LONDON—A growing number of city center hotels are facing up to their environmental and social responsibilities, according to the April edition of greenhotelier. The magazine’s feature, “City Hotels—Greening the Urban Jungle,” examines how city hotels are implementing green strategies at all levels of policy and management, from the initial design of the hotels to their day-to-day operations. City hotels are uniquely positioned to enhance their green credentials. Public transport hubs ensure customers minimize their journey’s carbon footprint, restaurants can tap into local sources of food, and it’s far easier for a city hotel to access new environmental technologies...

LOS ANGELES—JL Furnishings (JLF)/Lone Meadow, the exclusively sustainable division of JL Furnishings and a leader in hospitality furniture design and manufacturing, has expanded its collection with the introduction of 14 new creations; from sleek, modern lounge chairs to elegant sofas with stylish patterns. The company featured the collection at the 2007 Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas. As with all JLF/Lone Meadow furnishings, the new collection exemplifies the firm’s commitment to bringing green sustainable practices and progressive designs to the hospitality industry. The company is at the forefront of the sustainable hospitality furniture design and is currently the...

ASHLAND CITY, TENN.—A. O. Smith has introduced a new high-efficiency modulating VF boiler. This boiler replaces the A. O. Smith Legend. The VF boiler is a totally new design that provides up to 88 percent thermal efficiency while maintaining low NOx emissions that are better for the environment. The vertical tube design allows for a large heat transfer area, which maximizes efficiency, while maintaining the small footprint ideal for retrofit applications and multiple boiler installations. The VF boiler can be direct vented for up to 70 equivalent feet of intake and exhaust piping, and it can also be...

SAN FRANCISCO—For the climate action visionaries at DriveNeutral, it’s all about helping others reduce their climate footprint—by land and by air. Thanks to jetsetters looking for a way to offset their climate footprint when traveling by plane, DriveNeutral has introduced a new CO2 calculator called FlyNeutral to help neutralize climate change one flight at a time. “Everyone has a personal climate footprint that is unique to lifestyle choices and preferences,” says Jason Smith, founder and director of DriveNeutral and FlyNeutral. “Both efforts help individuals and organizations take global responsibility for personal emissions while initiating greater change in the...

BOSTON—Recognizing Arthur Blank & Co. Inc. as an innovator of environmentally friendly plastic card products, Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino recently presented the company with the 2007 Boston Green Business Award. Arthur Blank & Co., a leader in plastic credit card marketing solutions, received the award for the introduction of the industry’s first non-PVC, corn-based card, CornCard USA, and a new recycled PVC card, the AB RecycledCard. The Boston Green Product Award is given each year to a company that “produces or distributes a green product.” With the introduction of its Green Line of environmentally friendly products, Arthur Blank...

DALTON, GA.—Healthier Choice, a manufacturer of premium carpet cushion and acoustical underlayment, has introduced a new line of low-VOC commercial carpet cushions. The line, called Foundation Contract Carpet Cushion, has emissions nearly 50 times lower than the CRI Green Label limit. Specifiers may be able to use Foundation to obtain credit with several environmental rating systems or programs, including LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, based on the outstanding IAQ characteristics of the cushion. The official product launch is slated for May 10-12 at HD Expo 2007 in Las Vegas. Foundation represents a new focus...

PEORIA, ARIZ.—LG HI-MACS, a leader in premium acrylic solid surfacing, launched LG Eden, the industry’s first environmentally conscious acrylic product, in conjunction with Earth Day and the City of Chicago’s Going Green: Earth Month Kick-off. Like Chicago, one of the top U.S. cities for green building, LG HI-MACS is committed to raising awareness of the simple things—like transitioning to green building products—that individuals and businesses can do to help improve the environment. Highlights of Chicago’s Earth Month Kick-off included a speech by Mayor Richard Daley and a showcase of more than 25 organizations presenting a unique mix of...

TOKYO AND NEW YORK—Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. (collectively KM) and the General Electric Co. announced that they have signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications. The goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years. “Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, lightweight, and sheet form OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future,” says Masatoshi Matsuzaki, President, Konica Minolta Technology Center Inc. “We are...

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MICH.—In Crypton’s ongoing effort to provide cleaner, greener and better textiles to the marketplace, the company announced that going forward, all Crypton Fabrics, not just Crypton Green, will now be finished with its new, low-emitting, optimized formulations for stain, moisture, bacteria, and odor resistance. By June 2007, all fabrics processed at Crypton’s Kings Mountain facility will be using the same recalibrated chemistry that was developed for Crypton’s greenest product, Crypton Green. Crypton Green leads the company’s “Green” initiative, a combination of optimized chemistry and basecloth requirements. However, the company came to the conclusion that to be...

ALSIP, ILL.—Litetronics introduces its plug-in compact fluorescent tube (PFT) lamps. The pin-based compact fluorescent lamps use 80 percent less energy than incandescents and last 13 times as long. The two-pin starter lamps work with magnetic ballasts, while the four-pin starter models are for use with electronic ballasts. The two-pin PFT lamps have a 10,000-hour average rated life, and the four-pin lamps boast a 15,000-hour average rated life. Compared to other compact fluorescent lamps, the four-pin PFT lamps offer a 33 percent longer life. All PFT lamps offer a 2700K correlated color temperature and a high CRI of 82....