Earth Hour 2009 from Las Vegas

American workers waste $2.8 billion leaving computers on

Nearly half of U.S. employees who use a PC at work don’t shut down their computers at the end of the day, wasting $2.8 billion every year.

Even a company with 10,000 PC's can save more than $165,000 a year in energy costs just by hutting down computers each night.

Data collected between September and October 2008 reveals that more than one-third of employees in the U.K. 32 % of U.S. employees and 17 % of German employees who use a PC at work said they either have no idea what power scheme settings are, or how to change the power settings on their PC's.

The survey also reveals that the U.S. employees that do power down do so to make sure their PC's work properly and to comply with company policy, not because they are interested in saving money or the environment.

The externally-attached ecobutton (http://www.eco-button.com/) lets you hit a button (think Staples' easy button) to powerdown when you step away, without having to reset your computer's settings.

A Coke and a Green Smile!

Coca-Cola, with the help of Ecos Business Solutions, is sharing what it has learned through its own sustainability efforts with restaurant customers to encourage more sustainable business practices.

“Restaurant Solutions” for Coca-Cola customers consists of three tiers of services ranging from education and benchmarking to full audits and multi-year action plans and focus on making operations more sustainable in the areas of energy, water, packaging and facilities.

For their own sustainability efforts, Coca-Cola reduces their carbon footprint with energy-efficient coolers, LED lighting in warehouses, wind turbine installations in Wakefield, England, and solar panels at a California distribution center.
The beverage company also added 185 hybrid trucks to its fleet, for a total of 327, and is completing lighting retrofits at its California facilities, which will save 5.6 million kilowatt-hours annually.

Now that is something to have a coke and smile about!

Orange Peel Tires? The ALMS goes green!

Racing, inherently, is not very green. But what is green is reducing impact, reusing, repurposing and being efficient. And that is what the American Le Mans Series is pioneering in the racing industry with the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. In the challenge, all cars are ranked according to the amount of energy used, greenhouse gases emitted and the amount of petroleum displaced.
The Challenge is a great opportunity for innovative companies to showcase their green inventions. In addition to the newly announced G-Oil from Green Earth Technologies, Yokohma introduced tires made partially from discarded orange peels.
The Corvette C6.R, driven by Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Antonio Garcia, was the top scoring car yesterday in Sebring.

Save the Earth – Sacrifice Nothing

Save the Earth – Sacrifice Nothing! Green Earth Technologies signed a two-year contract with racing series American Le Mans Series and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) to be the official motor oil! Green Earth Technologies' G-OIL is made with American-grown renewable animal fats, whose molecular single-bond carbon chains are similar to common petroleum oils, making them just as effective as regular oil, but having no harsh effects on the environment. G-OIL is the world's lowest petroleum, "eco-friendly," ultimate biodegradable motor oil.

Green Earth Technologies also produces other G-branded superior performing totally green products made with American-Grown Base Oils that utilize the power of nanotechnology to deliver environmentally friendly products with no compromise. So you can "do your part" without having to give up performance or value: Save the Earth – Sacrifice Nothing.

Not enough variety in the electric car market? TH!NK again!

Th!nk, an electric car company based in Norway, plans to open a U.S. manufacturing plant, hopefully in the Southwest. Th!nk hopes to begin production of their 112 mile-range, all-electric car in 2010 and pump out 16,000 cars annually. Eventually, the company may produce upwards of 60,000 vehicles annually and employ 900 people in the United States.
The Southwest would be ideal since environmentally-conscious California is nearby and the wide-open spaces of Nevada and Arizona allow for flexibility in design. With the hard-hit Las Vegas economy, thanks in part to Obama's bashing of company trips to Sin City, Southern Nevada could use the jobs. In addition, a new plant in Southern Nevada could easily be eco-friendly and solar-powered, with the Southwest offering the best year-round sun in the US.
Th!nk North America said it will apply for low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, created in 2007 to develop fuel-efficient vehicles. Last June, the US Department of Energy said it would contribute up to $30 million over three years for three cost-shared Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) demonstration and development projects. Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, who makes the my favorite electric sportscar, is among those applying for federal funds.

Green Outlet in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Goes Green at least once a month at the G3reen Outlet in the Arts Factory downtown Las Vegas for First Friday. Eco-friendly companies showcase their products and services to the thousands of art festival-goers that converge downtown once a month on the first Friday of every month. Jewelry made from other broken jewelry (wastenotwhimsy.etsy.com) and aluminum cans (funkyrecycling.etsy.com), guitar picks made from expired credit cards, Skoy cloth that replaces 15 rolls of papertowels (skoycloth.com), and cute organic bamboo clothing (www.globalghettoorganics.com) are on display. Sandhi Schimmel Gold makes glamorous mosaic portraits from junk mail (www.schimmelart.com), The Body Shop at Home touts green practices and products for your body and Winder Farms delivers organic food to your home!
Check out this highlight video from March. If you are interested in showcasing your green product or company, call (702) 845-9599.