The Vancouver Olympic medals were made from recycled e-waste.

In 2008, the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing set a new bar for what has become known as the Green Games. From the onset, Beijing officials were determined to not only make the Summer 2008 Olympic Games one of the most spectacular of all time, but also to show the rest of the world how to take care of the planet.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the Beijing games far exceeded most of its environmentally friendly expectations. Great strides were made in reducing air pollution (though there is still a long way to go), investing in clean and renewable energy sources for public transportation and providing ample opportunity for the attendees and contestants to recycle used water bottles, paper and other materials. One of the most significant outcomes of these efforts was seen in Beijing’s air quality during and after the Olympic Games. Tests performed during the Olympics showed “reductions in carbon monoxide (CO) by 47 per cent; nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) by 38 per cent; volatile organic compounds (VOC) by 30 per cent; particulate matter (PM10) by 20 per cent; and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) by 14 per cent,” according to the UN News Center.

Due to such a large success in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Olympics tried to follow suit. Luckily, Vancouver was a step ahead of the game when it comes to greening its city. Before the Olympics were awarded to Vancouver, the city pledged to be the world’s greenest city by 2020. While many earth-friendly advocates were critical of the $2 billion Canadian spent on building and a preparing for the Olympics, the money was put to good use to ensure a safe and healthy environment.

One great accomplishment of the 2010 Olympics is the village built for the athletes to live in during the games used captured methane gas from a former landfill. The captured gas was converted into energy and was the primary source of electricity for the community. The community was heated primarily from waste heat expelled from a nearby wastewater treatment facility.

Transportation was another aspect in greening the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Eighty-nine million Canadian dollars later, the city was able to showcase hydrogen and fuel-cell technology vehicles. This fleet of green transportation consisted of buses, a subway system and smaller vehicles.

Vancouver has already committed to leave a net-zero carbon footprint citywide. Officials are tracking and assessing the carbon footprint that is being left after the games and has committed to purchasing an equal amount of carbon offsets.

While these efforts are applauded by most of the world, some of the new green technology has slowed down the Olympic Games. For example, a new green ice-cleaning machine was engineered to replace the traditional Zamboni. The green ice-cleaning machine continued to have complications and broke down multiple times, placing a halt on men’s speed skating. Eventually, a Zamboni was transported from Calgary as a replacement. As a result, many critics say is Canada putting green before reliability.

Recycling was another big emphasis at the 2010 Olympic Games. Coca-Cola partnered with the Olympic Games to raise awareness of just how much of an impact recycling can make. Vancouver is already notorious for recycle divers. These are individuals who rummage through trashcans and large dumpsters to find recyclable items. Vancouver offers a fair rate for recyclable items, so these divers can make up to $100 a day. Recycling was prominent in the city of Vancouver even before the Olympics arrived, and recycling receptacles are everywhere — the arenas, hotels and the Olympic Village.

As with any new idea, progress takes time and trial and error. While not every green alternative proved to be as efficient as traditional approaches, Vancouver should be applauded for its efforts and commitment to set a new bar for greener and more energy-efficient Olympic Games. Green activists are already talking about London 2012, which is predicted to raise the Green Games bar again.

Imagine in the future that instead of traveling with a laptop computer, you grab your personal wireless interface (PWI) — probably something made of fabric you can crumple up and stuff in your pocket, but for want of a better analogy, think of a keyboard, mouse and screen.

With your PWI you can connect instantly to the Internet without wires or even electricity. Wherever you are, you’ll have access to all your software and files, which will be protected by encryption technology. You’ll do all your work “in the cloud” and you’ll never need to worry about losing work.

I can’t wait for that day to come, because I’m tired of lugging around my laptop. I’m worrying about it constantly. What if I drop it? What if something gets spilled on it? Or, what if I lose it, or someone steals it? And now, knowing how much e-waste is generated each year just from laptop computers, I don’t want to continue to be part of the problem.

For all their convenience, laptops just aren’t all that convenient. Even more, they’re bad for the environment.

Cloud computing, on the other hand, is a genius invention that can help save the earth. Cloud computing is very convenient: you’ll never need to install or upgrade software again, because it’s done for you in the cloud, and you can easily share your files if your work requires multiple users. No more emailing around countless revisions!

