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- Give the Gift of Green Gadgets Nov 14
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Business travel
Use teleconferencing services
AIM.com 6.8
AIM.com is available free to Mac, Linux, and Windows users alike, and allows participants to talk, instant message, share pictures, and video conference.Cisco TelePresence
This intelligent system allows you to set up interactive meetings easily and reliably. No IT support required.Conference Solutions
This company has teleconferencing and video conferencing services with flat rate and pay-as-you go plans.FreeConference
FreeConference has some free and low cost conferencing services. Optional features include scheduled or reservation-less calls, toll-free dial-in numbers, and more.FreedomVoice Systems
FreedomVoice provides toll-free teleconferencing services for a small price. Reservations not required.InstantConference
Features include toll-free numbers that never expire, Outlook scheduling, call recording, and web conferencing. Basic services are free.Skype video and phone
Skype offers low international rates, unlimited calls to any phone in the US and Canada for less than $3 per month, in addition to a free service for talking over the Internet.VESTA Networks
Teleconference and web conference services are free with features like corporate branding, lecture mode, and moreWebex WebOffice
This company has an innovative online office system that includes document management, databases, calendars, conferencing tools, task managers, and more.
Travel by train or bus
Amtrak Acela Express Train (Northeast)
Traveling at speeds up to 150 mph, the Acela Express is Amtrak’s first high-speed train service. It serves Boston, New York, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. Hourly service is offered during peak morning and afternoon rush hours between New York, Washington, DC, and other intermediate cities.Greyhound North America
Greyhound serves more than 3,100 cities with 16,000 daily departures across North America. One Greyhound bus replaces an average of 20 cars and achieves 162 passenger miles per gallon of fuel. Greyhound partners with other bus lines as well as Amtrak train service to help passengers get to their destination.Lux Bus America (Southern California)
Lux Bus America serves passengers traveling between Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, and Las Vegas. The company also offers The Las Vegas Liner, providing daily service to and from Las Vegas.Megabus.com (Midwest and Northeast)
Megabus.com bills itself as a low-cost bus service. A round-trip ticket from Chicago to Detroit runs just $45.50 and takes less than 7 hours. The return trip is less than 5 hours. Purchase tickets to various cities in the Midwest and Northeast online.VIA Rail Canada
VIA Rail Canada transports 4.1 million passengers a year across Canada, serving about 450 communities. The company has an Environmental Policy that states, in part, that the rail line will serve only fair trade coffee, use recycled paper products, and recycle cans, newspapers, and plastic bottles.
Choose a green hotel
Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort (Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)
Besides using a solar water-heating system and natural bedding, this Costa Rican eco-resort allows only quiet electric cars on the grounds, which just happens to be 70 percent protected rainforest.Asheville Green Cottage (Asheville, NC)
The Asheville Green Cottage offers locally grown organic fruit, Fair Trade coffees and teas, natural latex mattresses, organic cotton sheets and towels, and nontoxic cleaning products.Aurum Lodge (Alberta, Canada)
This lodge near Alberta's Banff and Jasper National Parks offers passive solar design, recessed low-E windows, composting toilets, and a graywater treatment system.Banff Park Lodge Resort Hotel & Conference Centre (Alberta, Canada)
Set in Banff National Park amid snow-covered peaks, it's the first hotel in Canada to receive the EcoLogo certification, one of the oldest eco-labeling initiatives in North America.Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center (Portland, OR)
This Green Seal-certified Doubletree Hotel in Portland, Oregon, uses energy- and water-saving equipment, provides in-room recycling containers, donates uneaten food to a local shelter and composts the rest.El Monte Sagrado (Taos, NM)
This luxury hotel in Taos collects rainwater, reuses all wastewater, and is constructed from “gunash” (recycled power plant ash that looks like adobe).Habitat Suites (Austin, TX)
Austin's Habitat Suites uses ladybugs for natural pest control and relies on shade trees to cool the building. Landscape plants are indigenous, requiring little water.Hotel Basico (Playa del Carmen, Mexico)
