitous use of high-powered lights and equipment, it’s no big secret that casinos aren’t great for the environment. Indeed, one need only look to the de facto world capital of casino entertainment to see it: Casinos are responsible for 20 percent of all energy output in Las Vegas—a city of some 650,000 residents. Typically, game machines are responsible for about a third of electricity usage, with lighting accounting for a comparable amount. And though electricity is the most prominent factor in casino sustainability, areas including construction, heating, and water use can all account for a great deal of waste...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sol Systems, LLC, a national solar energy company focused on coupling renewable energy procurement and investment with community impact, announced its first set of investments associated with its Master Power Purchase and Community Impact Agreement with Microsoft. The partnership combines a 500MW framework power purchase agreement (one of the country’s largest) with a groundbreaking strategy to invest in under-resourced communities and people disproportionately impacted by climate change. As an initial step, Sol Systems has contributed $200,000 to four community-based organizations focused on communities in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. and one new national nonprofit focused on increasing diversity in...

The pandemic forced hotels to modify how they operate, pushing safety to the forefront of the hospitality community’s consciousness, and derailing a burgeoning industry trend to make facilities more sustainable. Yet, hoteliers would be wise to make sustainability a priority in 2022. Decreasing a hotel’s impact on the environment, no matter its size or location, attracts guests in the short term and saves money in the long term. When customers choose to spend money on a hotel room, many want to select a place to stay that is kind to the earth. And while you’d be excused for assuming sustainability...

MUMBAI, INDIA—Six cutting-edge innovators have been selected to partner with Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), to pilot new cost-effective, climate-smart cooling technologies, as part of IFC’s TechEmerge program. The selected innovators are Paharpur Cooling Towers, IOTomation Ecotech, Green Efficient Solutions, Desiccant Rotors International, and Zenatix Solutions from India, and Elgressy Engineering Services from Israel. They will pilot their new space-cooling solutions at seven Taj hotels over the next 12 to 18 months, supported by a pool of up to $500,000 in total grant funding. IFC’s TechEmerge Sustainable Cooling Innovation Program, which is funded by the U.K. Government's International Climate Finance (ICF), matches...

LOS ANGELES—Currently announced that they have completed over 1,500 EV charging deliveries to electric vehicle owners in its first six months of operation. The on-demand, mobile EV charging company has helped stop over 4,875,000 grams of CO2 pollution from being created. With over 65,000 miles of range delivered to Currently customers, the service/app is creating easy access to EV charging without installing a single charger. Currently, the mobile EV charging app/service, owned by its parent company SparkCharge, is having a huge impact on EV owners and the environment. The app allows EV owners to have their vehicles charged virtually anywhere...

GULF BREEZE, FLA.—Innisfree Hotels’ corporate social responsibility program is called The Hive. Inspired by a line from the company’s namesake poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” The Hive is a busy place for the Innisfree family to connect with each other—and do good in the world. Since last August Hive activity has picked up thanks to the hiring of Brittney Barnett, Director of Sustainability. “Before I came on, Innisfree declared itself a triple bottom line company, but it was fragmented,” Barnett says. The Gulf Breeze, Fla.-based company, which owns most of the 22 hotels that it manages, participated in some...

NORTON SHORES, MICH.—EarthTronics, dedicated to developing innovative energy-saving lighting products that provide a positive economic and environmental impact, introduces its Color & Wattage Selectable LED Floodlight to offer precise security and general area illumination for commercial buildings and can also be used for advertising or as landscape lighting. The new LED floodlight allows facilities the flexibility of switching between three temperatures (3000K, 4000K and 5000K) at the time of installation and four wattages (49, 56, 63 and 70 watts) to ensure the proper lighting for improved visual acuity and enhanced security. The flexible Color & Wattage Selectable LED Floodlight delivers a...

NEW YORK—Dexwet, a global innovative air filtration, production, and development company based in the United States, announced its newest and most effective filtration will now be available to HVAC and facility service providers for residential and commercial installation. Dexwet Pure Air Filters are scientifically proven to improve air quality by capturing hazardous ultra-fine dust, pollen, viruses, bacteria, and other airborne particles that can cause health problems. Unlike traditional fiber filters, Dexwet uses scientific principles of airflow to channel air through a maze of plastic rods that permanently capture airborne particles in a non-toxic oil solution while allowing pure, clean air...

ITALY—VDA Group, an Italian multinational operating in the field of guest room management systems designed for the hospitality industry, has acquired 53 percent of the shares of Telkonet, Inc., a U.S.-based company listed on the OTC market and operating in the field of energy management systems. The new Group—with 7,000 properties and 2,450,000 products installed in facilities located in the United States, Europe, Middle East, and Asia—stands as the largest global player in a market currently without leadership, to define the future of the industry by emphasizing the value of people in the development of technologies aimed at comfort...

ATLANTA—Acuity Brands, Inc., a market-leading industrial technology company, announced it is expanding its collaboration with Microsoft to bring new capabilities to Acuity Brands smart lighting, lighting controls, and building automation solutions. Acuity Brands has a bold goal to avoid 100m metric tons of carbon emissions as a result of projected 2020-2030 sales of LED luminaires, lighting controls, and building management systems replacing older technologies in existing buildings.  By combining the power of Microsoft’s Cloud for Sustainability and Microsoft Azure IoT with Acuity Brands customer solutions, Acuity Brands and Microsoft will jointly enable end customers, operating many types of facilities and buildings, to forecast and calculate the environmental and financial impacts that these new lighting and building management technologies deliver. “We estimate that building operations contribute 28 percent of global carbon emissions. By...