Japan's Zero Emission House

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has unveiled its “Zero-Emission House” in parallel with the Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit that is currently taking place.

This prefabricated house exhibits robots that serve tea to guests, a washer that requires no water, an air conditioner that sends cool air towards people in a room rather than general empty space, and a wind-turbine generator and a photovoltaic system which produces about 15 kilowatts of energy a day.

The structure has great insulation, natural aeration to maintain dry conditions and is designed with the seismic technology, SHEQAS, to mitigate damage due to earthquakes.

The waterless washer is a three-in-one machine that uses high-powered air to wash clothes without water. The process known as "ozonation" uses about twice as much electricity as a regular wash, but only one-fifth the total energy of a comparable full wash and dry because it operates without a drying system.

Additionally, there is a solar-powered TV, a roof-top vegetation system comprised of a thin film of moss grown on tile plates attached to the roof of the house which can also be fitted and grown alongside solar panels.

Very cool.

Wikis in the workplace

This week I read a very interesting article in Newsweek that I wanted to draw your attention to.

Here is a summary of the full article for you:

The United Nations, notorious for endless deliberations, is trying a technological quick fix. Its Global Compact Office, which promotes corporate responsibility, has embraced the wiki in hopes that it will help staff in 80 countries share information and reach consensus with less deliberation and more speed.

It is debatable whether encouraging public input is a good way to increase efficiency, but the move is the latest example of a quickly growing trend. Wiki software—easy-to-use programs that let anyone with Internet access create, remove and edit content on a Web page—first gained popularity thanks to Wikipedia, the user-generated encyclopedia that has come to be hailed as one of the Web's greatest resources. Now the technology is increasingly spreading outside the world of tech geeks and into the mainstream, being adopted by workplaces, corporations and even governments. In what's been dubbed the "wiki workplace," a growing number of organizations have begun shifting from traditional hierarchical structures to self-organized and collaborative networks, using wiki software—a basket of technologies that include wikis, blogs and other tools—to foster innovation across organizational and geographic boundaries.

Executives say the new tools make it easier for teams to collaborate and share information, and to get projects up and running on the fly. "Collaborative software has become a very important part of how businesses will invent and innovate," says Ken Bisconti, IBM's vice president of messaging and collaboration software. IBM has used internal wikis since 2005, with an eye to selling the concept to its clients. IBM has incorporated the wiki and other collaborative software into its corporate products like Lotus Notes, a desktop software for accessing e-mail and other applications. Its most advanced tool, the Quickr 8, combines blogs, wikis and plug-ins called "connectors" to link a range of business documents and libraries. Meanwhile, governments and

NGOs are, like the United Nations, experimenting with using the wiki concept to collaborate within—even involve constituents in policymaking. Sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies have begun using a common wiki called Intellipedia, a government-run—and top-secret—information-sharing source that allows them to merge research and intelligence gathering. And the nonpartisan WikiCongress—a user-generated Capitol Hill founded by former U.S. congressional staffers—lets the public vote on bills, create petitions and propose new policy, and then forwards the results to legislators.

"Wikinomics" coauthor Don Tapscott says wikis have the potential to spawn new models for international problem solving and dialogue, increase transparency in government and open communication between citizens and policymakers. Consider Habitat Jam, an open conversation that was hosted recently by the nonprofit Globe Foundation in preparation for the third session of the World Urban Forum, a gathering of leaders to discuss the impact of global urbanization.

See the full article for more details.

Garbage Gasification

Ok, I'll admit it, I am secretly a 12-year old boy. I was drawn to this article because of the word "gasification." Immature, yes, but also useful - due to my slightly warped sense of humor, I learned about a cool new technology: "The Prophet of Garbage" (found in Popular Science magazine) disusses an invention about the size of a two-car garage that basically vaporizes trash of all sorts to create energy.

According to the magazine, here's how it works:

Startech´s trash converter uses superheated plasma-an electrically conductive mass of charged particles (ions and electrons) generated from ordinary air-to reduce garbage to its molecular components. First the trash is fed into an auger that shreds it into small pieces. Then the mulch is delivered into the plasma chamber, where the superheated plasma converts it into two by-products. One is a syngas composed mostly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is fed into the adjacent Starcell system to be converted into fuel. The other is molten glass that can be sold for use in household tiles or road asphalt.

