As you may or may not know, tonite is the American Idol finalist night. The two finalists are each receiving 34 MPG Ford Escape Hybrids.

The two American Idol finalists are David Cook and David Archuleta, it is coming down to a fierce duel to the very end. Every year American Idol producers award the two remaining finalists cars. This year it was the fuel efficient $27,000 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV.

American Idol is just insanely popular, last night, it garnered over 90 million votes for the two final contestants. Holy Smokes! The ratings were down this year, but the votes still were high.

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Whether you run a restaurant or a dry cleaner, there are things you can do to lower your carbon footprint. It all starts by taking an assessment of your enterprise and looking around at your various departments. You can do a complete overhaul, or you can start small and build from there.

Educate yourself on green issues and research possible solutions and providers. When you go green it imparts a message of sustainability that will grab the interest of todays savvy consumers. It isn’t enough anymore to recycle and call yourself eco friendly. It will take more than that, but keep in mind it should not turn into a competition of who is greener. The mission of becoming more socially aware and responsible should more or less align with your overall company goals and mission.

Let’s take a look below at 4 Random Ideas To Green Your Business.

The 3 R’s (Recycle Reduce Reuse) - What are you recycling? Are there more things that can be recycled at your company? PC equipment is a big e-waste issue today as most landfills are brimming with discarded computer units, monitors, printers, scanners, etc. It may be costly to find a proper solution and provider, but you will reap rewards when you let your current and prospective customers know, that you are different and you care enough about our planet to discard properly and safeguard our future.

Resource: Earth 911

Save Money and Conserve, Too - Again all it takes is for you to take a good look around and see where, what, and how you can conserve more. Take a look at something as simple as the ink in your office printers. The ink can be refilled at Cartridge World, versus buying brand new each time. This method is two-fold in that it conserves and will save you money, too. The ink for my small home office printer brand new costs about $25, but to refill at Cartridge World, it sets me back all of $13.

Use Energy Efficient Products - More and more major manufacturers are creating energy efficient products. Look for the EPA’s label titled “Energy Star” which certifies the item as meeting standards for energy efficiency.

Enlist a Consultant - If your wanting to go big, and perform a complete overhaul of your operations, your best bet is to seek the services of a consultant. Find an architect or interior designer that specialize in green design and/ or green renovation. If you’re wanting to green the outdoors part of your company, seek the services of a professional eco friendly landscaper.

Stay tuned for my next article, as i will cover More Random Ideas to Green Your Business including: Green Your Site or Blog, Educate Your Employees on Green Issues, and Have a Green Giveaway or Contest.

As i stated earlier, there are many strategies to green your business, these 7 are but a few random ideas to get you going, and to ignite additional ideas.

Please share below your thoughts and ideas on how you have managed to green your business, and the results.

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Have you heard of Zipcar? Zipcar is the worlds largest car sharing and car club provider.

Car sharing is bringing about significant green benefits, including:

• Less Cars on The Road - as many car sharers end up ditching their cars
• An Increase in Alternate Modes of Transportation - car sharers tend to bike, walk, and use public transit more
• Transportation Savings - some car sharers are reporting annual auto savings of up to $5,000

WHAT IS INVOLVED?

The process involves registering for a driving plan (monthly commitment or pay-as-you-go), chossing a car, and paying the car sharing fee. A variety of different car models are available, including Hybrids.

FEES & FINE PRINT 

The fees vary from the hourly of $9, or daily rates from $66. For the pay-as-you-go plan, there is an application fee of $25, and an annual fee of $50. Gas, parking, and insurance are all included in the rates. You must be atleast 21, and have been licensed for atleast 1 year, with no major moving violations within the past 3 years. (and a few other requirements) Right now Zipcar is available in 13 cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

KEETSA VERDICT 

Zipcar is aimed at urban dwellers who want to explore alternative means of getting around, but car sharing is a viable option for anyone who wants to drive less and wants to do so in an eco friendly manner.

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Apparently, it is no longer a world where flashy cars are the first thing that people want to consider. It is now an age where people have to be wise when purchasing a brand new car and one of the key attributes is fuel efficiency. It is evident that most of these conditions stem from the fact that people today are increasingly aware of the threat of greenhouse gases and pollution and paired with the strict compliance standards that has been pegged for car manufacturers, cars being released today normally showcase this attribute to close a sale.

