Starwood hotels generate power and savings with fuel cells.

Environmentally friendly fuel cells are beginning to show up in some pretty spiffy digs. During the past four years, nearly a dozen of the base-load power plants have been installed in Starwood hotels, most recently at the 1,750-room New York Sheraton in Manhattan this past summer.

"We're looking at different technologies all the time," said John Lembo, director of energy at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in White Plains. One reason: Starwood shells out "somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million" for energy at its company-owned properties in North America.