NATIONAL REPORT—No matter what size your facility is, chances are great that it can benefit from the latest window film advancements. In fact, some window films can help generate up to 30 percent savings in heating and cooling costs. Once questioned because of stories about bubbling or fading—mostly untrue according to experts—window film today is a reliable product that can provide many benefits. “Window film saves everybody money,” says Jeff Cohen, owner of Kustom Options, a window film installer based in Murrieta, Calif. The first benefit is energy savings. Window film, typically installed on the inside of window glass, rejects heat,...

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK—California’s LodgingSavers program is going strong after just one year in operation. Introduced at last fall’s California Lodging Expo, it now has approximately 150 participants, including several properties in Yosemite National Park that are managed by Delaware North Companies (DNC). LodgingSavers is implemented by Ecology Action, Santa Cruz, Calif., and funded by California utility ratepayers under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission. LodgingSavers is open to properties throughout California that are serviced by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E). According to Aaron Glade, program specialist for Ecology Action, LodgingSavers is attractive to hoteliers because of the...

NIANTIC, CONN.—INNCOM International Inc. officially changed the name of its Green Button option—featured on the e4 Smart Digital Thermostat—from ENVIRO-MODE to ecoMODE. The new name was selected to better reflect the feature’s eco-friendly functionality and makes it more recognizable as “green” to those seeking environmentally friendly solutions. With the simple push of a green button on the e4 Smart Digital Thermostat, guests can make the choice to participate in a host of environmentally-friendly and energy-saving programs predetermined by the hotel. The new ecoMODE will be showcased in booth number 3232 at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show, to be held...

CARROLLTON, TEXAS—Motel 6 has signed on to participate in the Honeywell Cool Control Plus program, which is designed to help drastically reduce Motel 6’s environmental footprint. Working on behalf of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Honeywell will install energy-saving retrofits in a total of 7,530 rooms in the 66 Motel 6 properties located within PG&E’s service area in northern and central California. Motel 6 has independently installed the Telkonet SmartEnergy (formerly Smart Systems) occupancy sensors and thermostats in 49 properties in California, and teaming with PG&E and Honeywell will bring the total number of rooms with retrofits to 13,440. “By...

TRUCKEE, CALIF.—Located more than a mile high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, the Cedar House Sport Hotel has been very well received since it opened in mid-2006. Business is good and the owners of the 42-room property have successfully staked their claim as developers of one of the most environmentally efficient buildings around. Ironically, the owners—the husband and wife team of Jeff and Patty Baird—had never run a hotel or inn prior to opening their Truckee-based property. They have significant travel experience, however, especially in Europe, and learned a lot about how a...

GERMANTOWN, Md.—Telkonet, Inc., a leading technology solutions provider for broadband networking, end-to-end service support and energy management, announced that its established Preferred Provider Status for the Vantage Hospitality Group, Inc. has been extended to encompass Telkonet’s energy management solution. With Telkonet SmartEnergy, owners of Vantage’s Americas Best Value Inns and Lexington Collection hotels have the opportunity to significantly reduce in-room energy consumption by eliminating the wasteful heating and cooling of unoccupied rooms. In addition, Telkonet offers a comprehensive range of services, including wired and wireless high-speed Internet access (HSIA) and proactive customer support, all managed from a single centralized management...

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA—Rheem Water Heating recently became the first industry manufacturer to offer computer software specifically intended for sizing tankless water heaters for residential and commercial installations. Based on the widely used CertiSpec software for Rheem-Ruud commercial water heaters, the new EZ-Spec tankless software application is now available for download at www.rheemtankless.com in the “Products” menu. Simple to use, the new EZ-Spec offers drop-down menus and easy-to-understand fields. The user selects a specific application (single-family home, townhome/apartment; restaurant, school, health club, laundromat, hotel, etc.) from a drop-down menu and then enters relevant sizing data, fuel type, number of hot-water fixtures, input...

BOSTON—The Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston has just received official Energy Star status in recognition of its energy conservation and efficiency efforts. The hotel, built in 1963, has just completed a year-long effort to achieve this status. To that end, building automation systems were used to efficiently control the building’s energy consumption, coordinating HVAC, boilers, chillers and common area lighting. The guestroom energy management system manages heating and cooling when guests are not in their rooms and guestrooms are now lit by compact fluorescent lighting. “The overall guiding principle in decision making for all projects over the last year has...

MINNEAPOLIS—Honeywell introduced EXCEL 5000 OpenViewNet, a secure network device that connects the EXCEL 5000 family of controllers to the Internet, delivering remote, Web-based monitoring and control of heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems. “We’re bringing secure Web access to a legacy control system without forcing users to migrate to a new platform,” says Mike Taylor, vice president of Americas marketing, Honeywell Building Solutions. “With OpenViewNet, facility managers always have control of their EXCEL 5000 systems at their fingertips, saving time and increasing efficiency.” OpenViewNet gives users quick access to building data via Internet Explorer or a Pocket PC-enabled mobile device using...

OYARZUN, SPAIN—Onity has launched Intellity, its latest innovation in energy management solutions for the lodging industry. Intellity is an intelligent energy saving device that reads the magnetic stripe on Onity hotel-specific keycards to identify and differentiate guest and staff keycards, while disconnecting electrical equipment when guests are out of the room. Because it differentiates between guest and staff cards, it also can prevent hotel housekeeping staff from using certain electrical equipment, such as the television, while cleaning the room. Onity, a leading provider of electronic locking solutions, is part of UTC Fire & Security, a unit of United Technologies...