Hybrids, advanced diesels and green alternatives are pushing aside the traditional displays of speed and chrome at this week’s Detroit auto show, a nod to a new fuel-efficient reality for car makers.

Automakers, only weeks after Congress approved tougher fuel-efficiency requirements, are broadening their array of cars that get more on a gallon of gasoline, cutting carbon dioxide emissions and using alternative power sources.

(Source) Yahoo Green

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Paris Hilton, the controversial star who has time and again made headlines due to her mischievous ways has done something worth commending. Taking the cue by helping out in the environmental protection of the world, she has joined the ranks in getting and eco-friendly vehicle to show her support for the green movement that the world is gearing up to.

Now rather than being the attention-seeking no good celebrity that she has always carried, she has done something that people will surely note her for. Hopefully she continues her good streak!

(Source) Paris Hilton is joining the Hollywood stars doing their bit to protect the environment by getting an eco-friendly car.

The hotel heiress revealed she is splashing out on a green hybrid motor. And she told how she already makes a special effort to save energy.

Paris, in Germany to promote her new champagne, said: “I changed all the light bulbs to energy-safe bulbs and I’m buying a hybrid car right now.”

Celebrity, Celebrity, Electric Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, environmental_protection, Green Transportation, Green Transportation, green_movement, Hybrids, Hybrids, paris_hilton Celebrity, Celebrity, Electric Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, environmental_protection, Green Transportation, Green Transportation, green_movement, Hybrids, Hybrids, paris_hilton

Vespa, makers of those fine looking Italian scooters, are developing a 3-wheel hybrid electric /gas scooter. The scooter is to be named the Vespa M3.

Ecoshopper reports, that “in full electric mode it has a range of 20 KM. If you are in gas mode you can add electric power to boost performance providing 85% more power. It requires less braking distance than any other scooter by 20%. The engine is 125cc enough for the legal limit when riding with a car license. Their also going to be a 250 cc version”.

I’m not crazy about the look of these 3 wheel electric scooters, versus the 2 wheeler, Vespa known for great design, can do better.

Source [Eco Shopper]

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There are two ways in which you can save the environment when it comes to transportation. Your choice of transportation mode and style of driving is what affects fuel usage and expenses.

Sure some people can run out right now and buy themselves a sweet and eco friendly electric car, but not many can afford to purchase the latest green car.

So what CAN you do?

Here are 7 Tips to Better Fuel Economy For Your Non-Green Car.

1. Drive in the highest possible gear
2. Drive smoothly
3. Switch off the engine if you are stationary for more than a few minutes
4. Don’t load unnecessary items
5. Keep the windows closed
6. Check your tire pressure, your car will have better fuel efficiency with correct tire pressure
7. Don’t use the car on short journeys, walk instead (or ride a bike)

Keep these tips in mind next time you’re out and about driving, and see the fuel savings add up fast, not to mention cleaner air for all.

Source [Petrol Prices]

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Google has decided to invest into hybrids and other green cars. And invest they did. Google put $10 million dollars towards improvements such as parking garages where employees can plug in their electric cars and power up their batteries via solar energy.

From the Google website:

Google has created a small demonstration fleet of plug-in hybrids and eventually plans to include over 100 plug-in hybrids in its corporate fleet as demand grows and cars become commercially available. Google.org has contracted with Hymotion to retrofit 4 Toyota Priuses and 2 Ford Escapes. Google.org is demonstrating the capabilities of this technology, collecting actual data on the performance of these vehicles, and making this information available to the public. All of these cars are outfitted with data recording devices that track technical and environmental performance, use patterns and charging history. You can see the actual data which is uploaded from the vehicles. Both electricity and gasoline use data is being used to calculate the total energy use for each vehicle to get ‘real world’ performance data on these cars. In order to compare this data to other cars under similar conditions, we are equipping existing stock hybrids and conventional cars with the same data recording devices. With this data, we hope to be able to measure the mileage of plug-in hybrids vs. conventional gas and hybrid vehicles under realistic driving conditions. To date, our plug-in hybrids are averaging about 75 miles per gallon of gasoline which is four times that of the average car on the road in the US today.

