BOULDER, COLO.—PE International, a global sustainability software and services firm, has been selected by LG Electronics USA to help manage its sustainability initiatives. Using PE International’s SoFi software, LG will measure and report on its U.S.-based sustainability metrics, supporting the company’s environmental stewardship programs and its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its U.S. operations 50 percent by 2020 (compared with a 2008 baseline).LG will use SoFi to monitor emissions, energy, water and waste for its offices and distribution centers across the United States. Sustainability reports will allow LG to more effectively measure success and identify opportunities for...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Garage Juice Bar as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. The Juice Bar Electric Vehicle Charger and Green Garage Oasis Amenity Center are an upscale, sustainable branded experience and environment for electric vehicle driving guests and visitors to upscale hotels and resorts. Juice Bar EV charging stations are available as a Juice Bar Double, which includes one Level 2 plug and one Level 1 plug, and as a Juice Bar Quad, which includes two Level 2 plugs and 2 Level 1 plugs. Juice Bar’s premium product...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—It is not often that an investment in renewable energy is celebrated with fireworks and mayoral visits but that is what happened this past Wednesday evening at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. The fireworks and visits by City of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief marked the official unveiling of six 52-foot, 4 kilowatt wind turbines that rise above the hotel’s rooftop. Approximately $500,000 was invested in the turbines that required the tallest crane in the state of Florida to install.“It is an exciting day for us,” said Andreas Ioannou, general...

CORAL GABLES, FLA.—The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Assn. (CHTA) will conduct its first hospitality and tourism conference since 2007 under the banner of the Caribbean Hospitality Industry Education Forum (CHIEF). According to CHTA, the event will include opportunities to learn how to adopt green sustainable development strategies to improve energy efficiency in every area of both hotel and tourism infrastructure. “The time is right to have a forum that brings together hoteliers and our allied members,” said Richard Doumeng, president of CHTA. “It will be an educational and sales setting with a strong focus on the use of technology...

WALTHAM, MASS.—American DG Energy Inc., a leading On Site Utility, offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality, healthcare, housing and athletic facilities, announced that it has reached agreements with Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. to manage an energy plant conversion, along with installation and maintenance of a combined heat and power (CHP) system at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton New York City—Times Square. The agreements should provide American DG Energy with approximately $1,300,000 in revenue in 2014.Having completed a feasibility study for the property, American DG Energy was selected to oversee a complete energy plant conversion...

NATIONAL REPORT—Almost exactly a year ago, McDonald’s USA announced it would become the first national restaurant chain to adopt the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) blue ecolabel on its fish packaging in restaurants in the United States. McDonald’s made a similar commitment in Europe in 2011. McDonald’s decision has had significant impact on the fishing industry; more than 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the United States have met the MSC Chain of Custody standard for traceability, which is the ability to track the fish all the way back through the supply chain to the fishery.While what McDonald’s has done with its...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A partnership announced recently uses forensic wood science to test the accuracy of environmental claims being made about forest products from around the world. The landmark agreement between the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) establishes a cooperative research program in which forensic wood science is employed to investigate supply chain integrity, verify product claims, and identify opportunities to use the best available and emerging forensic wood science to verify the accuracy of claims found on FSC-certified products.“This is a cutting-edge effort to further ensure FSC claims are accurate,” said Kim...

LAS VEGAS—Las Vegas Sands Corp. recently held its first-ever Sands Supplier Excellence Awards, recognizing the outstanding services of its suppliers and vendors around the world. During several Sands Supplier Appreciation Dinners in Macao, Singapore, Las Vegas, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the company acknowledged its indebtedness to the local communities in which it does business.“Our company is not an isolated island, but part of the greater communities in which we do business,” said Michael Leven, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. These awards recognize that fact.“Our success at LVS and the success of our suppliers have gone...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—The Natural Stone Council (NSC), an organization that promotes the use of natural stone in commercial, residential, government, institutional and educational applications, and NSF International, an independent global organization that writes public health and environmental standards for the food, water, commercial and consumer goods industries, have developed the first sustainability assessment standard for stone—NSC 373 Sustainability Assessment for Natural Dimension Stone. The standard defines criteria for the sustainable development aspects of dimensional stone production while harmonizing environmental requirements for stone quarrying and production.NSC utilized NSF International’s technical expertise as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited standards developer...

SINGAPORE—Hilton Worldwide announced the expansion of its Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia with three new renewable energy projects receiving support for 2014. The Mungcharoen Biomass Project in Thailand, the Musi Hydro Project in Indonesia, and the Song Ong Small Hydro Project in Vietnam will join the Borneo Rainforest Rehabilitation Project in Malaysia as beneficiaries of the program.Initiated in October 2012, Hilton Worldwide’s Carbon Offset Program in Southeast Asia measures carbon generated by meetings and events held at Hilton Worldwide properties in the region, and, at no cost to customers, offsets this through the purchase of carbon credits. Hotels...