Pretty cool technology!

I'm Addicted to the Planet Green Game

I was putzing around on Starbuck's Corporate Social Responsibility website and found their Planet Green Game. It's fastastic! You pick an avatar and choose your own adventure, collecting green trivia points along the way. You can also go to a movie theater and view 7 movie shorts. Very interactive and very, very clever (maybe slightly addictive). http://www.planetgreengame.com/

Test your skills. What was your score?

Save the Rainforest While Killing Time

Those of you familiar with Facebook know of the many plug-ins available. Vampire battles, Super Poke, gift giving, etc. One of my favorite time-waster plug-ins is (Lil) Green Patch.

Basically, (Lil) Green Patch allows users to send and receive plants, care for each other's green patches, and buy decorations for the green patches. This is all fun and cute, but the great thing about (Lil) Green Patch is that for every 10 plants you send to your friends, the sponsors contribute enough funds to save 1 square foot of rainforest.

Every month, (Lil) Green Patch donates revenue (after expenses of course) to funding a portfolio of reforestation projects. The most recent donation was made May 1, 2008 to the Adopt An Acre program of the Nature Conservancy.

With 454,680 daily active users, (Lil) Green Patch has saved over 20 million SF of rainforest thus far. If you have Facebook and some time to kill, it would be a great way to help the planet while doing some business (or social) networking.

The Expense Report

Many of us work in fields where once in a while we have to spend our own money for a business expense. Generally, this is not a big deal, but it does require some effort to submit an expense report – both personal effort and sustainable impact. Here are a couple of thoughts about how to green the process:

1. Direct deposit. Rather than sending a check, companies should be able to directly deposit reimbursements into your account.
2. Receipt requirement. I understand why receipts are required (fraud, etc); however, it is “greener” to not get a receipt at all (think ATM, gas pump, etc). Many transactions are made by credit card or bank card and are tracked by the issuing financial institution. I know in my personal life I try to avoid getting receipts because it means I’ll have to shred them later (annoyance factor trumps green factor, but end result is the same). If companies could accept credit card statements in lieu of receipts, this could help reduce the amount of wasted paper (and for those of us that occasionally lose receipts when travelling, could help cut employees losses).
3. Receipt submission. Employees should be encouraged to tape their receipts to the backs of used paper, rather than printing out a special “receipt page.”
4. Paperless submission. Some companies already do this, some do not, and some (like mine) are in the process of converting. We currently have to type up our reports, print them out, tape our receipts to a blank sheet of paper (recycled back sides are ok) and ship them overnight to accounting. They are then scanned and reviewed virtually. More sustainable measures would be:

• Bundling expense reports weekly/bi-weekly – results in fewer packages shipped.
• Scanning and sending directly to accounting from our multi-function printers – eliminates need for overnight shipping.
• Online submission – no printing required.

Any other ideas on how to green your expense report submission process?

Image Source: http://www.gembapantarei.com

David Douglass with Sun Microsystems

I'm always scrolling around looking for what smart leaders are doing when it comes to corporate social sustainability. I was surprized and pleased to find out about David Douglass, Sun Microsystem's VP of Eco Responsibility. What impressed be most about David was not his position - OK, yes, he's the head green guru for a company of 30,000 people - but his blog. David share's his thoughts with the rest of the world on Sun's environment blog and he really tells it like it is. No candy coating, just real, hands in the dirt kind of stuff.



Check out a recent entry in his blog, "Black, White and Shades of Green." Here's an excerpt:

I've written before about the lack of magic answers, as much as we'd all love to find them. When you take any societal-scale process or product and think you've found a totally clean, side effect free, economically viable substitute for it, you're almost surely delusional. Any substitution will have other, new side effects, and we absolutely need to try to be accounting for them.

Sustainable Mail

I came across this organization and thought it was something to share, because I know everyone is as annoyed as I am with Junk Mail..

http://www.41pounds.org/ stops your junk mail and catalogs — protecting the environment. Junk mail wastes an incredible amount of natural resources and contributes to global warming.

Time — No credit card offers to shred or unwanted catalogs.

Trees — Keep 100+ million trees in forests, cooling the planet.

Water — Protect 28 billion gallons of clean water.

Climate — Junk mail produces more C02 than 2.8 million cars.

