Quite frankly, it’s beginning to get out of hand. The trend might have his its peak this weekend, though, as Nintendo of America finally released its Harlem Shake video.

Now, you might expect Nintendo to lead with Mario, since that character is one of the most recognizable in the world. However, during the company’s Nintendo Direct last week it was declared that 2013 will be the “Year of Luigi,” with titles such as Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon coming later this year.

So, Nintendo instead used Luigi and lots of green in their Harlem Shake video. Be on the lookout for Yoshi and Link plushies, but make sure you also spot the bearded guy in the back. His dead-arm flailing is really the highlight of the video.

The company has just announced a $3 million grant to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), an organization who’s “committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.” Their LEED building initiative is the most widely used green building program in the world, spanning nearly 50,000 different projects in 135 countries across the world.

“There’s a lack of clear and accessible information on building ingredients, which means that a lot of us might be exposed to potentially harmful and toxic chemicals in building materials—whether it’s in the desk you sit at every day or the building’s paints, tiles and carpeting. This grant is designed to improve human health and well-being by supporting more industry research and better standards around healthy materials,” says Google.

The USGBC says that the $3 million grant will be put to use on three initiatives: research on safer, greener building materials, new transparency tools, and drumming up support from stakeholders across the industry.

“Healthy, non-toxic building materials are a critical component in green building,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “Fostering awareness of the materials we put into our buildings is of paramount importance, since many materials can link to a host of environmental and health issues. Working with Google enables us to broaden our efforts in the materials industry as we prepare for the next version of the LEED green building program, LEED v4. This updated rating system will paint a more complete picture of materials and products, enabling project teams to make more informed decisions.”

Google says that they were inspired to make the contribution by their own work making their offices greener. The USGBC says that the initiatives will be developed over the next couple of years.

[Image courtesy USGBC]

For just $129 you can purchase this first-world camping accessory that lets you stay connected to the modern world while also allowing you to stay green.

“Using BioLite’s patent-pending thermoelectric technology, BioLite Stoves convert heat to electricity that powers a fan to make the fire ultra-efficient. Extra electricity can be used to charge small electronics like mobile phones and LED lights,” says the company.

According to BioLite, the CampStove needs about 1.6oz of wood to boil one liter of water – and that will take about 4.5 minutes depending on the fire’s intensity. For an iPhone 4S, the device can provide an hour of talk time in 20 minutes of charging.

Camping +1.

Apparently, camping isn’t the only scenario where this gadget could come in handy.

“The CampStove isn’t just for camping; it’s great to have on hand when the power goes out in a storm or other natural disasters. You’ll be able to cook and keep electronics charged while power lines are down,” says BioLite.

With Hurricane Sandy serving as a reminder that Mother Nature is one undiscriminating, unforgiving mama, it never hurts to have more options out there for alternative power.

[via Business Insider]

Vine.com is live, and it wants you to “live life green.” All of the products available for purchase on the site meet certain criteria for being labeled as “green,” and they provide free 1-2 day shipping on any order above $49.

Yes, Amazon has a hand in Vine.com, although you probably wouldn’t know that from looking at the site. Vine is a part of the Quidsi network, which includes other category-specific retail sites like diapers.com, soap.com, wag.com, and yoyo.com. While those sites are all about baby supplies, cleaning products, pets, and toys, respectively, Vine.com is all about being eco-friendly. Amazon purchased Quidsi back in 2010 for $545 million.

So, what are those green criteria? Vine has a green philosophy that say any product they carry is “made with healthy, environmentally sound ingredients and materials [and] at its core, is better for you and better for the planet.”

Qualifying green products must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Made from sustainable materials; energy efficient; natural (minimal processing); organic; designed to remove toxins, powered by renewable energy, reusable, or water efficient.

“We also recognize that green can mean different things to different people. On every product page, you’ll find additional information about our products, provided by the companies behind them, so you can quickly shop according to the issues that matter to you,” says Vine.

