SAN DIEGO— The Green Restaurant Association’s goal is to create an environmentally sustainable restaurant industry; now, this industry is not only cleaning up its own act, it has the opportunity to become a supplier of fuel to the United States. How? The Green Restaurant Assn. is partnering with New Leaf Biofuel, LLC, which has just begun collecting waste grease from restaurants in San Diego and plans to produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel each year. “The Green Restaurant Association’s goal is to turn every restaurant in the United States into an environmentally safe source of fuel for America,” says Michael...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Westin Hotels & Resorts is marking the six-month milestone of its smoke-free conversion in North America with Breathing Lights installations in its lobbies nationwide. The artistically designed projections count the number of fresh breaths taken by each Westin guest each day. The design can be viewed by guests and visitors to Westin lobbies nationwide, or by visiting www.westin.com/breathe. Westin became the first major hotel chain to convert all of its smoking rooms in North America to smoke-free late last year, investing more than $3 million in its initiative. The move comes as part of Westin’s...

DENVER—Vail Resorts announced that the company will offset 100 percent of its energy use by purchasing nearly 152,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy for its five mountain resorts, its lodging properties including RockResorts and Grand Teton Lodge Company, all of its 125 retail locations (operated through Specialty Sports Venture) and its new corporate headquarters in Broomfield, Colo. By purchasing renewable energy credits equal to the company’s entire electricity use, Vail Resorts becomes the second largest purchaser of wind power of all corporations in the United States. Vail Resorts announced this initiative as part of its ongoing environmental efforts. Vail...

LAKE BUENA VISTA—The Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund (DWCF) has announced $1.4 million in awards to nonprofit environmental groups and universities studying endangered species, bringing the DWCF total to more than $10 million in conservation projects supported worldwide. The DWCF funds will go toward 82 programs in 27 countries to address a variety of needs, including tracking collars for tigers and wolves, four-wheel-drive vehicles for reaching remote African areas with conservation education messages, and new wings for an ultralight aircraft used to lead migrating whooping cranes across the United States. Recipients were chosen from more than 240 applications...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to engage the largest cities in the world through the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group and provide them with the tools to become leaders in energy efficiency and green building strategies, which will result in the reduction of carbon emissions. CCI is focusing on three key deliverables: improving green purchasing power; mobilizing and deploying technical expertise; and implementing common measurement tools in the areas of buildings, power and water; and transportation. CCI, a program of the Clinton Foundation, launched...

SAN FRANCISCO—The Orchard Garden Hotel, California’s first hotel to be built to the nationally accepted standards for green buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), will open in mid-September. The new construction followed the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System in order to earn the coveted LEED certification. The hotel’s green practices also include chemical-free cleaning products, a 100 percent tobacco-free environment, recycled paper and soy-based inks. In addition to the LEED certification, the Orchard Garden Hotel will be San Francisco’s first hotel to implement a guestroom key card that controls...

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—Henrietta’s Table, the award-winning restaurant at the Charles Hotel here, has staked its claim as one of the most environmentally friendly restaurants in America—and for good reason. Executive chef Peter Davis strongly advocates the purchase of local, organically grown vegetables, meat produced by farmers who practice humane animal husbandry, and seafood produced by well-managed fisheries. In 2005, Henrietta’s Table purchased close to $100,000 in food products directly from local farmers. As a member of the Boston-based Chefs Collaborative, a national nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable cuisine, chef Davis supports local farmers by buying as much organic produce as he...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Earth Day Network (EDN) has partnered with Google for the launch of the new Google Maps Summer of Green, an environment-focused video and map guide to eco-tourism spots, including spas, hotels and restaurants. The destinations were chosen with the help of EDN. The presentation features the top U.S. travel city destinations (New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Google Maps Summer of Green enables users to discover green travel options by featuring guided virtual video tours of environmentally friendly destinations such as nature museums and horseback riding outposts. These Google Maps Summer...

NATIONAL REPORT—Everyone is familiar with Motel 6’s “We’ll leave the light on for you” campaign. It was definitely a hit. What is not such a good idea is when your guests leave the light on for you. Research conducted several years ago through the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Program confirmed what most hotel operators already know: Many guests leave the lights on when they leave the room and use the bathroom lights as a night-light. You can’t blame your guests, especially seniors, for wanting the extra light but when the lights are on when nobody is there, or...

NATIONAL REPORT—There was a time when energy efficiency was not a high priority when shopping for new PTACs. Today, with energy prices where they are, that has all changed. An educated buyer now considers not only unit size and heating and cooling capability, but also a model’s energy efficiency rating (EER). “EER is a calculation that measures how much cooling you get for a watt of electricity,” says Jane Deming, manager, marketing services for Friedrich Air Conditioning, San Antonio, Texas. “The higher the EER, the better. The benefits to the hotel owner are in controlling energy consumption costs.” Mel Harris, PTAC...