CLEVELAND, OHIO—Green Lodging News has just added a new case study to its website. The case study focuses on the Nottawsaga Inn Resort in Alliston, Ont., and how it implemented new dehumidification technology from Dectron Internationale to eliminate the challenging eye and lung irritation nuisance of every indoor pool—chloramines. The year-round convention/resort facility 40 miles north of Toronto includes Canada’s first indoor pool facility to use gas-phase air purification—part of its new dehumidifier purchase—to combat chemical odors that are common among natatoriums. Indoor air quality (IAQ) improved quickly and significantly as a result of eliminating chloramines. “Within 48 hours of...

BOYLSTON, MASS.—Restaurants can now run their operations on waste vegetable oil, thanks to the development of Vegawatt from Owl Power Company. This new product enables restaurants to reduce their need for electricity and natural gas supplied from utility companies by using their waste vegetable oil to create electricity and hot water. Owl Power is a developer of clean energy systems and the Massachusetts-based company has been hard at work for the last four years creating, testing, and now unveiling the Vegawatt, a cogeneration system that uses waste vegetable oil as fuel to generate on-site electricity and hot water. “It’s with great...

ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Liberty Hotel, in Cleburne, Texas, has reopened following a refinishing and refurbishment project with The Refinishing Touch. The hotel appointed The Refinishing Touch to preserve and enhance its furniture while preserving the environment. The Refinishing Touch is a leader in on-site, environmentally safe furniture refinishing and reupholstery services. The company enables its 20,000 customers across government, hotel, hospitality and academia to save up to 80 percent of their budgets and maintain environmental sustainability. The Liberty Hotel boasts a range of original and unique features, from its elegant lobby, custom-made chandeliers, original black and white terrazzo flooring, and guestrooms...

HIGHLAND PARK, ILL.—Solo Cup Company announced the introduction of Bare by Solo compostable plates made with sugarcane. The ivory-colored plates feature an on-trend, square design that offers a stylish alternative to traditional round single-use dinnerware. The new plates also offer consumers an environmentally preferable way to serve meals every day or on special occasions using renewable materials that can also reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. “Being ‘greener’ doesn’t have to equal boring or difficult,” said Kim Healy, vice president of consumer marketing at Solo. “Bare by Solo products offer fresh designs that reflect our consumers’ environmentally...

MURRIETA, CALIF.—Green Globe International, Inc., the worldwide owner of the Green Globe brand, announced a preliminary agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding with Green Seal, Inc., the independent eco-label in the United States, under which the two brands will explore opportunities to collaborate to promote sustainability on a global scale. Green Seal has been developing environmental standards since 1989. These environmental standards include requirements to reduce, to the extent technologically and economically feasible, the environmental and health impacts associated with services and the manufacture, use, and end of life or life cycle of products. Set on a...

LOS ANGELES—Meeting new, stringent definitions for sustainable carpet, Bentley Prince Street, Inc. announced that all of its standard broadloom products are certified at the highest Platinum Level with the new NSF 140-2007 Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard. In addition, all of Bentley Prince Street’s standard carpet tile products, as well as all broadloom products using the optional Prestige PlusRC backing, are certified at the Gold Level. NSF 140 is the first multi-attribute American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for environmentally preferable building materials in the construction industry. The product rating system was conducted by NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Ecoflame International Inc. as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Ecoflame markets a sugar cane-based ethanol, nontoxic heating gel for use in the hospitality, restaurant and catering industries. Ecoflame Gel burns clean and is safe. As most other chafing fuel heating products are derivatives of petroleum and natural gas, they produce poisonous emissions of carbon monoxide, are carcinogenic, include dioxin, and are finite resources. Ecoflame Gel is a renewable resource with no poisonous emissions and is packaged in refillable and recyclable steel cans. For more information, call...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—Energy Retrofit Group (ERG), the subsidiary of 40-year-old, award-winning Adache Group Architects, Inc., has announced the creation of their new energy conservation website www.energy-rg.com. “Our site describes how large commercial buildings, such as schools, hotels, retail malls, supermarket chains, and corporate office headquarters, can maximize their energy efficiency, especially interior lighting, heating and cooling, and hot water systems by retrofitting,” said Dan Adache, chairman of the board. Adache points out that the new site contains important information and offers links to government programs and tax incentives for energy retrofitting. For example, the IRS has designated tax deductions for individuals...

FRANKLIN, TENN.—Franklin, Tenn.-based Leak Beeper installed their patented, toilet-leak detection devices in Metro Manor Apartments, a 170-unit building in Nashville, Tenn. over a three-week period from mid-October to early November. With nine months of complete usage data available after the installation, the Leak Beeper was able to reduce the building’s water consumption by a monthly average of 37 percent. Specifically, gallons of water used per unit, per day fell from a pre-installation average of 81.9 gallons to a post-installation average of 52 gallons. Pre-installation average total gallons per day used by the building fell from 13,930 gallons to a...

VANCOUVER, B.C.—Natural Products for Living, Inc., a distributor of organic Canadian-made personal care products, announced that The Green Beaver Company, whom they represent for U.S. distribution, was awarded a license to manufacture certified organic personal body care products by ECOCERT. The Green Beaver Company becomes one of 11 Canadian companies to achieve this coveted designation in the growing organic marketplace. ECOCERT, a leader in organic and ecological product certifications, requires that ingredients be subjected to vigorous product formulation and on-site plant audits. Manufacturing facilities and product packaging are subject to stringent ECOCERT requirements to complete organic status. Based in France...