OTTAWA, ONTARIO—The Environmental Choice Program (ECP) has launched a new Web site. Located at www.ecologo.org, the site is bilingual to accommodate both English- and French-speaking visitors. Founded in 1988, ECP is an independent, third-party organization that certifies green products and services, including those used by the cleaning and building industries. The organization also provides market incentives for North American manufacturers and suppliers, encouraging them to develop environmentally preferable products and services. By placing ECP’s EcoLogo on their products, consumers can identify products and services that are safer to use that negatively impact the environment less. Take...

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Green Mountain Energy Co. is providing a cleaner, 100 percent renewable electricity product for two Hyatt hotel properties in Dallas—Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion and Hyatt Regency DFW International Airport. These two signature Hyatt hotels in Dallas are now the nation’s largest hospitality industry purchaser of renewable energy and one of two of Dallas’ commercial purchasers of 100 percent renewable electricity. This seminal partnership underlines clean electricity’s mainstream acceptance as the economical and responsible source of commercial energy. Renewable energy comes from less-polluting sources and is replenished naturally—examples include wind, solar and low-impact hydro facilities. The energy...

Throughout 2005 we all heard the news of oil prices lingering above $50 a barrel and gasoline exceeding $3.00 a gallon. For long-term lodging industry participants, vivid memories of the gas lines and high inflation of the 1970s resurfaced. Understandingly, hotel owners and operators feared that a falloff in travel would cause occupancy to decline, and rising utility costs would kill profits. Looking back at 2005, it appears that the U.S. lodging industry was able to withstand the spike in energy costs. By year-end 2005, PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) estimates that U.S. hotels enjoyed significant increases in demand that led...