The Maryland Energy Administration announced Monday that $1.5 million in loans are now available to businesses, nonprofits and local governments looking to implement energy-efficient projects. The projects must save energy and loans must be repaid within seven years. Loans have been available through the Community Energy Loan Program since 1989, but legislators renamed it the Jane E. Lawton Conservation Loan Program this year to honor the Montgomery delegate who died in 2007. To date, the loans have provided companies with $20 million in energy savings. Applications are due Nov. 1.

Va. company ties to UM school

Acquisition Outcomes Inc., of Arlington, Va., a company that specializes in helping governmental organizations improve their acquisition processes, said it signed an agreement with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy to enable UMSPP students to earn credits toward the Executive Master of Public Management program by completing Acquisition Solutions' Master's Certificate in Performance-Based Acquisition. The curriculum is designed to give UMSPP students the knowledge, tools and processes they need to successfully plan, negotiate and manage acquisitions that enable governments to better perform their missions.

Singapore venture head named

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., of Bethesda, a lodging real estate investment trust that owns 117 properties in the U.S. and Europe, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. appointed Peter Meyer to head their Asian property joint venture. Meyer was an executive vice president at Tokyo-based New City Corp. and formerly worked with J.P. Morgan & Co., Host and the city-state's investment company said in a joint statement. Meyer will invest as much as $2 billion in Asian and Australian hotels for Singapore-based Reco Hotels Pte, which the partners started earlier this year.

NewEnergy shines on tourney

The tennis courts at the 2008 U.S. Open may be blue, but the event will go green with the help of Constellation NewEnergy, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. Constellation, which supplies electricity to the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the duration of the U.S. Open, will provide an estimated 2,000 wind Renewable Energy Certificates to offset the Flushing, N.Y.-based venue's electricity consumption. Constellation previously collaborated with the New England Patriots and the 2008 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship to provide them with wind RECs.