CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—If you run an inn, or a hotel for that matter, and are considering greening your operations, you may want to chat with Rachael Solem, owner and general manager of the 44-room Irving House in Cambridge, Mass. Since purchasing the large house in 1990, she has taken almost every step imaginable to reduce the property’s environmental impact. She knows what works, what does not work, and she will level with you about it. Take amenity dispensers, for example, which she still uses. “I have not found a dispenser that is attractive, easy for the guests to use, and...

NEW HYDE, N.Y.—Evolve Guest Controls announced that it has designed, developed, and implemented the single largest successful Z-Wave deployment of wireless lighting and energy management devices to date. This deployment of Evolve’s LCD Director Series Energy Management System is located at The Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The installation includes more than 65,000 devices residing in more than 2,700 rooms and suites. Using Evolve’s LCD Director Series, each guest has the ability to wirelessly control each room’s motorized draperies/sheers, communicate privacy please/service room to housekeeping, activate various lighting scenes, adjust the temperature, and put the room into energy...

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa and FLS Energy of Asheville, N.C., have completed a project to add solar panels to the resort’s modern Sports Complex. The 12-panel solar thermal system at the Sports Complex will provide about 600 gallons of hot water a day for use in the locker rooms. The project was designed using a solar Power Purchase Agreement, in which FLS Energy built and installed the system on the roof of the complex with no up-front cost to The Grove Park Inn. Grove Park Inn will in turn purchase the thermal energy to heat the...

CHESAPEAKE, VA.—Solar Panels Plus (SPP) announces that the SplitCool DC-18 solar air conditioner has passed its TUV product safety testing and now carries the CE mark. Electrical, fire and mechanical safety issues have been properly addressed and the SplitCool unit now fully complies with global product safety standards. The SplitCool system design allows for operation between 5,000 BTU and 18,000 BTU, meaning that capacity, refrigerant flow and compressor speed are variable and are dynamically adjusted in real time to match the current conditions and heat load. The system is designed to use the lowest possible amount of electric power so...

DALLAS—Lennox has developed a commercial HVAC unit that integrates directly with a solar-energy system. The patent-pending SunSource Commercial Energy System collects energy from the sun, feeds it directly into a solar-ready Energence rooftop unit, and supplies any excess electricity to the rest of the building or to the power grid. Designed to reduce business energy spending and emissions, the SunSource system can effectively double the Energence rooftop unit’s efficiency rating—from 17.0 SEER to an effective efficiency level of 34 SEER and beyond. In certain regions adding additional solar modules can help the rooftop unit achieve net-zero energy status, as the...

BOSTON—CAN2GO, a leading provider of wired and wireless controllers for building automation, is enabling companies to cut up to 40 percent off their building wireless automation installation labor costs with the help of ZigBee networking technology from Ember. CAN2GO controllers, which offer a variety of wired and wireless networking and control options, provide the missing link in building automation, allowing facility managers, contractors and OEM manufacturers to deploy integrated solutions for HVAC, lighting and other applications. Important labor savings are attained when the controllers are networked via self-forming and self-healing wireless mesh networking systems from Ember. A recent project in a...

SAN DIEGO—Energy Eye, Inc., an international provider of hotel guestroom energy management controls, announced that it has formed a distribution partnership with the Moroccan company RIO (Reduce, Invent, Optimize). “We are extremely excited to work with RIO,” said Phillip Kopp, COO of Energy Eye. “RIO’s focus on energy efficiency and unparalleled strength in the Moroccan marketplace is well-known throughout the region. Most importantly, their commitment to accreditation—they are certified by both the Moroccan National Agency for Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, as well as the Efficiency Valuation Organization—closely matches Energy Eye’s own focus on delivering tested, proven results that...

PRINCETON, N.J.—Dynamic Air Quality Solutions, a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-performance indoor air quality products, showcased its V8 air cleaning system at this year’s AHR Expo. Dynamic air cleaning systems utilize a technology called non-ionizing, polarized-media, which significantly reduces the energy and environmental footprint of an HVAC’s filtration system. Over the past five years, Dynamic has helped building owners save more than 78 million kWh in fan energy alone. When Dynamic Air Cleaners are used as a substitute to high-efficiency passive filters, the savings can be as great as 75 percent less than fan energy. Maintenance is also dramatically...

BOULDER, COLO.—Although the primary purpose of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings is occupant productivity, a new report from Pike Research finds that the objective of most changes to HVAC systems in the next five years will be to decrease energy cost. According to the study, because of rising energy prices and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with building operations, many building owners have begun to manage energy cost as an asset, rather than a fixed cost. The tools for improving efficiency of HVAC systems include building energy management systems (BEMS), on-site...

NATIONAL REPORT—In one respect, comparing guestroom energy management systems today is apples to apples with each system basically doing the same thing—using a sensor or sensors (or a key card) to turn off the HVAC system entirely or to allow the thermostat setting to drift to an energy-saving level. As similar as most systems are, however, each vendor offers something unique—whether it be the technology by which systems communicate within the hotel, the robustness of the reporting features, the ability to integrate with local or Web-based systems, or the extent to which lighting and other electrical items can be...