PARIS—Accor recently decided to assess its environmental impact 15 years after it took a stand and started taking concrete action to embrace sustainable development. The company began working on gauging its environmental footprint at the end of 2010. The study stretches beyond measuring greenhouse-gas emissions to encompass energy and water consumption, water pollution and waste generation throughout lifecycles in the Group. “Four thousand and two hundred hotels in 90 countries, 145,000 employees, 56 million breakfasts a year and almost 545 million liters of water a year all add up to the environmental impact that we are now in a position...

MILWAUKEE, WIS.—Telkonet, Inc., developer of the EcoSmart energy management platform incorporating patented Recovery Time technology, announced that New York City’s Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan has become the latest hospitality leader to select Telkonet’s cloud-based EcoSmart energy management platform. This 770-room, full service hotel located on Broadway in Times Square is one of New York’s leading and most successful hotels.The Crowne Plaza Times Square selected PAC Consultants to deploy Telkonet’s EcoSmart System throughout the property to optimize guest comfort while reducing energy consumption and operating costs.“We installed a number of test rooms and Telkonet performed exceptionally well throughout the...

AUGUSTA, MAINE—Two Maine lodging businesses have been recognized by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for voluntary efforts in reducing their impact on the environment. The Nestlewood Inn Bed & Breakfast in Carrabassett Valley and the Sheepscot Harbour Village & Resort in Edgecomb were both certified recently by the department as an Environmental Leader.  The Environmental Leader program is a self-guided process offered by the department that encourages lodging facilities, restaurants and grocers to implement selected initiatives from those offered in the department developed workbook to achieve points towards certification.  Lodging businesses, of which there are now 117 certified, can...

PALO ALTO, CALIF.—Southwall Technologies Inc. and Pleotint LLC announced the world’s first installation of high-performance insulating glass that combines Southwall’s Heat Mirror suspended-film technology with Pleotint’s Sunlight Responsive Thermochromic (SRT) technology. The complementary technologies combine to deliver increased energy savings by reducing solar heat gain and glare during peak electrical usage hours, providing optimal daylighting during non-peak hours, while delivering maximum thermal insulation 24 hours a day. The product was manufactured by Southwall Insulating Glass and installed at Pleotint’s corporate headquarters in West Olive, Mich. The combined solution provides superior center of glass insulating performance of 0.13 (R8) with Argon...

Several years ago at the Hospitality Design Expo and Conference there was a session at which several people—at least one from MGM Resorts International—discussed what was then the future opening of the mammoth City Center project in Las Vegas. At that session, Stephanie Steinberg, chairwoman of Englewood, Colo.-based Smoke-Free Gaming stood up and asked the person from MGM how their LEED-pursuing CityCenter project could possibly include a casino (the casino portion of Aria Resort & Casino) that would permit smoking. I don’t recall the specific words of the MGM executive but I recall that Stephanie’s question was not sufficiently...

NEW YORK—Drew Schlesinger, a veteran of the hotel industry and a 12-year resident of Scarsdale, N.Y., was recently named general manger of the InterContinental Times Square. One of the greenest hotels in New York City, the hotel opened in July. The 36-story, 607-room hotel cost half a billion dollars to build and is being billed by its parent company, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, as one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the city. It’s already the largest hotel in New York to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which is assigned by the U.S. Green Building...

PARIS—Concorde Hotels & Resorts has partnered with leading French fragrance house Annick Goutal to create the Annick Goutal Organic Line, in-room amenities exclusive to Concorde Hotels & Resorts around the world. The hotel group is among the first in the hospitality industry to offer custom-designed, organic amenities brand wide, collaborating closely with the fragrance house to develop 100 percent organic, eco-labeled, and Cosmebio-certified amenities for all hotels in the collection, including the world-renowned Hotel de Crillon and Hotel Lutetia in Paris; Hotel Martinez, Cannes; Hotel Concorde Berlin; and the Palais de la Mediterranee, Nice.  Reflecting Concorde Hotels & Resorts’ strong...

SAINT PAUL, MINN.—3M Architectural Markets introduces the 3M Sunlight Delivery System, a new daylighting solution that captures and harnesses sunlight in an energy-efficient lighting system for commercial buildings. This hybrid system combines multiple technologies to bring sunlight deep into interior spaces and provides consistent light levels throughout the day. The technology holds promise for both energy efficiency and improving the productivity and morale of building employees.  The 3M sunlight delivery system provides the industry with a new method of daylighting that offers significantly greater capabilities than existing alternatives. Traditional daylighting methods such as skylights or tubular daylighting devices present a...

BETHEDA, MD.—Marriott International has been named a member company of the FTSE4Good (Financial Times Stock Exchange) Index Series for 2011. The company has been a constituent of FTSE4Good since its inception in 2002. According to FTSE, increasingly stringent inclusion criteria focused this year on the environment, human rights, supply chain, social programs, stakeholder engagement, labor standards and anti-corruption policies and procedures. The FTSE4Good Index Series is managed by the FTSE Group and consists of a series of benchmark and tradable indices for socially responsible investors. In order to meet the FTSE4Good Index criteria, Marriott provided evidence of continued improvement and...

LAYTON, UTAH—Home2 Suites by Hilton recently celebrated the official grand opening of the brand’s second U.S. hotel in Layton, Utah, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and an announcement of a charitable community partnership. The first Home2 Suites opened in February 2011 in Fayetteville, N.C. To commemorate the event, Home2 Suites executives joined Mayor Steve Curtis, representatives from developer and property manager Western States Lodging and Management, owner Summit Lodging and members of the local business community for an afternoon of on-site activities. The Home2 Suites brand is committed to environmentally conscious practices. In addition to recycling throughout the hotel, appointments include...