PARIS—Next spring, 14 years after being conceived by Pierre & Vacances Center Parcs and Euro Disney, Villages Nature Paris will open 20 miles east of Paris. The resort will be a showcase for green design, geothermal technology and will be based on harmony between man and nature. Villages Nature Paris will open with 916 dwellings, more than two-thirds of which will be cottages and one-third family suites. The dwellings will be owned by individual and other investors and managed by Villages Nature Paris. According to Dominique Cocquet, CEO of Villages Nature Paris, within five years the development is expected...

NATIONAL REPORT—HVS conducts numerous walkthroughs of hotel F&B operations each year. In almost every full service property, it finds opportunities to significantly decrease utility costs through a combination of operating enhancements and capital projects. This article summarizes some of the more common F&B utility efficiency opportunities that HVS routinely identifies and addresses at its clients’ properties. Where to Start? It is important to begin by understanding the relationship between ownership and management. For example, is the restaurant or banquet department operated by the hotel management company, leased to a third party, or joint ventured in some manner? Correspondingly, which party pays...

LAS VEGAS—In an effort to identify new sustainable water technologies and incorporate them into its global operations, MGM Resorts International has partnered with WaterStart. The partnership, announced on World Water Day (March 22), is designed to advance WaterStart’s mission to make Nevada a channel for innovation by leveraging the state’s leadership and expertise in water. Additionally, the strategic alignment will extend the reach of MGM Resorts’ long-standing commitment to environmental sustainability by establishing innovative water practices across the company’s resorts. “As a company, we are always exploring new solutions to help conserve our natural resources,” said Cindy Ortega,...

World Water Day will take place this week (March 22). It is a United Nations program which reminds us of our responsibilities to protect this vital—and limited—resource. Hotels (and their guests) are high water consumers and it is time for them to get more proactive on their water stewardship. Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for everyone on the planet is one of the new SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) which governments and businesses are being asked to implement through combined action. With hotels often sited in exotic locations and water-scarce areas, it’s particularly important that hotel...

FRANKLIN PARK, ILL.—Sloan, a leading manufacturer of commercial plumbing systems, has added a new Hybrid Retrofit Urinal to its collection of high-efficiency products that cut water use dramatically and make it easy to replace existing urinals—both traditional flushing and waterfree styles.The new model, HYB-1000-RET, offers all the features of the Sloan Hybrid Urinal, including maximum LEED credits, minimal water and sewage costs and automatic drain rinsing. The Hybrid Retrofit Urinal is quick and easy to install using the existing control stop as its water source.The Hybrid Retrofit Urinal comes with a kit consisting of only five parts that utilizes...

DALLAS—Innsight Technologies introduces its ResourceCONNECT Energy and Water Management Reporting Tool. ResourceCONNECT comes with interface and mobile capabilities making any hotel or resort capable of tracking their energy usage down to the kilowatt or per gallon hour.  Innsight Technologies started down the development path when uncovering a need from a local municipality struggling to implement its green initiatives. “When we started looking at the reporting options for hotels we found there weren’t very many and none that utilized existing technology to make it easier on the end user. So we made one,” said Rockie Roper, President of Innsight Technologies.The...

NATIONAL REPORT—Energy consumption officially has become the defining global issue of our time, and everyone from politicians to developers and homeowners is taking notice. But while technology companies and auto makers like Tesla and Ford scramble to make the first mainstream electric vehicle, there’s actually a bigger player in the energy arms race: buildings. According to the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the nation’s buildings account for 43 percent of U.S. carbon emissions and 39 percent of primary energy consumption. Compare those numbers with the transportation industry, which comes in a distant second at 32 percent and 28 percent,...

DUBAI, U.A.E.—INTEREL, a manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury, upper scale and cruise line hospitality industry, has officially entered its new TCP/IP-based Water Management System into the HTNG North American Conference 2016 TechOvation Award competition taking place on March 1 at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort.“For a number of years, hoteliers around the world have focused on reducing their properties’ energy consumption and costs to make their operations greener and more sustainable, and we see great results in this space,” said Florian Gallini, Group CEO of INTEREL. “However, water consumption remains a huge challenge for hotels.”On...

SAN FRANCISCO—The Hilton San Francisco Union Square has quite a win streak going. On February 17, the 1,919-room hotel hosted the Hotel Council of San Francisco’s first Stay Green Forum. The event drew 275 attendees. “Lieutenant Governor Newsom was the keynote speaker,” says Jo Licata, Community Projects Manager at the hotel. It was a great success. We had almost every hotel in San Francisco represented.” Also in February, the hotel garnered a lot of publicity for being the first hotel to participate in the Better Buildings Challege SWAP, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program that saw officials from...

OSHKOSH, WIS.—Continental Girbau Inc. recently added the new 70-pound capacity G-Flex Washer to its most advanced line of hard-mount flexible-speed washers. The G-Flex line now includes 40-, 55-, and 70-pound capacity models. Superior programmability, including G-force, brings premium program and process flexibility to laundries at an affordable price point, according to Joel Jorgensen, Continental Vice President of Sales and Customer Services.“G-Flex Washers deliver the flexibility of six programmable extract speeds, including 100, 140 and 200 G-force, at an affordable value,” said Jorgensen. “There are other washers on the market that offer flexible G-force, but they are typically more expensive,...