It’s great to see such a large and influential company taking green initiatives like these!

via [psfk]

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The British chapter of furniture maven Ikea is changing over their entire UK fleet of vehicles to hybrids next year. All their Skoda cars will be replaced with Honda Civics.

Changing over the British fleet is part of a “go green” pilot project and if it is successful, hybrid fleets could be implemented in other countries in time for 08/09. Ikea wants to reduce their carbon emissions by 9% by the year 2010.

Monsters and Critics writes

The changeover will make Ikea Britain`s first large private-sector company to move its company passenger-car fleet to more eco-friendly vehicles. The change doesn’t affect Ikea delivery vehicles in Britain.

Ikea isn’t without incentives for this green initiative. Low emission vehicles pay a lower road tax in Britain and are completely exempt from fees in London.

via monsters and critics

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Honda’s hybrid car model, the Honda Accord, will be discontinued soon.

MSNBC writes

Honda will discontinue the hybrid version of its Accord sedans, the company said Tuesday, ceding Toyota’s dominance of the market with its Prius hybrid… The Accord hybrid, which is sold only in North America, was a dud, selling just 25,000 since going on sale in 2004, and just 6,100 last year.

As far as hybrids goes, the Honda Accord was by far and away the worst model on the market. There were several ‘traditional’ models out there that got more miles per gallon than the Accord. For example, Honda’s own hybrid Civic model gets 49 milers per gallon, as opposed to the Accord, which only gets 28 miles to the gallon.

Hopefully this means Honda will focus on its new and future models and improve their hybrid technologies, meaning more cost-effective and fuel-efficient models. Honda needs to live up to its green image!

via msnbc

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The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg has announced that the city’s taxi fleet will consist of completely hybrid models by the year 2012.

This initiative is part of the greater plan to reduce NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the year 2030. Currently, only 375 of the city’s 13,000 taxis are hybrids.

via techdigest

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Driving.ca is reporting that the government of British Columbia announced today that all the cab fleets of the province’s two major urban centers — Vancouver and Victoria — are about to get eco-friendly.

They write

The provincial government yesterday announced that it will now approve only eco-friendly vehicles when handling applications for new taxi companies or additions to existing company fleets in B.C.’s two major urban areas.

That means all new cabs that hit the streets in either area will have to be “hybrid or other highly energy efficient vehicles.’”

The BC government pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2010, and this initiative is one step towards meeting that goal.

Kevin Falcon, British Columbia’s transportation ministers says he expects Victoria and Vancouver’s cab fleets to consist only of hybrid, clean-burning taxis by 2010.

The transition is not expected to be difficult, seeing as almost half of the YellowCab fleets for both cities are already about half hybrid. However, Bluebird Cab owner Hari Pabbi is concerned about the extra costs this program will place on cab companies — there are very few used hybrids on the market.

Falcon hopes to appease cabbie’s concerns with information sessions and financial subsidies for the hybrids.

I think this initiative is fantastic, but am wondering what they are going to do with all those old taxis! 2010 is only three years away!!

To read the full article, click here.

announced_today_that, Auto, Auto, bc_government, blue-cab, british-columbia, cabbie, cab_companies, canada, company_fleets, Eco Friendly, Eco Friendly, eco_friendly, efficient_vehicles, existing_company, falcon, government_of_british_columbia, Green Transportation, Green Transportation, greenhouse_gas_emissions, hybrid, hybrid-cars, Hybrids, information_sessions, initiative, News, News, Politics, Politics, Reduce, Reduce, taxis, vancouver, vancouver_and_victoria, victoria, yellow-cab, yellowcab announced_today_that, Auto, Auto, bc_government, blue-cab, british-columbia, cabbie, cab_companies, canada, company_fleets, Eco Friendly, Eco Friendly, eco_friendly, efficient_vehicles, existing_company, falcon, government_of_british_columbia, Green Transportation, Green Transportation, greenhouse_gas_emissions, hybrid, hybrid-cars, Hybrids, information_sessions, initiative, News, News, Politics, Politics, Reduce, Reduce, taxis, vancouver, vancouver_and_victoria, victoria, yellow-cab, yellowcab