GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—Hospitality Battery Holder announced that the Mandarin Oriental Geneva Hotel is now using its Hospitality Battery Holder product. The Mandarin Oriental Geneva Hotel, located on the bank of the Rhone River, is the first hotel in Europe to utilize this product. The Mandarin Oriental Geneva installed the Hospitality Battery Holder in its 250 rooms. The hotel expects to save more than $3,600.00 within five years while helping the environment by not disposing of batteries. The Mandarin Oriental Geneva will be discontinuing the wrap-around battery packs by using the Hospitality Battery Holder. It will allow the hotel the use of rechargeable...

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y—Evolve Guest Controls will install a fully integrated lighting control and automation control system featuring the new Evolve AI Interactive Touch Screen Controller, the new glass LCD Director Series, as well as an Evolve motorized shading system, at the Quin Hotel in New York City. When guests enter their rooms, they will be greeted with a customized lighting scene, a comfort thermostat temperature, as well as the opening of the motorized shades. While in the room, the guests will be able to control their thermostat, lighting, and shades wirelessly from the bedside as well as indicate privacy...

RICHMOND, CALIF.—BioMass Packaging, a division of Excellent Packaging, a wholesale distributor of sustainable, biodegradable, and nature-based packaging for foodservice and other applications, has added high-strength, compostable can liners to its line of compostable foodservice solutions. Restaurants, hotels, universities, and other businesses and institutions that need to dispose of food and organic waste can now use these clearly labeled, certified-compostable bags to confidently dispose of their food and organic waste in the green waste pickup, safely diverting it from landfills. “Many businesses want to send more of their food and organic waste to municipal composting facilities but don’t know where to...

TROY, OHIO—Two Hobart products—the Energy Star qualified Advansys CLeR conveyor-type warewasher with Energy Recovery and the Advansys LXiPR undercounter warewasher with PuriRinse—are included on the Food Consultants Society International (FCSI) “10 Most Innovative Products for 2012” list. One product from this list is going to be selected as “Product of the Year” based on voting slated to take place at the FCSI Americas Conference in Kansas City, Mo., April 19 to 21. FCSI is a recognized organization of more than 1,400 members who design foodservice installations and specify a broad range of equipment ranging from commercial ovens and storage refrigerators to...

DELAVAN, WIS.—The Green Leaf Inn is sponsoring a Green Building Challenge. The Challenge asks for participants to design an Energy Management Control System; providing a strategy and product selection to control, manage and gather data on an integrated renewable energy system for the Green Leaf Inn (GLI), opening Spring 2013 as the first Net Zero Energy Hotel in North America. Interested parties must submit completed entry forms online by July 1 at www.thegreenleafinn.com. This challenge is a first of its kind—requiring the integration of three different solar thermal systems; a cogen system, geothermal system, and a wood-fired boiler, to be...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—NSF International, an independent global organization that writes public health and environmental standards for the food, water and consumer goods industries, can now certify service providers in a multitude of industries to North America’s first sustainability assessment protocol—NSF P391: General Sustainability Assessment Criteria for Services and Service Providers. Organizations certified to the protocol will be able to differentiate their services and achieve preferred vendor status with companies and organizations seeking more sustainable operating solutions, including government agencies (local, state and federal) and others seeking to comply with U.S. Executive Order 13514. Developed through the NSF National Center for...

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICH.—Signature Crypton Carpet, a brand that weaves together Crypton’s stain, liquid and odor-causing bacteria resistant fabrics and the design expertise of Signature Carpets, announces their latest venture in sustainable living and environmental preservation—the Yellowstone Collection. Signature Crypton Carpet has collaborated with the Yellow Stone Park Foundation, taking on all of the park’s discarded plastic bottles and turning them into carpet backings. This new line, known as the “Yellowstone Collection” will invest 50 cents of every square yard sold through it’s P2 program, back to The Yellowstone Park Foundation, to help preserve and protect one of America’s most pristine...

RICHARDSON, TEXAS—VingCard Elsafe announced that its Orion energy management system has won a Star Award from Top Hotel, Germany’s most subscribed hotel industry trade publication. Orion was honored in the Technology category, which was voted on by more than 2,500 Top Hotel readers as part of the magazine’s annual competition. The award was presented during the recent InterNorga hospitality trade show in Hamburg. Orion by VingCard Elsafe is comprised of wireless digital thermostats, occupancy sensors, door position interfaces, remote server software and a comprehensive dashboard reporting interface. The room control dashboard provides an overview of guestroom electronic systems, including occupancy...

NIANTIC, CONN.—When the Grand Hyatt DFW completed its recent $13 million renovation, INNCOM played an integral role in the property’s focus on energy conservation. To better blend in-room technology with the hotel’s sophisticated welcome scene upon entering the room, INNCOM designed a new bedside controller for the Grand Hyatt DFW that enables guests to control lighting, temperature, drapes, sheers, privacy, make-up room and other service requests. The company also installed INNCOM’s MODEVA series backlit glass switches, and added the INNCOM drape controller that gives guests the ability to remotely open and close heavy-duty blackout drapes and sheers. “The...

NEW YORK—Greenwood Energy, the North American renewable energy division of the Libra Group, announced its engagement to install the first combined heat and power plant for the Millennium Hilton Hotel in New York. It is a further addition to Greenwood Energy’s rapidly developing clean power generation offering. “This expansion of Greenwood Energy’s operations in clean and efficient power generation for the hotel sector is blazing a trail for the industry in North America, where alternative power generation is beginning to make a real breakthrough,” said Greenwood Energy’s CFO, Douglas Johnsen. “Adding the Millennium Hilton to our portfolio puts us in...