ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Doyon/ARAMARK Joint Venture, which provides hospitality services such as operating bus tours, park shuttles, food and beverage outlets, campgrounds and retail outlets within Denali National Park & Preserve, has been honored with the 2010 Environmental Achievement Award for Environmental Management Systems by the National Park Service (NPS). Doyon/ARAMARK was recognized for designing and implementing programs and processes that minimize the operation’s overall environmental footprint at Denali. Since 2008, the management system has helped Doyon/ARAMARK achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20 percent at Denali, by reducing energy and water consumption and instituting greater fuel efficiency and recycling...

BOSTON—In the early stages of an $18 million renovation project, one that will see a complete guestroom and corridor redesign, the 38-story, 803-room Westin Copley Place in Boston is preparing to add to its long list of environmental achievements. In 2010 the property earned Green Key and Green Seal certification, an Energy Star rating, and significantly reduced its energy consumption, water consumption and waste sent to landfill. The hotel’s green team, which deserves much of the credit for the accomplishments, is led by Jeff Hanulec, director of engineering, an industry veteran constantly on the lookout for ways to improve operational...

BERKELEY, CALIF.—Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States, showing that the average cost of these systems declined by more than 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4 percent. The number of solar PV systems in the United States has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years, as governments at the national, state, and local levels have offered various incentives to expand the...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Clean the World has passed another significant milestone in its steady advance toward launching a global “hygiene revolution” with soap. The Orlando-based nonprofit organization has now distributed more than 7 million bars of soap to children and families in the United States, Haiti and more than 40 countries worldwide. Included in this number are 1.5 million bars of soap sent to Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake, with 300,000 soap bars delivered since an outbreak of cholera (diarrheal disease) in October. Clean the World now distributes a bar of soap every 9.2 seconds worldwide, while the death rate among...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo welcomed more than 28,000 attendees this past November at its show in Chicago. Attendees representing various backgrounds, professions and 114 countries filled the exhibit hall floor, educational and speaker sessions, green building tours and networking events that made up the three-day show. The nearly 200,000-square-foot expo hall floor featured more than 1,800 exhibit booths representing more than 1,000 exhibiting companies. Greenbuild is the industry’s largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. “Generation Green came out in full-force in Chicago, proving that the...

TALLAHASSEE, FLA.—The new year could see the official birth of the American Green Lodging & Hospitality Association (AGLHA), according to Peter Goren, president of the two-year-old organization that still is in the process of obtaining its 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status. The aim of the group will not be to participate in political and legislative lobbying but to focus on education and research. The AGLHA website already includes links to resources helpful to those interested in green lodging—links to government sites such as Energy Star and WasteWise, for example. Goren, who at one time led the Florida Green Lodging program,...

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Wyndham Worldwide, one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, announced that through its social good campaign, the company’s Wishes by Wyndham philanthropic program will donate $60,000 to be equally divided between its three signature charities: the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, Christel House International and Starlight Children's Foundation. During the three-month Facebook campaign that began in August, Wyndham Worldwide pledged to donate $1 to its signature charities (up to $60,000) for every new person that “liked” the Wyndham Worldwide Facebook page. Through the campaign, Wyndham Worldwide gained almost 5,500 Facebook fans, who shared nearly 7,000 Facebook posts...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. recently announced the opening of Element New York Times Square West. The first Element hotel to open in New York City, Element New York Times Square West is one of the city’s greenest properties and located in the center of fast-paced Times Square. Element, Starwood’s green trailblazer, continues to make history as the first major hotel brand to mandate that all its properties pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Element’s energizing, eco-chic environment offers bright public spaces, smart design, and modern...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green Seal is proposing a criterion revision to its existing Standard for Hotels and Lodging Properties, GS-33. This revision proposes to extend the transition period between Bronze and Silver levels of certification from the currently mandatory one year, to three years. This amendment would make GS-33 more consistent with other Green Seal service standards, namely GS-46, Green Seal’s Standard for Restaurants and Food Service Operations. Green Seal also recognizes the challenges of the industry of capital expenses or additional training of staff and sees that by extending the Bronze-level timeline, it becomes a more effective entry level; while...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Distributed Sun LLC (D-SUN), a Washington, D.C.-based solar project developer, owner and operator, announced it has signed a 20-year, 1.1-megawatt power purchase agreement (PPA) to generate solar electricity for the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel & Conference Center. In the first of several megawatt-scale, commercial solar projects to be commissioned in 2011, D-SUN will construct and operate a solar powered carport facility in partnership with The Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG), the owner of the property, and Pollin/Miller Hospitality Strategies, Inc. (PMHS), the property manager. The solar system will be owned by Distributed Sun’s Solar Energy Investment Company (SEIC), sunTWO, and...