For the past week I’ve had the opportunity to leave my laptop behind and do an experiment with cloud computing. With a computer at work and occasional stretches of down time, I’ve been wondering how productive I could be without a personal computer of my own.

As I ponder buying another computer within the next 12-24 months, I wonder if it will even be necessary to own a personal computer in the near future. Will every piece of software be available in the cloud? How cool will it be never to have to throw away another outdated computer?

Clouds have been around for a while, but with server technology getting more powerful, and Internet connectivity becoming faster and more accessible all the time, the implications of cloud computing are eventually going to lead us to complete freedom from notebook computers and software upgrades.

You’ve probably been using cloud computing for years. Big Web email providers like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. were some of the first examples of cloud computing. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter also use a cloud computing model. When you update your Facebook or Twitter status, you don’t have to go around and change something in everyone’s computers. Your profiles exist in the cloud. When you change something, everyone can see the change instantly.

One of the most exciting examples of cloud computing comes from Veeple, a Palo Alto, CA-based company that offers “clickable video” technology to producers and Web publishers. With Veeple, you can program clickable elements into a video and offer an enhanced interactive experience, with pop-up bubbles, online shopping and more. Software upgrades are installed by Veeple in the background, and when you change a link in a Veeple video, viewers see the new link immediately, even if your video has already been deployed. In this example, cloud computing will help save millions in costs and materials for advertisers and publishers.

In the last few days, I’ve written, edited and submitted several articles, ordered domain names, set up hosting accounts, shopped for accessories and kept up with my emails — all without having my own computer on hand — thanks to cloud computing.

It may not be as quick as two years from now before laptop computers become a thing of the past. For now, we still need our laptops to access the cloud (I used other people’s desktop computers to access the cloud). But, in the future, we won’t need smaller computers to access bigger computers; instead, we’ll have something very simple without information or complicated components, like the PWI imagined earlier. This will make upgrades and computer disposal a thing of the past.

From a conservation angle, we’re probably talking hundreds of millions of pounds of saved materials each year, once it is no longer necessary to build personal computers for every human being. Imagine how much less e-waste we will create when everybody is using cloud computing.

Remember the statistic from the EPA that 12 million laptops were discarded in 2007? Including desktop computers, nearly 30 million computers were discarded that year. Combined, we’re talking about 112,000 computers discarded every single day.

I sure haven’t missed my laptop during this experiment, and in fact, I’ll be looking for even more ways to work in the cloud.

If we move toward a personal computing model that no longer requires personal computers, cloud computing can make a big impact in our efforts to combat e-waste.

This small interaction got me thinking. I had heard about digital newspapers, but wasn’t sure how popular they are or how much of a difference they are making on the environment. After a little research and Googling around, I found some enlightening and eye-opening information.

At first glance, most people would assume that this question is a no brainer. Of course a digital newspaper is greener, because there’s no paper used and no transportation required. A recent study performed by KTH Centre for Sustainable Communications in Stockholm compared the environmental impact of producing and delivering a newspaper and the time and electricity it would take to read a digital edition online.

The research concluded that it takes the average person about 30 minutes to read the newspaper. With this amount of time, they found that both paper and digital versions make about the same environmental impact. Surprised and determined to find ways for this not be so, I’ve come up with a few ways that you can make reading a digital newspaper more eco-friendly.

• Read the digital paper for 10 to 15 minutes. Find the top stories that interest you and read those first. If you have time remaining, then go on to the stories of less interest.
• Don’t use your computer to read the newspaper. Use smaller, battery-operated devices such as an Internet-enabled phone or a Kindle. These devices use much less energy than a home computer or laptop. If you use these devices, you can read more than 10 minutes without worry.
• Use a sustainable source for your electricity, such as solar power or a biodiesel fuel generator. If you use these sources for energy, then the digital paper is much more eco-friendly than the paper version.

If you’re a stickler for the traditional paper newspaper, then find a used one at your local coffee shop and reuse it. Besides, it’s going to end up in the trash at the end of the day. You can also talk with your neighbors and develop a reading plan where the earliest riser gets the paper delivered to their house and then drops at the front door of the next person on the rising list. You can create a chain of five to seven people and save money and trees.

Like many Americans, you may be thinking about filing your taxes online. Each year, more and more people go the e-file route; in 2008, 38 million people filed online, according to the IRS — a 5% increase over the previous year. Assuming that trend continues, millions more people will file online this year.