Planet — We donate to your favorite charity when you sign up.

Go Check it Out..

Greenville, USA

Green technology is everywhere! A new virtual town "Greenville, USA" was created recently to demonstrate power of technology and energy efficiency.

The tool was created by the Technology CEO Council, a lobbying group made up of CEOs Michael Dell (Dell), Mark Hurd (HP), Samuel Palmisano (IBM), Paul Otellini (Intel), Joe Tucci (EMC), Mike Splinter (Applied Materials), and others.

The graphics are fairy simple, but there are several good nuggets of ways to leverage technology in your home or business. Some interesting tidbits:

• Use thin client - less heat is created by centralized hard drives
• No left hand turns with truck deliveries - minimizes time on the road and carbon emissions
• Consider the new ultra mobile PCs requiring 1/10 power required from first gen PCs
• Real time energy pricing
• Watt meter that measures all electrical devices in the home
• Use cell phone waiting lots at the airport - don't keep driving in circles!

Lots of good intel. We have the technology - now it's time to use it!

Give Yourself a Lift

Many of you may live or work in a building that has an elevator…or at least you’ve ridden in one at least once in your lifetime. This is particularly true if you live in a dense urban environment….which is great – yay density! That said, as you might suspect, elevators take energy to function, thereby increasing a building’s carbon footprint.

Many elevator manufacturers are developing energy efficient elevators and technologies to retrofit existing elevators. Instead of even attempting to pretend I am an elevator expert, here are a few links to articles about “green” elevators:

• Green Building Insider
• Archi-Tech
• Buildings.com
• McGraw Hill Construction

In the case that your building has an older energy hog elevator (or even if it has a new, energy-efficient model), here are a few things you can do to help reduce its impact:

• Group your trips – instead of going up and down multiple times per day, try to consolidate your trips into just a few (get coffee and go to the bank on the same trip) – it will save both time and energy.
• Hold the door for the person running toward you – it will only cost you a few seconds, make that person very happy, and may save an elevator trip.
• Take the stairs – it's good for your glutes as well as the environment.

Image source: Flickr

What's Your Electronic Load?

For Christmas, my Grandma received 5 digital photo albums (one from every grandkid). But did you know, incredibly, that the increase in usage from just one of those digital photo frames is equal to five 250MW generation plants?

And

The increase in usage by adding a 46” plasma and a set-top box is equal to approximately 860 kWh/yr/household or 2.7% of US electricity Consumption?

While much headway is being made on energy star products it's easy to forget about those DVR machines constantly scanning and recording stations or the thousands of ipods and other devices now being plugged in.

As we move forward and continue to see new gadgets unveiled it becomes increasingly important to be aware of our electronic loads and take advantage of as many energy efficient methods as possible.

Is Your Grass Greener?

A co-worker sent me an image of this Neuton Mower from the swanky purveyor of modern goods, Design Within Reach. Of course, like many things DWR, this mower is only 'within reach' of those with plump wallets, willing to shell out $500 for a fancy mower.

The price of the mower doesn't bug me at all, but the fact that it's touted as 'CO2 emissions free' does. It has a re-chargeable battery, which means that unless you have a PV panel or a wind turbine on your garage, you're probably just plugging it into your wall outlet, which is connected to the grid, which is connected in turn to something likely to be a coal-burning power plant. CO2 emissions free indeed. Just because the emissions aren't local doesn't mean they don't exist.

So when my co-worker asked me if I thought this was truly green, I said, "maybe a little, but have you thought about one of these?"

I was referring to good, old-fashioned push reel mowers. This is about as green as it gets, folks, no batteries or gasoline (or diesel) required! And the website for Clean Air Gardening says that they are easier to push than your grandpa's version.

"Modern reel mowers are easy to push! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. People who think they are hard to push usually haven't seen or touched a reel mower in 20 years. Check out our testimonials page to see for yourself."

The good news? My co-worker surprised me with an e-mail this morning telling me he ordered the Scotts Classic Reel Mower at a sweet $129 (vs. the DWR version at $479) and is looking forward to tackling his physique while he tackles an overgrown lawn. Success!

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/reelmowers.html

I Want a Big Belly!

YES, they make solar compacting recycling stations too!

