CONCORD, N.H.—The New Hampshire Sustainable Lodging & Restaurant Program will hold its annual Sustainable Hospitality Conference on Tuesday, November 16 at the Attitash Grand Summit Conference Center in Bartlett. The morning’s sessions will focus on savings through energy efficiency and renewables. Stacy Doll, formerly the head of the Mount Washington Resort’s Green Team and now the coordinator of the New Hampshire Energy Collaborative will open the conference with a talk about what the New Hampshire Climate Action Plan means to hospitality businesses. A panel of leaders from the industry will talk about their efforts to improve energy efficiency and use...

MILWAUKEE, WIS.—A practical, real-world guide designed to expand water conservation efforts inside and outside of today’s facilities was released. The IFMA Foundation and the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments (ASBE) produced the white paper titled, “A Comprehensive Guide to Water Conservation: The Bottom Line Impacts, Challenges and Rewards.” The guide is available free of charge and provides an overview of  key areas in water conservation, covering: domestic water use including restrooms, hot water consumption and water reclamation; process water use including cooling towers and laundry facilities; rainwater harvesting with a description of harvesting techniques and applications for water reuse;...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its list of the top 50 organizations using the most renewable electricity. The Green Power Partnership’s top purchasers use more than 12 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of more than 1 million average American homes. Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact hydropower. Hilton Worldwide is the only lodging-related company in the top 50 at No. 37. Twenty-nine percent of Hilton’s power purchases are for green power. The Intel...

LINTHICUM, M.D.—Baltimore’s TownePlace Suites by Marriott Hotel at BWI Airport is the first LEED for Existing Buildings Gold certified green hotel in the state of Maryland. Significantly, it is also the first existing hotel in Marriott’s 3,400-hotel portfolio worldwide to be so recognized. To celebrate this milestone, the BWI extended-stay hotel “put on the green” with a showcase designed to help the public understand how easy it is to be green in their own homes. On September 30, the TownePlace Suites offered an exclusive preview of its innovative environmental practices. From green cleaning in guestrooms to composting all of its...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Omaha’s dynamic Midtown Crossing district will be the site of a new Element hotel. Element is a Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. brand. When it opens November 4, Element Omaha Midtown Crossing will become the first hotel in Midtown, and mark Element’s debut in the U.S. Midwest. Part of the thriving Midtown Crossing development, and just minutes from downtown Omaha and Eppley Airfield, Element Omaha Midtown Crossing is ideally situated beside the natural beauty of Turner Park. Omaha is home to five Fortune 500 companies and cultural attractions such as The Orpheum Theater and Joslyn Art...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Clean the World was in the right place at the right time during the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti. Shawn Seipler, executive director at Clean the World, and William Lowry, director of global development, were on a planned October 19 to 22 soap distribution trip to Haiti when word of a fatal cholera outbreak was first announced. The deadly epidemic, confirmed October 21 by the World Health Organization, claimed more than 300 lives in less than a week with many more deaths expected.  The mission was clear: Clean the World was in a position to provide soap to...

MINNEAPOLIS—The solar array at the Minneapolis Convention Center now has 403 of its 2,613 solar panels installed. The Minneapolis Convention Center’s solar array will be the Upper Midwest’s largest solar photovoltaic system, connected directly to the convention center’s internal electrical system and producing 750,000 kWh of renewable energy per year. This system will produce the equivalent of powering 85 homes annually, while offsetting 539 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (the amount given off by 60,587 gallons of gasoline). Solar energy is clean, renewable and—once the capital costs are paid—free. “The Convention Center is Minneapolis’ living room, where we welcome...

SILVER SPRING, MD.—Employees from Choice Hotels International recently joined signature cause partner, Rebuilding Together, for the second annual “Room to Rebuild” project, revitalizing two Montgomery County homes. Choice Hotels has been a partner of Rebuilding Together since September 2009, debuting its Room to Rebuild partnership to help revitalize homes nationwide and in its own backyard. Since that time, the company has sponsored, and its associates volunteered, for numerous rebuilding projects, and in 2009 alone almost 1,000 volunteers from Choice Hotels spent more than 6,000 hours on Rebuilding Together projects across the country. This year Choice Hotels associates and franchisees will...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star program announced that Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has won the first-ever EPA National Building Competition. The competition, launched on April 27, 2010, challenged teams from 14 buildings across the country to measure their building’s energy use with help from the Energy Star program and work off the waste. After a hard-fought competition, Morrison Residence Hall reduced its energy use by 35.7 percent in just one year, saved more than $250,000 on their energy bills and reduced more than 730 metric tons of...

DALLAS—For the second year in a row, The Fairmont Dallas was recognized by the Hotel Association of North Texas, (HANTX) at the 2010 HOSPY awards as the Green Hotel of the Year for its persistent efforts to operate the luxury property with minimal impact on the environment. Surrounded by the city’s industry leaders on Friday, October 22 at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel, Jeff Floyd, director of engineering at The Fairmont Dallas, accepted the award. Fittingly, Floyd leads the hotel’s green efforts and has been the catalyst for several of the property’s most recent eco-friendly projects, including one that pipes...