There are plenty of reasons why e-filing is convenient. For instance, many people qualify to file their federal taxes online for free, and free is always a good thing. I’ve also found the online tools that are available when you e-file to be helpful, and I like having an electronic copy of my return in one tidy little PDF file.

But, even if you don’t qualify for free e-filing, going the online route may be a good idea to help conserve paper. Tax returns are notoriously long, and have been getting longer. As of the early aughts, the “short” tax return form had become twice as long as the “long” form that was used in 1945, with 85 pages of instructions alone. According to the IRS, more than 200 million people file a tax return each year. I’m not great with math, but it’s safe to say that if all those people printed out every piece of paper related to their federal (not to mention state) tax return, that would be a whole bunch of paper.

If you do your taxes yourself and you haven’t e-filed before, at least check it out and see if it could be for you. And, if you use a CPA, ask him or her to e-mail your return to you rather than printing it out. Every little bit helps! And besides, who wants a file cabinet full of tax return papers? That’s so 1995.

Paper forms are easy to confuse, misplace and lose. Charts can be dropped, leaving the forms a mess, or they can be placed in the wrong slot, leading to an unwanted outcome. The amount of paper used in the medical industry is also harmful for the environment. Some hospitals have caught on to the idea of converting to fully digital recording systems.

I was recently taken by ambulance to the emergency room at my nearby hospital and I was impressed on how much paper I didn’t have to sign.

The medical forms, insurance questions and ambulance information were all computed and saved via computers and digital tablets. There were a few pages I had to sign when I was discharged, but that was about it.

It’s not only paper forms that are being stored electronically. It’s anything from X-rays, to prescriptions and other tests being performed. For example, if a hospital does away with using film for X-rays, it will save money and avoid using a large amount of plastic to produce the film. Storing forms, documents and medical records digitally is safer, more efficient and easier to organize. In some cases, the records can be viewed online once a patient is discharged from his or her home computer — a process that would traditionally take time, effort and lots of paper.

Raritan Bay Medical Center in New Jersey is making incredible strides in going completely digital. The hospital received a $3.1-million award from local energy company PSE&G to upgrade its systems. This hospital has the only 100% pediatric digital record recording system and estimates that it will save over $1 million in energy expenses over the next three years, according to the Environmental Leader.

Other ways some hospitals have been attempting to cut down on the paper load is by installing recycling bins throughout the high-traffic areas of the hospital for employees and visitors to use. Some hospitals will go out of their way to find a shredding company that is committed to recycling the shredded paper.

There are disadvantages of hospitals converting to digital data storage. One of the main concerns of some people is the safety of their information. Although a hospital’s IT department works very hard to protect sensitive information, the fear of a professional hacker gaining access to this vital information can be detrimental. Another concern is inaccuracy. Much like your credit report, inaccurate information can be acquired in your medical records if you have a similar name or address of someone else in the same hospital. It is always important to review all of your digital medical records on a yearly basis to identify any electronic mistakes.

The most important players are in place: the government and the energy companies. Both are pushing for less paper and less energy usage in current U.S. hospitals. With these two vital forces behind change, it is sure to happen. Contact your local gas or electric provider and inquire about ways they are supporting the continual national transformation and cure of over usage.

The largest push to green Hollywood is coming from one of the largest Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. Warner Bros. is making huge strides to not only clean up its act, but also to set a standard for other studios to follow.

Warner Bros. is pioneering the entertainment world's conservation efforts.

Warner Bros. has introduced a green handbook for Hollywood called, “Going Green: An Environmental Production Handbook.” The handbook outlines how the studio is going green in its productions and it outlines simple steps for others to follow.

For example, Warner Bros. has recently given some of its largest soundstages a complete overhaul to make them more energy efficient and sustainable. In the reconstructive process, the studio was able to reuse or recycle over 92% of the previous soundstage. The reincarnated soundstage runs on 100% solar power and was built using sustainable wood, according to ABC News.

According to the handbook, Warner Bros. prevents over 6,000 tons of greenhouse gases, uses a 72-kilowatt solar electrical system (the first of its kind in Hollywood) and makes recycling the forefront and focus of its efforts.