“This is a site that is not necessarily about saving the planet, though we feel the products are useful in that regard,” site head Josh Dorfman tells The New York Times. “It’s really saying to mom, ‘If you care about raising safe and healthy kids and you feel green products without chemicals can help along the way, we’ve figured out ways to help you do that.’”

One more interesting aspect of the site is a “shop local” feature that allows shoppers to browse green products made within 100 miles of their selected city. Right now, there are only about a dozen cities to choose from, including New York City, L.A., Chicago, Seattle, Boston, and Denver.

“We’ve been working with GRDA, our local utility, to procure additional renewable energy since we ‘plugged in’ our data center in 2011, and in February of 2012, GRDA approached us about purchasing power from Canadian Hills,” explains Gary Demasi, director of Google’s Global Infrastructure team. “In conjunction with the electricity GRDA already supplies Google to operate its data center, Google will pay GRDA a premium to purchase renewable energy generated by Canadian Hills. This brings the total amount of renewable energy for which Google has contracted to over 260 MW.”

“This agreement is a milestone for GRDA because it’s their first-ever wind energy project,” adds Demasi. “It’s also a milestone for Google because it’s a little different from the previous Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) we’ve signed, where we agreed to buy the energy directly from the developer who built the wind farm. This agreement, by contrast, marks the first time we’ve partnered with a utility provider to increase the amount of renewable energy powering one of our data centers.”

Google’s Oklahoma data center happens to be the same one where it has a one-eyed security dog.

Earlier this year, Google outlined some other ways its data centers are getting more energy efficient. More on that here.

“As we said when we made our first residential solar investment, we think it makes a lot of sense to use solar photovoltaic (PV) technology—rooftop solar panels—to generate electricity right where you need it at home,” says Google Director of Green Business Operations Rick Needham. “It greens our energy mix by using existing roof space while avoiding transmission constraints, and it can be cheaper than drawing electricity from the traditional grid.”

“Purchasing a solar system is a major home improvement, but the upfront cost has historically been one of the biggest barriers for homeowners,” Needham adds. “Solar installers across the country don’t always have the resources to find financing for customers, or the capital to provide it themselves. And for investors like Google, banks and others, it can be difficult to enter a fragmented solar market with many companies, and get connected to individual homeowners.”

Clean Power Finance has an open platform to connect installers and investors (Google in this case) to help homeowners finance the changes.

“Solar installers sign up with Clean Power Finance to get access to the company’s comprehensive sales solutions, including consumer financing from investors, like the Google fund,” explains Needham. “This enables installers to sell more systems and grow their business. The installer builds the system, the investor (in this case, Google) owns it, and homeowners pay a monthly payment for the system, at a price that’s often less than paying for energy from the grid. Maintenance and performance are taken care of by Clean Power Finance and its network of installers.”

You can see more about Google’s various investments in clean energy here. They include, in addition to the Clean Power Finance investment, $280 in SolarCity (solar for residential rooftops), $10 million in Brightsource (solar), a 37.5% equity stake in Atlantic Wind Connection, $157 million in Alta Wind Energy Center, $100 million into Shepherd’s Flat (wind farm), $38.8 million into Peace Garden wind farms, and about $5 million in Photovoltaics (solar).

Google has had solar panels on its own headquarters since 2007.

Since I arrived at Google in 2006, I’ve been part of a team working to create life-sustaining buildings that support the health and productivity of Googlers. We avoid materials that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other known toxins that may harm human health, so Googlers don’t have to worry about the air they’re breathing or the toxicity of the furniture, carpet or other materials in their workspaces. We also use dual stage air filtration systems to eliminate particulates and remaining VOCs, which further improves indoor air quality.

Since building materials don’t have ingredient labels, we’re pushing the industry to adopt product transparency practices that will lead to real market transformation. In North America, we purchase materials free of the Living Building Challenge Red List Materials and EPA Chemicals of Concern, and through the Pharos Project we ask our suppliers to meet strict transparency requirements.