Planning to flee south of the border? Check in and chill out at Playa Del Carmen's Hotel Basico. The property takes eco-chic to a sexy, sustainable new level with rooftop pools made of old oil tanks and cabanas crafted from old trucks.Hotel Triton (San Francisco, CA)
All paper products—from toilet paper to room bills—at San Francisco's Hotel Triton are made with recycled content. Rooms also come equipped with water-saving devices and air purifiers.Inn By The Sea (Cape Elizabeth, ME)
The grounds of this Maine retreat are planted with native varieties that require less water and fewer pesticides. Rooms use CLF bulbs and some proceeds are donated to the Rainforest Action Network.Journey Inn (Maiden Rock, WI)
This Wisconsin B&B for weary green feet features floors heated via a solar-powered water system, organic wool and cotton bedding, low-toxicity furniture, and native-plant landscaping.Kandalama Hotel (Dambulla, Sri Lanka)
Besides using a passive solar energy system, native plants to landscape, and locally grown foods, this Sri Lankan hotel has also built an Eco-Park, an environmental education area for employees, guests, and school children.Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort (Australia)
Not only does this luxury outfit employ a number of measures to protect the surrounding Great Barrier Reef, but it also uses low-emission clean burning diesel generators to power its facilities.Los Manos Bed & Breakfast (Buena Vista, CO)
Surrounded by pinon forest and mountain views, this Colorado B&B offers strawbale construction for super insulation, passive solar heating, solar- and wind-generated electricity, and line-fresh towels and sheets.Orchard Garden Hotel (San Francisco, CA)
The Orchard Garden Hotel sports low-emission wallpaper and carpet, plus wood from sustainably harvested forests. Room lights and appliances only work when a keycard is in a wall slot—so they don’t stay on when guests step out.Proximity Hotel (Greensboro, NC)
The Proximity is aiming for LEED Gold certification. It consumes nearly 40 percent less energy and 30 percent less water and sports solar roof panels, low-flush toilets, recycled-content building materials, and plans to install a green roof.Sadie Cove Wilderness Lodge (Homer, AK)
This lux outpost in Homer, Alaska, generates 100 percent of its own electricity via wind and hydro power. Lodges are hand-built from scavenged driftwood.The Fairmont (Washington, DC)
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Washington's Fairmont hotel offers free parking for hybrid cars, contributes part of it’s electric bill to wind power, and has installed a hydrocarbon-powered dry cleaning machine.The Orchid (Mumbai, India)
This hotel in exotic Mumbai relies on drip irrigation to cut water use, provides room stationery made of jute (a rapidly renewable substitute for tree-made paper), and plans to become a “zero garbage” facility.
Offset your office energy and travel emissions
3Degrees
In addition to their carbon offset offering, 3Degrees is a leading national supplier of Green-e Certified RECs sourced from a variety of renewable energy technologies, including wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, low-impact hydro, landfill gas, and biogas. Use the footprint calculator to get started on your green energy path.Carbonfund.org
Carbonfund.org lets you offset emissions from air and car travel, energy use, and even special events.Climate Care
Shrink the size of your carbon footprint at home, while you drive, fly, or bask on some faraway beach.Climate Friendly
Tally emissions from driving, air travel, and home energy. Offset only what you choose. Or pick from one of Climate Friendly's custom packages (including driving, flying, etc.) that let you go carbon neutral just in that area for a year.GreenLife
GreenLife lets you offset your carbon emissions from home energy use, air travel, and driving. Offset your entire yearly emissions or a portion via one of the company's pre-priced packages or use the online calculator for a more precise tally.LivClean Carbon Offset Solutions
LivClean is a Canadian organization offering carbon offset products and solutions to both individuals and businesses around the world. Services include carbon footprint assessment, the procurement and sale of carbon offsets, sustainable business solutions, including sustainable positioning strategies, marketing, and communications, and more.My Climate
Neutralize emissions from flying, driving, and powering your home or business.Native Energy
Help fund community-based clean renewable energy projects, including methane reduction ventures and wind power initiatives.Sustainable Travel International
Calculate your entire carbon footprint from air and car travel, energy use, and hotel stays with STI's easy-to-use carbon calculator.The CarbonNeutral Company
Whether you're a student or business owner, the CarbonNeutral Company lets you tally emissions from flying, driving, running your home, or powering your truck fleet.