Over 75% of the green handbook focuses on recycling. Here are some ways Warner Bros. is utilizing recycling as its top way of going green:

• Recycling more than it throws away — over 60% of the waste stream
• Recycling enough paper each year to save about 2,300 barrels of oil, 10,000 trees and million gallons of water
• Recycling thousands of tons of paper, cardboard, beverage containers, wood, green waste, metal, film, videos, CDs, DVDs and electronic waste
• Donating set walls, set pieces, props, draperies and costumes to local schools and community organizations through the studio’s Environmental Initiatives program

Warner Bros.’ platform is “recycle everything.” Throughout the various studios, soundstages and production facilities Warner Bros. has recycling opportunities everywhere. You’ll find containers to recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, wood, metal, movie film, paint, batteries and electronic waste. The company intentional places these containers in obvious areas with proper signage so employees and visitors alike get the message.

Warner Bros. also donates its old furniture and old sets to local schools and community theaters so used items don’t end up in the county landfill. Warner Bros. is also attempting to purchases products with high levels of post-consumer content. If you want to sell to them, your products must have some percentage of recycled materials. The company uses only nontoxic cleaning products for its facilities and purchases local as often as it can.

Warner Bros. also has very strict environmental standards for its company and employees. For example, one of the studio’s policies encourages employees to always research all products. If the employee finds a recycled or more eco-friendly product costs more than the conventional counterpart, Warner Bros. has a person in house to negotiate with the company to get the greener product at the same rate.

Warner Bros. is tenacious in its stance on eco-living and the importance of recycling. The company’s standard is a constant reminder to the entertainment world and those that watch their productions that recycling and using eco-friendly practices is the best way to take care of our world and our health.

If you buy or rent "Away We Go," make sure to check out the special feature on the green-minded production of the film.

A few weeks ago, I rented Away We Go, a movie I had been wanting to see since last summer when it was in theaters. I really liked it, which I had expected. (Seriously, you should rent it. It’s good.)

But, what surprised me was one of the special features on the DVD that talked about how the filmmakers had worked to ensure that the production of Away We Go was as environmentally friendly as possible. The film’s director, Sam Mendes, and some of the producers talked about how wasteful and energy intensive most film sets are, with all the lights, equipment, trucks and set pieces, and how that inspired them to approach this film in a totally different way. For instance, they used refillable water bottles, biodegradable plastics, biodiesel and hybrid vehicles, low-energy washers and dryers for the wardrobe department, sustainable set-building materials, eco-friendly cleaning products and corn- and sugar-based biodegradable dinnerware. Even the actual film was environmentally friendly — they used something called three-perf film, which uses one-quarter less film and chemicals in the development process than traditional film.

I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I looked into it a little more and found out that there are apparently whole companies and initiatives devoted to “greening” film productions. The makers of Away We Go used Earthmark/Green Media Solutions, a consulting group that helps television producers and filmmakers reduce their carbon footprint and the overall environmental impact of their productions. And, the film was part of NBC’s Green Is Universal campaign, which works to “bring an environmental perspective to our networks, our platforms, our audiences [and] our communities.”

Green film production is definitely an interesting concept, and one that I hope we start to hear about more and more as the concept catches on. If one major studio (in this case, Focus Features) can do it, why not everyone else in the filmmaking world?

Just like airline ticketing, you can now attend Ticketmaster events without even printing a ticket. With paperless ticketing, you can buy tickets online and on the day of the event — you’ll just need your credit card and a government-issued photo ID. Not only is this greener than printing tickets or having them mailed, but it’s also one less thing you have to keep up with. According to Ticketmaster, more than 500,000 customers have used paperless ticketing since its launch in May 2008.

Customers in the U.K. can recycle cell phones or iPods with Ticketmaster for credit toward ticket purchases. A recycled Blackberry 9500 Storm receives £106 (about $166) on a Ticketmaster gift card. A recycled 8-gigabyte first-generation iPod touch will earn you £11 (about $17) on a Ticketmaster gift card. Only residents of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are eligible for this promotion. Currently, there is not a similar program in place in the U.S.

Live Nation, the “largest producer of live concerts in the world,” completed a merger with Ticketmaster in January 2010.

Live Nation had a Recycling Rocks sweepstakes, but it has ended. The website still features eco-friendly products for fans, green living tips and a list of rock stars that promote recycling.

In 2007, Live Nation San Francisco pushed sustainability by providing better parking for hybrid cars, purchasing carbon offsets to make up for 100% of the travel to and from Live Nation San Francisco events, providing more recycling bins for venues and offices, increasing audience awareness of green living and using eco-friendly cleaning products and paper products made from 95% recycled materials.