He goes on to discuss how Google strives to shrink its environmental footprint by trying to use the most efficient methods of heating, cooling, and lighting, as well as performing water audits and implementing conservation measures.

You might also recall that Google uses goats to mow its lawns (at least it has before). That’s pretty green.

As long as we’re on the subject of Google’s facilities, Googler Avinash Kaushik said on Google+, “By now I should not be surprised when I walk into a Google building. They are warm, welcoming and always have something fun. All around the world. But yesterday when I walked into building 46 in Mt. View I still stopped in my tracks when I saw the attached beautiful thing. It is huge, a gorgeous blue, surprising and the just so delightful. I walked all around and up and down and just smiled. Then went on to do some great work. I wonder if that counts as ROI.”

He then shared the following picture:

"Our ongoing philosophy has been to improve the efficiency of our infrastructure and we continue to invest tremendous resources to improve our own operations,” said Jonathan Heiliger, Vice President of Technical Operations at Facebook.

“By creating and sharing innovative technology solutions, we hope to help raise the visibility of the importance of environmental sustainability across all industries. Today, we’re proud to be joining with DESC to help make efficiency and environmental responsibility a priority for everyone."

Earlier this year, Facebook engineers launched a programming language, HipHop for PHP, which allowed their servers to do the same amount of work with half the number of servers. To spread the benefit, Facebook has open sourced the programming language so that other companies can get the same energy saving benefits.

To promote its sustainability efforts, Facebook has also launched a Facebook/green Page as a resource for individuals and organizations. Facebook will be working with environmental organizations to administer the Page.

Under the program, the first 250,000 people to pledge to reuse on eBay, the company will protect an acre of rainforest in their name through a new collaboration with Team Earth, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, private sector companies and individuals convened by Conservation International.

Along with the launch of the Green Team Challenge, eBay has introduced a new green shopping site, designed to help people access green products.

The new shopping hub is a result of the requests of eBay Green Team members, a community of nearly 150,000 individuals committed to making greener lifestyle choices.

To promote the challenge, eBay is teaming up with Hearst Magazines for the second year in a row, for their month long "30 Days of Green" program. The collaboration features a three-page ad insert that will run in the April issues of all 15 Hearst magazines. The ads will feature a variety of eBay items and will aim to educate consumers about being green.

"We at eBay are constantly looking for ways to show our community of 90 million users that their shopping decisions can have real environmental impact," said Amy Skoczlas Cole, Director of the eBay Green Team.

"This year, through our collaborations with Hearst and Team Earth, we have the opportunity to not only educate millions of consumers about the green value of shopping used, but translate that action into tangible environmental impact."
 

"Consumers don’t want to give up the modern conveniences of life," said Suzanne Shelton, whose firm conducted the survey. "We’re all basically saying, ‘I’ll be green as long it doesn’t make me uncomfortable or inconvenienced.’"

Here’s how many would be willing to give up each of the following conveniences:

- iPod – 38%
- Dishwasher – 35%
- Microwave – 25%
- Cellular phone – 21%
- Air conditioning – 14%
- TV – 13%
- Computer – 7%
- Car – 6%
- None of the above – 21%
- All of the above – 6%

I find it interesting that more people are willing to give up their microwaves than their cell phones. I know these new smartphones are cool, but can they cook a meal in three and a half minutes?

"For most Americans, what once were considered conveniences have become necessities," Shelton said. "That means the green movement has its work cut out for it: Convenience and comfort are big barriers for consumers going green."

"It means a lot of people simply won’t take on green projects, or buy a green product if they have to go to a different store to find it or if it somehow takes away from their personal comfort," Shelton added.

The survey polled 1,006 consumers from across the United States. 60% of them are looking for greener products, but when asked to choose between comfort, convenience, and the environment, they chose 36%, 38%, and 26% respectively.

Would you give up any of the aforementioned items if you knew it would help the environment? What is more important to you, convenience, comfort, or the environment? Discuss in the comments.