ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News has added Hotel Sustainability Solutions, Inc. (HSSI) to its Green Product & Service Directory in the Window Film category. In collaboration with HSSI’s Integrated Sustainability Solutions Platforms, Window Film Depot (WFD) provides nationwide window film and graphics products and services to HSSI clients nationwide—a wide range of high-performance film applications which achieve energy efficiency, safety, and aesthetically pleasing solutions by applying state of the art interior/exterior 3M Window Films, plus DefenseLite/BulletShield—proprietary security film technology products. WFD brings 29 years of extensive hospitality experience within its 25,000 completed projects, receiving highest customer satisfaction ratings. WFD brings an expansive...

WEST CALDWELL, N.J.—MaxLite, a leading manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting solutions, has joined the Lighting Controls Assn., the industry organization dedicated to promoting adoption of lighting controls in commercial buildings. MaxLite recently launched c-Max Lighting Controls (www.maxlite.com/cmax), a patent pending design that makes it easy to add luminaire-level lighting controls to indoor and outdoor applications. By purchasing c-Max low voltage sensors along with MaxLite controls-ready luminaires, customers can achieve energy savings beyond LED conversion in the most simple and affordable way. Commissioning is done via remote control or an app to add basic or networking controls functionality. Controls can be added during installation or...

NATIONAL REPORT—The concept of sustainability has been around for decades, popularized by the First World Climate Conference in 1979, the inception of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993, and the publication of Vice President Al Gore’s book about climate change (An Inconvenient Truth) in 2006. While other building types were early to adopt this concept, hospitality seemed slow to embrace green building design. Today, hospitality design is making noticeable changes to catch up. Impact on the Environment The world’s environment is affected primarily by real estate, transportation, and manufacturing. Due to the influence that these industries have on...

BOSTON—Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, announced that it has been recognized by Microsoft as the company’s 2021 Sustainability Changemaker Partner of the Year Award winner. The award recognizes the impact Schneider has had helping its customers set and achieve decarbonization goals using its flagship EcoStruxure software solutions, which are underpinned by Microsoft technologies. For the period from 2018 to 2020, Schneider Electric helped its customers save 134 million tons of CO2 emissions, now reaching 276 million tons saved by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The Group was named the world’s most sustainable corporation...

NATIONAL REPORT—Forced hot air heating has been the traditional way of heating spaces but the pandemic along with an increasing concern for efficiency is leading more hotel owners to choose radiant heating systems for space heating—the Atlantis Casino and Spa in Reno, Nev., and the Rush Creek Lodge in Yosemite, Calif., being two examples. Both were spa installations. “Our radiant heating solutions are perfect for hotels and spas in new construction or remodeling,” says President of STEP Warmfloor, Monica Irgens. “With forced air, you are just blowing air around which aggravates allergies. We are actually warming the air with gentle heat...

HAILEY, IDAHO—Hailey’s award-winning Wood River Inn & Suites has added another sustainable amenity for travelers: electric vehicle charging stations from SemaConnect. SemaConnect is a leading provider and pioneer of electric vehicle charging infrastructure solutions. The two new SemaConnect Series 6, Level 2 (L2) charging stations build upon the hotel’s existing sustainability programs and provide a necessary amenity for EV drivers traveling through central Idaho. The Wood River Inn & Suites has been ranked as the No. 1 hotel in Hailey and is recognized as a Traveler’s Choice hotel for receiving ratings within the top 10 percent of all TripAdvisor ratings...

NEWTON, MASS.—Aircuity, the leader in creating healthy and sustainable buildings, introduced a new “Airside” Energy Dashboard that lets building owners quickly identify which areas across the entire portfolio are consuming the most ventilation energy. By providing data that goes all the way down to the room level, the new dashboard helps building owners identify the root cause of an issue to ensure maximum energy savings, as well as meet and sustain efficiency and sustainability goals. Aircuity developed the new Airside Energy Dashboard at a time when the property owners and developers in the areas of commercial real estate, life sciences,...

It was more than three years ago that MGM Resorts International and Chicago-based Invenergy, North America’s largest independent renewable energy company, partnered on a new solar photovoltaic array that would generate 100 megawatts of clean, renewable energy. The MGM-Invenergy Solar Project was to be located 25 miles north of Las Vegas and MGM Resorts would purchase all the energy generated by the project to help power its 13 properties on the Las Vegas Strip. This past week, MGM Resorts launched its 100-megawatt solar array, the hospitality industry’s largest directly sourced renewable electricity project worldwide. The array’s clean energy now produces...

LAS VEGAS—MGM Resorts International, a global leader in the battle against climate change, launched its 100-megawatt solar array, the hospitality industry’s largest directly sourced renewable electricity project worldwide. The array’s clean energy now produces up to 90 percent of MGM Resorts’ Las Vegas daytime power needs, spanning 65 million square feet of buildings across 13 properties and more than 36,000 rooms on the Las Vegas Strip, including Bellagio, ARIA, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and The Mirage, among others. “With MGM Resorts’ significant scale and resources, we’re positioned to make a meaningful difference in the fight against climate change, and we...

TANZANIA—Facilitating “wildness” and the practice of “rewilding” emerges as a preferred method for making altered landscapes wild again. An essential action is the restoration of natural processes, which can lead to increased self-sustainability of an ecosystem. The 20 acres Thanda Island shows that even a tiny private island can significantly impact the conservation of sea life and communities of the Indian Ocean. Located 16 nautical miles off the coast of mainland Tanzania and surrounded by the underwater wonders of the Shungimbili Island Marine Reserve, Thanda Island has always had a strong focus on conservation. Indeed, Christin and Dan Olofsson, the philanthropic Swedish...