The BigBelly is a compacting trash receptacle that is completely self-powered. Instead of requiring a grid connection, BigBelly uses solar power for 100% of its energy needs. The unit takes up as much space as the "footprint" of an ordinary receptacle—but its capacity is five times greater. Increased capacity reduces collection trips and can cut fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. BigBelly also provides cost efficiencies from labor savings, fuel cost and maintenance savings, as well as environmental benefits from reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

What I really like about this is that it is a very people-friendly solar device - something everyone will connect with at some point. I have worked on some DC Parks and Recreation projects that would have greatlt benefitted from something like this. And I have heard rumors that these badboys have earned a LEED point in Innovation and Design. Not bad for the little trash compactor that could!

An new energy and space effecient alternative to dedicated server rooms

A UK-based company called Kell Systems have launched a new energy-efficient server that can be located directly in the office workspace. This product is called BladeVault and it is suitable for small and medium sized businesses.

The advantages of BladeVault over traditional server rooms are:

• Supports hardware thermal loads of up to 4.3kW and requiring only 84 Watts of power to do so, compared to the 3 to 4 kW needed to power the air conditioning in an equivalent computer room, therefore saving energy;
• Saves valuable workspace by eliminating the requirement for a separate room;
• 98.5% noise reduction compared to previous Enterprise models, therefore reducing the need for a dedicated server room on noise-grounds;
• Office-grade appearance blends with the office workspace.

Kell is based in the UK but has showrooms in the US. Kell clients include Adobe, Boeing, BT, Disney, EDS, Google, Microsoft, NASA, NATO, Shell, Siemens and Verizon.

For more information see this article.

The Virtual Workplace

The rise of the virtual workplace will reshape the way businesses and workers communicate and collaborate worldwide and could quite possibly be the way forward to cut down on the carbon emissions we produce through intensive travelling.

IBM have today predicted five future trends that will increase demand for virtual communication in the workplace:

1. The Virtual Workplace will become the rule. No need to leave the office. Just bring it along. Desk phones and desktop computers will gradually disappear, replaced by mobile devices, including laptops, that take on traditional office capabilities. Social networking tools and virtual world meeting experiences will simulate the feeling on being there in-person. Work models will be changed by expanded globalization and green business initiatives that reduce travel and encourage work at home.
2. Instant Messaging and other real-time collaboration tools will become the norm, bypassing e-mail. Just as e-mail became a business necessity, a new generation of workers has a new expectation for instant messaging (IM) as the preferred method of business interaction. This will fuel more rapid adoption of unified communications as traditional IM becomes the core extension point for multi-modal communications.
3. Beyond Phone Calls to Collaborative Business Processes. Companies will go beyond the initial capabilities of IM, like click-to-call and online presence, to deep integration with business processes and line-of-business applications, where they can realize the greatest benefit.
4. Interoperability and Open Standards will tear down proprietary walls across business and public domains. Corporate demand for interoperability and maturing of industry standards will force unified communications providers to embrace interoperability. Converged, aggregated, and rich presence will allow businesses and individuals to better find and reach the appropriate resources, removing inefficiencies from business processes and daily lives.
5. New meeting models will emerge. Hang up on routine, calendared conference calls. The definition of "meetings" will radically transform and become increasingly adhoc and instantaneous based on context and need. 3-D virtual world and gaming technologies will significantly influence online corporate meeting experiences to deliver more life-like experiences demanded by the next generation workers who will operate more efficiently in this familiar environment.

Are Photovoltaics Part of the Answer or Part of the Problem?

I have always been a huge proponent of PVs. What's not to love really? You have an inert panel, you put it in the sun, and just like magic you get electricity. Well, there is an article in the Washington Post this morning showing some of the down sides of photovoltaic manufacturing, Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China.

This article raise a lot of questions in my mind. I am working on a project where we were going to install PVs even though it doesn't provide the minimum 2.5% of our buildings energy to get the coveted LEED On Site Renewable Energy credit. Is it worth putting the PVs on the roof if the manufacturing of them is going to wipe out or poison a Chinese village?

I realize that there are two things we [the people on this planet] are trying to achieve with PVs. The first is to fill the growing energy gap, both because of the dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and the increased demand for energy. But more importantly, in my opinion, isn't it to reduce carbon output and environmental impacts? Why do manufacturers loose this perspective? Why is this there huge disconnect between the profit motive and our ecosystem? Why do manufactures continuously trick us into thinking we are doing something good, while we are poisoning a village on the other side of the world?