Drive a green rental car
Avis (nationwide)
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Avis offers the Toyota Prius hybrid to renters in various locations.Bio-Beetle (Los Angeles, CA; Maui, HI)
Bio-Beetle offers biodiesel-compatible cars including Volkswagen Beetles, Golfs, and Jettas to rental customers in Maui and Los Angeles.Budget (nationwide)
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Budget guarantees the availability of the Toyota Prius and Nissan Altima hybrids along with other fuel-efficient vehicles.Electric Time Car Rentals (San Francisco, CA)
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Enjoy the sights and sounds of San Francisco in an eye-catching, non-polluting electric car; GPS-based audio tour is optional.Enterprise Rent-A-Car (nationwide)
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Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers renters hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles at various locations.EV Rental Cars (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Ana, San Jose, CA; Phoenix, AZ)
Car rental agency with locations in Southern California, the Bay Area, and Phoenix exclusively offers hybrid vehicles.Hertz (nationwide)
The Hertz Green Collection offers five fuel-efficient vehicles that receive 28 or more miles per gallon at over 50 domestic airport locations.Sunshine Rentals (Key West, FL)
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Key West rental agency offers electric car rentals alongside bikes and scooters.
Walk or ride your bike
Alchemy Goods Urban Bag
Hip, roomy messenger bag with an exterior made of 100 percent waterproof recycled inner tubes from Seattle bike shops and strap made from a recycled seatbelt. Multiple interior pockets with space to fit laptops with up to 17" screens.Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Light Set
The set includes a front light with four super-bright white LEDs and rear light with seven super-bright red LEDs, both in tough, water-resistant cases. Front light runs on four AA batteries for 110 hours in steady mode, or 300 hours in flash mode while the back light runs on two AAA batteries for up to 50 hours in steady mode, or 150 hours in flash mode.Green Earth Office Supply Recycled Rubber Backpack
The material for these backpacks comes from 100 percent post-consumer recycled rubber (Florida tires). They're fully lined, have a convertible strap, outer magnetic snap pocket and inner zipper pocket. They come in black, peanut or a black/peanut color combination.Hemp Sisters Deluxe Hemp Backpack with Laptop Storage
Heavy duty hemp backpack with triple-stitched construction for durability and strength with padding on the back, bottom and straps for your comfort. It has six zippered compartments, nine pockets, twin cargo straps, bottle pockets on each side and room to securely hold your laptop.Hokey Spokes light blades
Hokey Spokes puts the glitz into safety lighting with transparent "blades" that attach to your bicycle spokes. They explain their product by saying, "as these blades spin during riding, a computer inside the blades modulates the internal LED lights so that design images and custom text appear."Planet Bike Beamer 3 LED Headlight
This headlight can be quickly mounted or removed without tools and contains three bright LEDs which operate in flashing or steady mode. The light runs up to 100 hours on the included two AA batteries.Planet Bike Blinky Safety Set
Super bright LEDs will clip to almost anything and provide flashing or steady visibility for up to one mile. Runs for up to 100 hours on the included CR2032 watch battery.Rawganique Euro-style Hemp Backpack
They have five hemp backpacks to choose from; all are made from certified organic hemp, processed without chemicals or pesticides. The HBP3 Zip Backpack is their mid-priced, mid-sized model.Reelight SL100 Bicycle Safety Light
The set includes one white front-facing and one red back-facing light that uses LED technology and high-power neodymium magnets (non-friction) in an innovative self-contained electrical system. Lights flash on and off as you pedal and stop when the bike stops.Voltaic Systems Solar Backpack
The Voltaic Backpack has three light weight, waterproof solar panels that can charge up your cell phones, sat phones, PDAs, GPSs, iPods and cameras (not laptops) while you bike or walk. When not in the sun, the battery can be charged using the AC travel charger or DC car charger.