Besides these steps, Ticketmaster and Live Nation aren’t very forward with their steps toward sustainability, and if they are, they aren’t communicating their goals very clearly to the public. Owning such a large part of the event-ticketing market, consumers should be concerned with the business practices that Ticketmaster displays.

It’s hard to tell how much your concert venues are doing to be green, but next time you’re at a concert, be aware of recycling bins, sustainable packaging and products made from recycled materials. Jot down notes of what could be improved, such as more recycling bins, better labeled recycling bins, giving consumers the choice of compostable cups, etc. When you get home, write an email with your suggestions or give the venue a call. If eco-conscious consumers can start a conversation about sustainability, it is likely that we will see changes in the venues we frequent.

The polluting, inefficient gasoline engines of yesteryear aren’t making the grade today and because of this the Toyota Prius stands as the most common non-traditionally fueled vehicle out there. But, what other types of fuel are changing the way we think about getting around? What are car companies doing to embrace the green movement? And, what does algae have to do with anything? Well, to educate any and all about where autos are heading, what follows is a grab bag of some car and fuel facts with sustainability at the core from sources such as hybrid-car.org,greencar.com, The Wall Street Journal, Volvo, Chevrolet and news.carjunky.com.

• Estimates state that hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius produce 90% less pollutants than comparable non-hybrid cars.
• Hybrid cars show much lower depreciation rates than standard gasoline cars.
• Though hybrid cars have not been on the U.S. market for very long, they have been sold in Japan since 1997.
• Natural and biological sources of alternative fuels include corn, algae and vegetable oils.
• In the green car future, electric vehicles will compel owners to think about how far they drive every day — and adjust for cold days, which can cut 20% to 30% off a vehicle’s range.
• At the end of its useful life, every Volvo is designed to be 85% recyclable.
• Volvo factories are powered by wind and hydroelectric power.
• The new Chevrolet Volt is billed to able to run up to 40 miles “gas and emissions free” in good weather.

In the near future I’d like to see cars that are completely recyclable and cars that utilize the natural power of the sun, plant life and wind, not only in their design, but also in their production. Much to the dismay of Otto and Lenoir, wouldn’t it be nice to have engines that don’t cause harmful pollution or deplete finite resources at an alarming rate?

We are Reverb, an environmental nonprofit organization that sits firmly within the music industry. With a mission to engage and educate artists and their fans, as well as influence the rest of the music industry, we work to provide greening options to artists, labels, venues and others in the community.

Reverb did its part at the 2009 Baystock Music Festival in Maine. Image courtesy of Reverb.

We have a dual-pronged approach to greening. On one side, we work directly with artists on the ground to make sure their tour is as environmentally friendly as possible. We do this by fueling their trucks and buses with biodiesel, which produces less CO₂ than conventional diesel. We source food from local, organic farms and encourage the use of real plate and silverware in catering. We provide reusable water bottles and water filling stations to cut down on plastic bottle waste. We set up recycling locations backstage and on tour buses. We offset the CO₂ produced by the tour by purchasing wind power.

On the other side, we use artists’ popularity and reach to connect with fans at each show. We provide online resources for fans looking to go green in their concert-going, as well as their everyday life. We set up an interactive and engaging Eco-Village at each show, where fans can offset their carbon footprint and plug into local and national environmental organizations. It’s our hope that these actions are one step of many in each fan’s contribution to environmental action.

Reverb also uses its unique position in the music and environmental realms to influence larger change throughout the music industry. We encourage venues to use eco-friendly supplies, set up recycling stations and reward carpoolers. Labels are encouraged to use eco-friendly packaging when they distribute CDs, among other things.

Given the many resources at our disposal to create change and inspire action, Reverb recently launched a new project called Green Music Group. After many years of partnering with artists on tour greening and fan education, we’ve pulled together a large-scale, high-profile environmental coalition of musicians, industry leaders and music fans; the goal being to use our collective power to bring about widespread environmental change within the music industry and around the globe. We’re excited about the positive environmental impact this collective will have, and we’re encouraging music fans everywhere to get involved at GreenMusicGroup.org.

Amy Makowiecki

As a final note, It’s not all or nothing when it comes to taking positive environmental action! We believe that a small step is better than no step, and that millions of fans taking small steps together can create real, meaningful, effective change. Find simple ways to take action at Reverb.org.

