CHICAGO—More restaurants are exploring LED lights, which use less energy than incandescent bulbs and often qualify for rebates or other incentives. Energy Star, an Environmental Protection Agency program that promotes energy efficiency, estimates LEDs use at least 75 percent less energy than incandescent lights.Consider these points when exploring LED lighting:•    Be prepared for an upfront investment. While LEDs cost more initially, they last 35 to 50 times longer than incandescent lighting and about two to five times longer than fluorescent lighting, according to Energy Star. Restaurants typically start to see a return on their investment in four to 16...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A new study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, takes a deeper look at the implementation of smoke-free laws in casinos and its impact on reported medical emergencies. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco compared the number of medical emergencies before and after casinos implemented smoke-free regulations that were meant to protect people from the detrimental effects of secondhand smoke. They found a significant decrease in medical emergencies once those laws were implemented.Today, only 19 states and Puerto Rico have laws making all state-regulated gambling smoke free. Since many casinos are still...

LONDON—The International Tourism Partnership (ITP) has produced a guide to help hoteliers understand human trafficking and forced labor—what it is, how it may affect them and what actions they can take to reduce the risk of trafficking in their businesses. Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. It often, but not always, involves people being taken from one country to another where they are subject to sexual exploitation, forced labor or other types of servitude. In short, it is modern day slavery. And it...

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA—Karen and John Lewis, the visionary founders of Lapa Rios Ecolodge in Costa Rica, recently celebrated the realization of a conservation dream that will result in the permanent protection of more than 900 acres of virgin rainforest in the Osa Peninsula, one of the most biologically rich regions in Central America.Twenty-plus years ago the two liquidated their assets in Minnesota to finance the purchase and preservation of 1,040 acres of virgin rainforest in Costa Rica and to build a small, supporting ecotourism project. Post university, they had both worked for the U.S. Peace Corps in Kenya,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added more than 130 chemicals to its Safer Chemical Ingredients List. For the first time, 119 chemicals that use fragrance for commercial and consumer cleaning products have been added to the list. “Fragrances are an important yet complex part of many consumer cleaning products,” said James Jones, acting assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “By adding fragrance and other chemicals to the Safer Chemical Ingredients List, EPA continues its commitment to help companies make safer products and provide the public with greater access to chemical information.”The...

OTTAWA, ONT.—The Green Key Global Eco-Rating Program, with its 3,052 rated properties, has long been a leader—especially by property quantity—among green lodging certification programs. According to Steve Ball, director of business development for Green Key Global, the program has 1,231 rated properties in Canada and 1,621 in the United States. In addition to Canada and the United States, there are 20 countries with rated properties. The Eco-Rating Program, which was launched by the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) and run in the United States by HAC with LRA Worldwide, has garnered strong support in recent years from the American...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—The oldest hotel in Yellowstone National Park, Lake Yellowstone Hotel, has received a bottom-up facelift—literally—that would make any grand dame of 122 years proud. The project, costing in excess of $10 million, included new lobby décor, major structural enhancements, the addition of an elevator, new business center and 43 renovated rooms, including four newly created suites in the west wing of the hotel.Xanterra Parks & Resorts’ Yellowstone National Park Lodges, operator of the hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, tours and activities in the park, has been working since the day the hotel closed for the summer season in 2012...

BETHESDA, MD.—As Marriott International, Inc. grows beyond its current global footprint of more than 3,800 hotels in more than 70 countries, the company is focusing on development which will provide sustainable economic activity and local employment. In coming years, more than half of Marriott’s new hotels will be located in emerging markets where tourism is a major driver of new jobs and economic development. In its just-released 2013 Sustainability Report Update, which updates the company’s 2011-2012 Sustainability Report, Marriott noted substantial progress in job creation in underserved and emerging markets.Two major sustainable development projects include Marriott’s first hotel in...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Celebrating its two-year anniversary this week, the National Restaurant Association’s Kids LiveWell initiative has grown to more than 41,000 restaurant locations nationwide, the Association announced. The voluntary program, which provides parents with a growing selection of healthful children’s menu choices in every state, now counts more than 140 restaurant brands as participants, including new national companies Wendy’s, Red Robin, Dairy Queen, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Big Boy, among other regional chains and independent restaurants.     “The Kids LiveWell initiative has achieved remarkable success in its first two years with the program expanding to over 140 participating restaurant brands and...

GRAND RAPIDS—The CityFlatsHotel in downtown Grand Rapids was built in 2011 to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification and has now accomplished it. The five-story hotel, at 83 Monroe Center in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, inhabits what was once the legendary Fox Jewelers Building. Like its sister hotel (the CityFlatsHotel in Holland, Mich.) before it, the CityFlatsHotel Grand Rapids joins the ranks of LEED certified buildings throughout the world.LEED buildings are designed to: reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve energy and water, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and be healthier and safer for...