In next week’s column I will be highlighting the 10 most read Green Lodging News articles of 2020. It will be interesting to see how many had to do with COVID-19. While the article I just posted on Hotel Marcel may not make it because of its posting late in the year, it certainly deserves consideration as one of the most important hotel stories of both this year and 2021. Be sure to read the article. Hotel Marcel is the project of architect Bruce Becker, Founder and Director of Becker + Becker, Westport, Conn. Becker purchased the New Haven, Conn. building...

NEW HAVEN, CONN.—When the Hotel Marcel opens next summer in New Haven, Conn., it will be a shining example of sustainability and what every hotel could and should be. The 165-room boutique hotel will be the result of the renovated Armstrong Rubber Company Building, aka Pirelli Building, originally designed by Marcel Breuer in 1967. It will be run by 100 percent solar power, meet net-zero energy standards, and will target LEED Platinum certification. There will be many other bells and whistles that will make the building highly efficient. Hotel Marcel is the project of Bruce Becker, Founder and Director of...

NORTON SHORES, MICH.—EarthTronics, dedicated to developing innovative energy-saving lighting products that provide a positive economic and environmental impact, has added new “plug and play” Type A and direct wire UL Type B lamps in a range of wattages, color temperatures and sizes to its high efficiency T8 LED products lines, all featuring over 80+ CRI (color rendering index). New to the EarthTronics UL Type A lamp product line is the next generation 48” T8 LED that consumes only 14 watts to produce 2200 lumens. The LT81440G9 and LT81450G9 lamps feature 4000K and 5000K color temperatures. Designed for use on dimming fluorescent ballasts...

COMMERCE, CALIF.—The Pearl, Nora Lighting’s newest LED retrofit downlight, is offered in 4” round or square apertures and delivers over 1000 lumen LED output for brighter illumination in residential or light commercial installations. The modern, modular fixture also features an array of 12 reflector styles and 10 finishes to suit all design criteria. Pearl is cULus classified for use in most existing IC or non-IC housings and also compatible with shallow plenum housings. Luminaires are Energy Star certified, Title 24 JA8-2019 and wet location rated. Each retrofit includes field changeable optics (spot, narrow flood, and flood) to customize the luminaires per application....

LOS ANGELES—Acclaim Lighting, a leader in innovative and advanced lighting technology, introduces Adapt Cove, a low power, high output, dimmable LED cove light that features Acclaim’s new ColorSwitch technology. ColorSwitch allows for manual onboard selection of multiple color temperatures of white, including 2200K, 2700K, 3000K, and 3500K for architectural lighting applications. Available in compact, low-profile 1- and 4-foot sections to fit into very tight spaces, Adapt Cove enables long runs of up to 80' feet in a series and can be dimmed from 0 to 100 percent via 0 to 10V sink. The unit delivers up to 450 lumens while...

PASO ROBLES, CALIF.—Open since June, the luxury boutique Geneseo Inn in Paso Robles, Calif., is one of a number of lodging establishments in the United States built using steel shipping containers—in this case shipping containers from the Port of Los Angeles. Walter Scott Perry of Ecotech Design was the architect of the eight B&B units that sit eight feet above the vines on Cass Winery’s 145 acres of vineyard. The inn also includes a reception area. There is no parking lot for visitors to Geneseo Inn. Each B&B sits above covered parking and the surrounding vineyards. This was done to...

OAKLAND, N.J.—Amerlux, an award-winning design-and-manufacture lighting company, launched a groundbreaking set of LED linear lighting solutions that gift wraps creative freedom so architects and designers can let their ceiling lighting design flow with the grace and bends of a scenic river—in standard and custom-request offering. Curvano offers a 2.5" aperture in recessed and pendant mount as well as direct and direct/indirect with five curved-diameter corner options and three circular selections. Paired with its superior color-rendering capabilities up to 4000K and 90 CRI, this latest addition to Amerlux’s linear slot offering provides the autonomy to add stunning dimension and comfortable, flexible...

ATLANTA—ASHRAE, a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment, announced a move to its new global headquarters, located at 180 Technology Parkway, Peachtree Corners, Ga. The Society began renovations in January 2020 on an existing 66,700 ft2 building, originally built in 1978, on 11 acres of land. Located 10 miles north of its previous headquarters building, ASHRAE joins other innovation and sustainability-focused organizations based in the popular Technology Parkway corridor. A short video on the new global headquarters can be viewed on ASHRAE’s YouTube channel. “ASHRAE’s new global headquarters is a prime example of how we are helping to...

PHILADELPHIA—Aramark announced that its global headquarters office space, located in Philadelphia, has received LEED Silver certification, by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for its sustainable workspace design and construction. The building is certified under the LEED for Interior Design and Construction (LEED ID+C) rating system, which encourages the design and construction of commercial interiors that are good for people and the planet. Earlier, the 2400 Market Street building, owned by a joint venture of The Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds and PMC Property Group, was initially awarded LEED Gold certification as a new construction project. Both certifications underscore Aramark’s sustainability...

Does your property light pollute? Perhaps you have not even thought about it but light pollution, as defined by the International Dark-Sky Assn., is “the inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light.” A big thank you to UpSpring PR for making me aware of some of the issues related to light pollution and what can be done to minimize it. They cited four expert opinions in their recent e-mail to me. (To see how bad light pollution is near you, check out the NASA Blue Marble Navigator.) In a nutshell, light pollution can have many negative impacts on wildlife and...