Amy’s love for music and the environment is perfectly balanced in her work for Reverb. As Reverb’s social media and community outreach coordinator, she spends her time plugging fan volunteers and nonprofit organizations into the Eco Village, as well as maintaining Reverb’s social networks. She lives in Portland, ME.

I never gave it much thought. I never thought how wasteful I was being and how much energy I could be saving if I simply used a stainless steel container. Once I finally discovered the amount of energy required to produce a single bottle of water, I made the switch.

A recent study performed by researchers Peter Gleick and Heather Cooley from the Pacific Institute in Oakland, CA, found some outstanding results. They discovered that it takes about 2,000 times more energy to produce a single bottle of water compared to drinking from the tap (or filtering your own tap water). They took into consideration the energy required to create the PET plastic, process the water, seal the bottle, transport the bottle and finally refrigerate the water. The amount of energy required to produce a single liter bottle of water is 10.2 million joules, compared to 0.005 million joules to produce a liter of processed tap water.

If those numbers aren’t enough, take a look at some statistics from the Pacific Institute:

• Producing the bottles for American consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation.
• Bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• It takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of plastic bottled water.

If you’re looking for the best way to reverse the upswing of bottled water consumption, the first step is to stop buying it. Purchase a stainless steel reusable bottle or a glass water bottle and reuse it with filtered or spring water. You can either have a water filter installed in your home or you can use a commercial filter found at most supermarkets. These still require some energy usage, but a minimal amount compared to purchasing bottled water that had to be transported across the country. If you have a friend or family member that has well water or you know of a local spring, fill your 5-gallon buckets and use the water for your daily consumption.

There are two ways you can recycle your water filters. The first way is to take the filter apart and dispose of the charcoal and other sand elements in your back yard or add it to your compost. The second way, according to Planet Green, is to drop off your used water filters at your local Whole Foods Market. Evidently, they will take your used water filters and send them off to be recycled.

The next time you’re standing in line at your local coffee shop and you need a drink of water, ask the barista for a cup of tap water (most likely their water is filtered) in a “for here” cup. Drink your glass of water and return the cup. Stay away from the temptation of buying bottled water and supporting this multi-billion-dollar industry that’s hurting the planet.

The first home is located in Arcata, CA. The sustainable features include solar panels that amount to nearly a zero-energy-consuming house and a “permaculture garden” that boasts “native plants, fruits, vegetables, and [a] fish pond.” Furthermore, according to the listing, a green remodeling of the home started in 2002 and included the utilization of “natural materials and low-VOC paints and finishes throughout,” a “3.5 kW solar photovoltaic system with grid intertie, solar preheated water, solar heated hot tub, point-of-use/on-demand electric water heaters in kitchen and bathroom, double-pane windows throughout, insulation in ceiling, walls, and under floor, Harmon wood pellet heating stove, and highly efficient utilities in kitchen including inductive magnetic stovetop, refrigerator and half-drawer dishwasher.”

There is also a battery of water-saving inclusions such as a “beautiful 5,000-gallon recycled redwood rainwater collection tank,” low-flush toilets inside and even a composting toilet outside. Wow, those are some great eco-friendly features, but perhaps the most impressive aspect (to me at least) is the fact that the garage was remodeled to house both 120- and 240-volt connections for electric vehicles. This is an extremely forward-thinking decision that will, hopefully, pay off by becoming a trend.

The second home is a Bay Area adobe pegged as a “completely remodeled eco-friendly home with stunning ocean views in San Francisco.” This house embraces the push for sustainability by offering amenities such as a new roof with solar panels, low-VOC paints and energy-efficient washer and dryer and HVAC systems. The list continues with “dual flush toilets, custom FSC bamboo cabinets, Vetrazzo and CeasarStone countertops, cork flooring, efficient lighting, and dual paned windows.” This home might also be considered more sustainable by the fact that it is smaller than most of the other homes listed. But, what home in San Francisco isn’t?

With green homes, energy and water efficiency and sustainable materials transported short distances are all key. While these homes typically merit a higher price (the Arcata home is roughly $450,000 and the San Francisco residence tops out at nearly $1.3 million), suffice it to say that these structures more than make up for their sticker price through the creation of healthier environments both inside and out.