I am sure this is not true of all PV manufacturers so if anyone has additional information on who recycles their silicon tetrachloride please let us know. It is clear to me that PVs and other forms of solar energy are a major component to our growing energy needs. This is just one more reason why we as consumers need to be diligent about the cradle to cradle cycle of our consumerism.

Take Back Programs

The blog below by Millennial 4 Earth about the Nike take back program made me think about what other big companies are doing. Whether the reason is customer demand, a tidy profit in the resale market, or out of civic responsibility, many big companies are getting in the act. Fewer electronics that we use in our offices and homes are ending up in landfills after their "useful" life and polluting our soil and water. Here is a compilation of some of the "greatest hits".

The Apple free computer take-back program offers US customers environmentally friendly recycling of their old computer when they buy a new Mac®.  The Apple Store® (www.apple.com) and Apple retail stores gives customers the option of recycling their unwanted PCs, regardless of the manufacturer.

Responsible Manufacturing

Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in its products, and arsenic in the glass of flat-panel displays by the end of 2008.  Apple helps to safeguard the environment — as well as consumers’ safety — by restricting the use of environmentally harmful compounds in materials and the manufacturing processes. 

Energy Efficiency

A device’s greatest environmental impact is often its energy consumption over time. Apple has made great strides in recent years to optimize the energy efficiency of hardware and created

tools, such as the Energy Saver feature in Mac OS X, that allow consumers to manage the power consumption of computers.  Since 2001, all Apple desktop computers, portable computers, and displays have earned the ENERGY STAR® rating

Recycling

Apple’s holistic approach to recycling — encompassing a product’s entire lifecycle — includes extensive take-back programs that enable consumers and businesses to dispose of used Apple equipment in an environmentally sound manner. Since the first take-back initiative began in Germany in 1994, Apple has launched programs in the United States, Canada, Japan, and throughout Europe, diverting over 34 million pounds of electronic equipment from landfills worldwide.

Sony's take back program has been ongoing since 2000. Sony teamed up with Waste Management and built a recycling program that makes it easy to dispose of electronics in an environmentally-safe way. Bring your unwanted Sony product to any participating Waste Management eCycling drop-off center (in every state) and recycle it for free.  Waste Management will collect, store, track inventory and dismantle the products into the form of common raw materials where they can be bought and sold on the global market. In some cases, it is likely that recycled plastics will be purchased for reforming into a new current model electronic product.

Additionally, as a member of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), Sony encourages consumers to recycle their used rechargeable batteries through RBRC’s recycling program, “Call2Recycle.”

These programs are part of Sony's broader global commitment to environmental stewardship, which spans product design, recycling, facilities management and energy conservation across all categories.

Dell offers consumers the opportunity to recycle unwanted Dell-branded Product for free. Plus, if you buy a new Dell desktop or notebook and select the free recycling option at the time of purchase, they will recycle your old PC and monitor at no cost to you (even if it isn't a Dell-branded Product.)

Panasonic has teamed up with the Electronic Industries Alliance to provide consumers with an interactive website to help them locate nearby recycling facilities. EIA’s Consumer Education Initiative helps consumers easily find convenient nearby collections sites and provides guidance on other reuse and recycling options. As a service to all Panasonic mobile computer individual and organizational customers, Panasonic, through its partner PlanITROI, offers three interconnected, retired IT Asset solutions covering product remarketing, reuse, or recycling. Each option for Panasonic's Toughbook® mobile computers offers the assurance that the units will receive proper, environmentally sound disposal at their useful end of life. All units handled under the PlanITROI's recycling process are managed in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPEAT standards. The process works the same for all customers and is free of charge. In addition, all units are handled in accordance with U.S. Department of Defense standards for data removal.

Best Buy now offers grants to help increase the recycling opportunities available in communities across the country. Grants range from $500 to $1,500 per event, depending on the size of and scope of the program hosted by nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, or public-private partnerships.

Free recycling drop-off kiosks – these kiosks, just inside the door of every single U.S. Best Buy store, are available for consumers to drop off old cell phones, rechargeable batteries, and ink-jet cartridges at no cost.

