NATIONAL REPORT—The great irony of building green is that the very concepts intended to enhance a building’s performance over its entire lifetime are many of the same things that make a building highly susceptible to moisture and mold problems during its first few years of operation. While green buildings have many positive benefits, there is also strong evidence to suggest a direct correlation between new products/innovative design and building failures. Simply put, departing from the “tried and true” often means increasing the risk of building failure. Two strong characteristics of most green buildings are: 1) the use of innovative, locally-produced products...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Eco-chic boutique Element Hotels, which is the first major hotel brand to mandate that all its properties pursue the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, has achieved LEED Volume Pre-certification from USGBC for its prototype design which will automatically qualify new build hotels to pursue LEED designation. With the Volume Pre-certification approval, Element Hotels makes it more simple, faster, and less costly for developers and partners to pursue LEED certification of new properties, according to Paul Sacco, senior vice president of development for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “Building from a prototype...

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.—Wen-I Chang, founder and president of Atman Hospitality Group, Inc., has published a book that profiles 23 green hotels—both pre-LEED pioneer green hotels and the LEED certified hotels that followed. The creator of the book, called "World's LEED Hotels: Innovation, Renovation & Development," is Ling Ling Chang, project manager with Atman Hospitality Group. Twenty of the hotels profiled in the hard cover book are in the United States, one is in the U.S. Virgin Islands, one is in Sri Lanka, and the other is in Chile. Hotels profiled include: Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, Calif.; Maho Bay Camps,...

SEATTLE—GreenExpo365.com, an online resource center and virtual hub for the green building and design community, is now an approved education provider for the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Continuing Education System (CES). This makes it easier for design professionals to earn AIA credits on sustainable practice in one easy-to-access location. Interested participants can visit the GreenExpo365.com Launch Pad to view a course catalog of on-demand, AIA-registered presentations from green insiders such as best-selling author and architect Sarah Susanka, architect Peter Pfeiffer, the NAHB Research Center, and other industry experts. The site also includes a schedule of upcoming “live” AIA-registered presentations...

SAN DIEGO—In this new age of evolving plug-and-play appliances, electronics, and even automobiles, NOVI Industries, Inc. is innovating traditional bathroom construction methods by manufacturing custom-built, prefabricated modular bathrooms with the introduction of InoviaPods.  InoviaPods are manufactured off-site with efficient quality control procedures, strict health and safety standards and built using environmentally-friendly materials such as light-gauge steel framing and magnesium-oxide board sheathing. These major structural components have several advantages: fire proofing; and resistant to water infiltration, pests, mold and mildew, as well as seismic activities. They are completely non-toxic materials. Built to clients’ specifications and needs such as size, layout, finishes,...

BETHESDA, MD.—The Courtyard Charleston/Summerville in South Carolina will be the first hotel built using Marriott International’s green hotel prototype, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This will dramatically accelerate the company’s goal to have 300 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) hotels by 2015. Marriott is the first in the hospitality industry to launch a green hotel prototype that has been pre-approved by USGBC as part of its LEED Volume program, meaning that any Marriott hotel that follows these plans will earn basic LEED certification, or possibly higher, upon USGBC final approval. The new Courtyard hotel...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green building professional credential holders with one of the LEED AP or LEED Green Associate designations can now look for the new “GBCI Credential Maintenance Program (CMP)” logo to identify courses that meet the LEED credential maintenance requirements. Ongoing learning makes innovation and market transformation of the building industry possible by introducing new ideas and preparing professionals to embrace them to create high-performance building projects. Credential maintenance ensures green building professionals remain at the cutting edge in their knowledge of green building practices and LEED, bolstering the LEED Professional Credentials’ reputation as a mark of excellence for the industry’s...

DALLAS—Motel 6’s newest property in Northlake, Texas, is the first economy hotel in the nation to attain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the first hotel for parent company Accor to gain the distinction. “With the brand’s ‘Phoenix’ prototype, we are setting the pace for the future of Motel 6, which, in line with our values, must be as energy-efficient as possible,” said Olivier Poirot, CEO of Accor North America, Motel 6 and Studio 6. “LEED’s high environmental standards lend a great deal of credence to our efforts, and we...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—NSF International announced that Mannington Commercial is the first company certified to NSF’s new American National Sustainability Assessment Standard for resilient floor covering. Certification against this standard provides a means to evaluate the environmental performance and sustainability attributes of a range of floor products. The new standard, NSF/ANSI 332 Sustainability Assessment Standard for Resilient Floor Coverings (NSF/ANSI 332), was developed to help the floor covering industry recognize and promote sustainable manufacturing practices. Mannington Commercial has met the environmental and sustainability criteria and provides proven assurance to the public regarding these products. NSF/ANSI 332 establishes a point-based system in which...

ATLANTA—With signs of the economy and the hospitality design industry steadily returning back to life, HD Boutique will return to the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, September 14, and Wednesday, September 15, 2010. Considered the sister show to Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) in Las Vegas, the event will draw more than 450 global manufacturers to showcase the latest and most inventive products directly applicable for existing or future hospitality projects. More than 3,500 key decision makers will comprise show attendees, including designers, architects, purchasing agents, and hospitality owners and operators who will...