Green Technologies Far From Fringe

Sustainable technology was a fairly new concept less than ten years ago, at least in the way we think about it now. Solar panels? Even five years ago, reliance on the same old, same old fuels and “best practices” were the most desirable technologies to implement. Now it seems many more start-ups and entrepreneurs, as well as some big time names, are seeking to out-green the rest, moving green-tech out of the fringe and into the limelight.

Popular tech blog Engadget has been posting a series called “Inhabitat’s Week in Green” to highlight the innovative, and downright cool advances where technology meets sustainability. Inhabitat is a blog keeping their eyes on the green prize, and so was a natural outlet for Engadget to pump up its own sustainable chops. Some of the more eye-catching developments from the latest round up included solar cars from GM, Ford and Chrysler who teamed up with a some engineering students; Facebook’s sustainable server farm to naturally cool the system that keeps millions of us tapped in; and Phillips’ fascinating bacteria powered lamps.

Also in the news for green inclinations is a little known company called Google, who was recently recognized by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as a company putting in the hard time to find  and utilize renewable energy sources. From the blog Earth Techling:

“Google’s green power accomplishments include purchasing green power from NextEra Energy Resources, Renewable Choice Energy and Puget Sound Energy. Additionally, the tech superpower helped to create the largest residential solar fund in the U.S. and has invested in several renewable energy projects, including what’s planned to be the world’s largest wind farm…”

Huffington Post has picked up on this thread and released a list (compiled by Newsweek) of the “Greenest Tech Companies,” with Google at number 30. Apple came in at number 27, trumped by Microsoft at 23. Toshiba ranked number 10, toppling companies I’ve never even heard of, followed by Dell at number 9. Mobile companies Nokia and Samsung took 8 and 7, with Hewlett-Packard at number 5. Who had the top spot? IBM. Here’s Newsweek‘s methodology to see why these companies were favored over others. It involves a score for environmental management, how green they are and what their environmental impact is.

Apparently going green isn’t just for the casual recyclers or the rare entrepreneurs. Large mega-companies are working on improving their “green” name, at least, as far as we can tell. Now, let’s just keep small green-tech afloat, shall we?

Google Where?……Bike There!

Finally! Google has an interface that is specific to cars, buses, pedestrians and now…..you guessed it….BIKERS! This huge and exciting announcement has taken the sustainable and pedaling community by storm, as now this new feature allows you to plot the best (and flattest) ride from one point to another on the map. The requests in the past few years have been overwhelming. Now that Google has decided to launch it, people are ecstatic. From petitions (over 50,000 signatures strong) to letters bike advocates around the nation have been pushing and asking for an application that is specific to them, as bike riding is one of the most sustainable and healthy ways to navigate around town.

Bikers in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Portland, and Minneapolis have bike-specific mapping sites. Having an application that supports this kind of sustainable transportation is going to further already bike crazed individuals and spark the interest of would be bikers due to its simple and convenient nature.

If you are a potential biker or a current bike advocate check out Google’s step by step video on how to navigate around their new site.

Bike directions will take advantage of bike paths and other bike facilities. There are specific colored lines to indicate one way streets, bike only streets and bike friendly streets, among a whole slough of other features.

Whether you’re just curious or an avid biker, check it out! Help yourself while you help the environment, one pedal at a time.