Appliance Recycling – Best Buy will remove an old or obsolete appliance at no charge from a consumers’ home when a new product is purchased and is being delivered to the home by Best Buy Home Delivery or Geek Squad.

Television Recycling – Best Buy will remove an old or obsolete television at no charge from a consumers’ home when a new product is purchased and is being delivered to the home by Best Buy Home Delivery or Geek Squad.

Mail-in cell phone recycling – New cell phone customers receive free, postage-paid envelopes to mail old phones to ReCellular, our cell phone reuse/recycling partner. In turn, ReCellular donates dollars from their recycling program to Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Recycling events – Best Buy hosts and/or sponsors a series of weekend recycling events at its store parking lots across the U.S.

Best Buy is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Plug-In to eCycling program - , in which it worked with other member retailers and electronics manufacturers in 2007 to voluntarily recycle more than 34 million pounds of electronics in 2007.

Electronics Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) – Best Buy is a proud member of the EICC, a coalition of 26 multinational corporations and manufacturers that deliver the consumer electronics in demand around the world.

Nokia applies product life-cycle thinking across its entire operations.  Design for Environment is a key first step that minimizes the environmental impact over the entire product life cycle, starting from materials management, and ending with take-back and recycling.  Environmental requirements are extended by Nokia Siemens to its suppliers, while the Environmental Management System manages the environmental impact of Nokia Siemens' own activities. At the end of the product life cycle, take-back, reuse and recycling services for equipment ensure recovery of material and secure safe disposal of substances.

Green Plug

We've all heard about the incredible drain on power that our phone'less and laptop-less chargers can be when left plugged into the wall.

Someone has gone out and created a device that communicates between our portables electronics and the wall, and stops draining power when our phone/camera/laptop/thingamajig has gotten all the power it needs - or isn't even plugged in anymore.

Now I think this is fantastic and I want to immediately start lobbying every manufacturer of rechargeable objects to automatically include this sort of technology in their charging equipment. Duh. http://www.greenplug.us/

Caffeine Fix!

I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but every once in a while I get in the mood for a “fancy coffee”…which usually results in a run to Starbucks, Dean & Deluca, or the coffee shop in the mall. Sometimes I remember to bring an old cup sleeve/coffee cozy. Sometimes I don’t. And since I’m not a regular coffee drinker, I don’t have a reusable travel mug.

Our office has a coffee machine and reusable mugs (yay on the cups), but I hesitate to use it. Why? Well, the coffee (even the cappuccino and hot cocoa options) is pretty bad. And it uses little individual metal/plastic packets for each cup. In the case of cappuccino, it takes two packets per cup. While these may be recyclable, they are not something we can throw in our standard mixed plastic/glass/metal recycling pick up…which means they go in the trash.

In an office of 140 people, this results in a lot of waste. Or trips to the “fancy coffee” store in the case of the coffee snobs – which also results in a lot of waste because many people don’t remember their reusable mugs.

What are the solutions? Well, a better coffee option at work might help. Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Get a barista machine and provide higher-end coffee
• Add a staffed barista kiosk available in the office part time
• Provide travel mugs and encourage employees to use them
• Provide exclusively organic free-trade coffee – locally grown if possible
• Brew large pots in a standard drip coffee maker and compost the grounds
• Use sugar and cream dispensers rather than individual packets

Would these be more sustainable options? Possibly, depending upon implementation. It’s definitely worth thinking about.

Greenopolis: Social Networking at its Greenest?

There is a new social networking site called Greenopolis. It's all about sharing green ideas with a network of people focused on green issues. I didn't realize that "niche social networking" was in, but its a natural progression... like minded groups are bound to want to find each other more easily online.

A good portion of the site is educational, but there are also media content from The Green Broadcast System (GBS) stated to be the"premier collection of sustainability-related news, video, and podcasts." The Galleria features green products and books. There is a eGreenU section for schools to collect education materials, there are blogs, events, polls, forums, groups... the list goes on and on.

As part of your profile you can answer a series of questions that determine your "badge level." Clearly I am way behind the times because I was labeled a "Green Newbie." Actually a little embarrassing! But I guess the point of the badge is to try and improve your score through behavioral changes, such as not using 6-10 consumer products like I do to fix my hair and makeup in the morning.