NATIONAL REPORT—When looking for ways to green your hotel, one of the first things you should focus on is energy efficiency. Pure economics show it is cheaper to save a kilowatt hour then it is to produce it. Couple this with reduced carbon emissions, and efficiency is one of the first things a property should consider, even before looking at renewable energy sources. The first energy conservation measure that should be evaluated in hospitality, whether it is a small 100-room property or a large destination resort, is lighting. Common lighting opportunities include T-12 to T-8 or super T-8 linear fluorescent...

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Watt Stopper/Legrand has developed a line of card key switches for hospitality facilities that help hotels stop the energy waste of guestroom lighting being left on when no one is present. Unique in the United States, these switches comply with IECC and ASHRAE/IESNA energy codes which require that hotel guestrooms have a master switch at the entrance of every room. Lights being left on in hotel guestrooms when the rooms are left vacant is a common problem and great source of energy waste. The HS series switches enable or disable power to a select number of...

ATLANTA—The Atlanta Marriott Marquis, known for its stunning 50-story atrium, is using its ambitious resource-saving initiatives as a launching point to attract groups interested in holding green meetings. The 1,663-room hotel began its green push in April with a press release highlighting the hotel’s environmental accomplishments. Green meetings make a lot of sense, according to Chris Anderson, director of sales and marketing at the hotel. The Atlanta property is doing the little things that are part of green meetings—using recycled paper, and mugs instead of paper cups, for example. However, a more significant component of the hotel’s program is the...

SOMERSET, N.J.—Philips announces its receipt of numerous lighting awards at the 2007 LightFair International Trade Show & Conference in New York City on May 6 to 10. Recognizing Philips’ wide variety of new product innovations from across its broad range of North American lighting businesses, the following awards were presented to Philips during LightFair’s 2007 Innovation Awards ceremony: • Philips Lighting’s ALTO II low-mercury T8 fluorescent lamp technology received both LightFair’s Best of Category: Conventional Lamps Award as well as the show’s Technical Excellence Award (co-presented to Philips Lumileds’ LUXEON Rebel line as well). Philips Lighting’s T8 linear...

TOKYO AND NEW YORK—Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. (collectively KM) and the General Electric Co. announced that they have signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years. “Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, lightweight, and sheet form OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future,” says Masatoshi Matsuzaki, President, Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. “We are...

ALSIP, ILL.—Litetronics introduces its plug-in compact fluorescent tube (PFT) lamps. The pin-based compact fluorescent lamps use 80 percent less energy than incandescents and last 13 times as long. The two-pin starter lamps work with magnetic ballasts, while the four-pin starter models are for use with electronic ballasts. The two-pin PFT lamps have a 10,000-hour average rated life, and the four-pin lamps boast a 15,000-hour average rated life. Compared to other compact fluorescent lamps, the four-pin PFT lamps offer a 33 percent longer life. All PFT lamps offer a 2700K correlated color temperature and a high CRI of 82....

ATLANTA—IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, announced that The Hotel Management Group, the company’s Americas Operations division, will launch a new environmental initiative to replace more than 250,000 incandescent light bulbs with new energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL) in guestrooms at over 200 company-managed hotels across the Americas. This is the first of several new environmental programs, both global and regional, that the company is scheduled to introduce throughout 2007. According to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, a CFL’s...

DANVERS, MASS.— Osram Sylvania announced the company’s Global Care sustainability initiative. The program represents the company’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility. “Global Care will drive positive results to the triple bottom line addressing social, economic and environmental needs,” says Charlie Jerabek, Osram Sylvania president and CEO. “This initiative represents our dedication to meeting customers’ lighting needs with a sustainable approach to product design, development, manufacturing and distribution.” Global Care is the latest milestone in Osram Sylvania’s long history of environmental achievement. A five-time Energy Star Award winner, the company recently celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Pineapple Hospitality as a Green Product Directory partner. Pineapple Hospitality is a national full-service, energy efficient lighting distributor. The Saint Charles, Mo.-based company offers property audits, proposals and customized “Lighting Made Easy” order forms for small to extra large properties. Pineapple provides high quality GE and TCP products for Maintenance and Replacement Orders (MRO) and complete lighting retrofits. Pineapple works with several utilities around the country to secure available incentive funds for its lodging customers. Go to Pineapple Hospitality, write to ray@pineapplehospitality.net, or call (636)...

RIVERSIDE, N.J.—For the third time in the past four years, Sea Gull Lighting Products, LLC has been honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its commitment and promotion of Energy Star lighting and energy efficiency. In 2004 and 2005, Sea Gull Lighting was named the Energy Star Partner of the Year Award by the EPA for its efforts to actively develop, distribute, sell and market environmentally-friendly lighting products and ceiling fans that prevent greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. This year, the EPA presented Sea Gull Lighting with the 2007 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award...