Hire a green limo or car service
Clean Air Limo (Austin, TX)
Austin-based Clean Air Limo—serving Central Texas and the Hill Country—offers "style, service, and sustainability" to green Texans. The company's fleet is composed entirely of hybrids, including makes by Mercedes and Lexus. Available for airport transfers, sightseeing, special events, and more.DrivenEco (New York City)
Need chauffeured hybrid wheels? Look no further than DrivenEco. Serving New York City and its environs for events both business and personal.ECOLIMO (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC)
Their fleet includes hybrids, biodiesel- fueled vehicles, and compressed natural gas (CNG) powered options.EcoShuttle (Portland, OR)
All aboard! Hire one of EcoShuttle's nine-person, 100 percent biodiesel-fueled vans for a simple airport ride or for a slew of special group events.Elite Green Car (Atlanta, GA)
Hail (well, hire) one of Elite Green Car's Lexus RX 400 Hybrids to cruise around the ATL in sustainable style.Evo Limo (Los Angeles, CA)
Their fleet of uber-lux suburbans and sedans have been converted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) yet still come with mini-bars, tinted windows, and entertainment systems.Green Car Limo (San Francisco Bay Area)
Swapping traditional stretch limos with a Toyota Prius fleet, Michael Fadis' Green Car Limo service has been serving the Bay Area since 2005.Green Limousine (Vail, CO)
Want your next trip to the Colorado Rockies to be a bit greener (and sans the hassle of navigating snowy conditions yourself)? Book a ride with Green Limousine, a car service with a fleet of biodiesel-fueled sedans and SUVs.Green Shuttle of Cape Cod (MA)
Visit one of the Northeast's most popular summer playgrounds, Cape Cod, while curbing your carbon tiremark. Get picked up in a Prius, Altima, or Mercury Mariner at various points in New England such as Boston Logan Airport and Providence's Green Airport.Green SUV (Hollywood, CA)
If you're not ready to give up the SUV habit when it comes time to hire a car, consider Green SUV, which offers a fleet of hybrid SUVs, including the Tahoe, Yukon, and Escalade. Transportation provided for airport service, business meetings and corporate travel, as well as special events, in the LA area.Greenfleet Car Service (New Jersey)
Garden State-based Greenfleet Car Service specializes in corporate travel to and from airports, personal travel, group outings, and conventions.greentomatocars (London, UK)
With a fleet of private hire hybrids, greentomatocars is the greenest ride in London (they'll also transport you to other points in the UK). And they offset emission with tree-planting and various eco-friendly projects.New York Hybrid Car & Limousine Services
Offering airport pickup and drop-off, special occasion, sightseeing, and out of town services with "all hybrids all the time," New York Hybrid is a great alternative for your transportation needs.OZOcar (New York City)
Driving around the Big Apple can be a big pain in the you know what. Why not hire OZOcar, NYC's first hybrid luxury car service, to do the driving for you?PlanetTran (New England, San Francisco Bay Area)
Are you a green-minded traveler flying into San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Boston, Providence, or Manchester, New Hampshire? Give PlanetTran a buzz and they'll pick up you and your bags in a Toyota Prius and deposit you at your destination the sustainable way.
Comments
12:45pm
This is a great resource for people wishing to green their lives, but we need to ensure that the facts are correct... for example, air travel accounts for 2% of world CO2 emissions (UN IPCC figures), definately not 7%.
Regarding the 3-4 tonnes of CO2 from a return flight to Europe... in fact, a round-trip New York to Frankfurt emits around 832kg of CO2 and a Los Angeles to Frankfurt round-trip emits around 1,239kgs.
Clearly, these figures are still too high for people wishing to lead greener lifestyles, but the aviation industry is heavily involved in ensuring it becomes more sustainable. In fact, it could be argued that our industry has done and is doing more to reduce our emissions than most other sectors. The air transport industry has established the website www.enviro.aero to open up the debate about aviation's climate change impact and profile just some of the ways in which the industry is making progress.
Haldane Dodd
Air Transport Action Group, Geneva
3:14pm
Haldane, thanks for that valuable contribution. it does look like the 7% figure is dated. the most credible figure i can find is 3.3% (contribution of aviation sector to global warming) published by WRI and IPCC. check out the link here:
http://www.wri.org/chart/us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-flow-chart
also, great to know that enviro.aero is engaging the public to discuss all the issues surrounding the industry and the solutions ahead!
3:22pm
On the % of GHG emissions figure in question, it's important to distinguish between CO2 and ALL GHGS. Air travel, as an industry, contributes about 1.6% of all GHGs (globally), but closer to 2% when considering CO2 alone (also globally). In the US, as the link Mateo sent shows, aviation contributes about 3.3% of all US GHGs, but closer to 4% of CO2 alone. Neither of these figures distinguishes between business travel and all other travel, so business travel impacts would be smaller.
On the "controversy" around carbon offsetting and standards to ensure quality: an important standard for ensuring the quality of land-based projects (such as reforestation and prevention of deforestation) is the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard: www.climate-standards.org