London - November 17, 1999 - The International Hotels Environment Initiative (IHEI) is delighted to welcome the Brazilian Association of Hotel Industries (ABIH) as its fourth Affiliate Member.
Hong Kong, January 11, 1999: The 208-room Westin Resort Macau has clocked up an another 303,000 US dollars worth of energy savings in the third full year of its broad ranging energy management program. This small luxury property has been able to achieve energy savings that would make any hotel owner very happy. Certainly, the owners of the Westin have been handsomely rewarded for their decision to choose energy management excellence over energy management mediocrity
Washington, D.C. - A newly formed strategic alliance between the National Restaurant Association and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) will bring more cutting-edge food safety research into restaurant kitchens and the regulatory environment.
As the global food supply chain becomes ever more complex, food safety becomes correspondingly more difficult to maintain. For instance, an average meal can contain ingredients sourced from five countries all with different hygiene standards. Accurate figures for food borne diseases are hard to come by but it is generally acknowledged that they are on the increase. At the same time, consumer demand for reassurance, protection and information continues to mount. While authorities govern locally, food businesses today are increasingly run on a global basis and industry has now seized the initiative by proposing an integrated standard for hygiene and food safety to be implemented world-wide. This will help business managers by providing a uniform, single auditing process for hygiene and food safety.
In industrialized societies the construction and operation of buildings swallows up to 30-40 % of primary energy produced and up to 50 % of all natural resources consumed. The commitment by the industrialized countries at the recent Kyoto meeting to reducing so-called greenhouse gas emissions on average by 7 % from 1990 levels by the years 2008-2012 represents a significant challenge for their economies. Meeting this challenge demands a broad response from industry, including improved energy and materials efficiency in the property and construction businesses. In support of this effort, research and development on environmentally sustainable buildings and construction materials and methods is accelerating in a number of countries.