WHITE PLAINS, NY-In what company officials say is an industryfirst, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. pledges to haveits entire new Element hotel brand built to green standards.Specifically, the hotelier says present and future developers ofthe Element hotels will be required to pursue the U.S. GreenBuilding Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design(LEED) certification.

Starwood plans to open 20 Element hotels by the end of 2009,including LEED certified properties in New York City, Chicago,Orlando and Las Vegas. The brand's flagship, scheduled to open inJuly of this year in Lexington, MA, will serve as what companyofficials describe as "a working laboratory to test the latest ingreen construction, products, design and operation." After thathotel begins operations, the next hotels set to open their doorsare: Element Summerlin in Las Vegas, Element Houston Vintage Parkin Houston and Element Arundel Mills in Baltimore.