Most big offices and companies have the cleaning crew clean the office and buildings overnight. This usually requires having the lights on in order for the cleaning to be done. Yahoo! however, will be switching from night-time office cleaning to a day-time office cleaning in an effort to lower energy usage. The janitorial staff will start working around 4 am to vacuum and clean the floors while cubical trash disposal and other cleaning will continue throughuot the morning and mid-day. This reduces the time that building lights need to be on  overnight. This is a pretty good idea and shows that the company is making strategic decisions to be more efficient in being more green as well as reducing costs.

April 22nd is Earth Day. Earth Day is a day to raise awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. April 22nd is the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

You can learn more about Earth Day and events that take place around the world here at http://ww2.earthday.net/ and of course at Wikipedia.org.

Here are 10 ways you can improve Earth’s health.

There are also plenty of ideas and suggestions on this blog about how you can help the environment.

Yahoo is teaming up with Freecycle and has a Free is Good campaign to inspire people to swap things that would normally be tossed away. You can join reuse groups to give and get cool things for free while reducing waste and helping the planet.

Here is a shower system that reuses the water so that you can take a long shower without wasting water. It uses a two step program where you first do your soaping, shampooing etc normally. Then for the second system, you close the drain to fill up the tub with water and that water will then be reused with the Quench shower system. This system is a little wierd and probably takes a little getting used to but it makes sense.

Here is a simple video that is not too exciting, but gets the message across that we are drinking too much bottled water and not recycling enough of them. Less than 20 percent of water bottles in America are recycled. Bottled water is not necessarily healthier or cleaner than tap water and it definitely is not better for the environment. Of course news like this does not really help since people will be hesitant to drink tap water and more likely to drink bottled water. That is why it is good to have some sort of filtering for your home.

Here are some previous postings that I have written about bottled water:

Aquafina labeled as tap water

No more bottled water for City Departments in SF 

5 Reasons not to drink bottled water

via Yahoo Green: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/climate411/91/bottles-bottles-everywhere.html

If you are in the bay area this weekend, there is a Green Transportation Fair this saturday at the Green Building Exchange which will feature 45 alternative fuel vehicles! The event is in Redwood City friday and saturday April 11th and 12th. The show is free and open to the public from 9am to 5pm. Along with the cars being displayed, there will also be sustainable vendors, music, refreshments, and more. The official website is here:  http://www.greentransportation2008.com but when I tried going to the website, the formatting is a little messed up on both IE and Firefox so I am pretty much giving you all the info you need below. Btw, I dont know if the image of the car above will be at the show, i just found it online somewhere.

Green Building Exchange
305 Main Street
Redwood City, CA 94063

Saturday April 12th 9am -5pm

Green Transportation 2008: Choices for the Future is the first show of its kind in San Mateo County. Dedicated to accelerating the transition to a sustainable transportation future by building awareness of emerging clean-and-green vehicles and transportation options, it will showcase state-of-the-art electric, alternative-fuel, solar, hydrogen and hybrid vehicles and support systems.

Partial exhibitor list:
Ford, Lexus, Honda, Toyota, Good Earth Vehicles, Electro Ride, LC Biofuels, GreenE Motors, Electric Green Showroom, Silicon Valley Bike Coalition, Electric Motorsport, Sustainable Habitat, LiFeBatt, Solar City, Stanford, Berkeley, ZipCar, PG&E, CalCars.org, Electro Ride, Zip Car, Smart Car, Society for Sustainable Mobility

In addition to over 45 cars, trucks, scooters and bikes onsite, nonprofits and representatives of the region’s transportation planning agencies will be on hand to discuss highway congestion relief, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, public transportation, ride sharing and bicycle commuting.

Transportation Futures Forum – Friday, April 11th – Green Building Exchange will host those working toward sustainable transportation in the Bay Area. For a small fee, participants can enjoy a catered lunch, presentations and a panel discussion on transportation policy options and emerging technologies. Participants will also see a preview of Saturday’s public show.

Alternative Vehicle Show – Saturday April 12th – the Green Building Exchange parking lot, tradeshow floor and retail center are open to the general public at no charge from 9 am to 5 pm. The show hosts vehicles from major manufacturers and fresh, innovative companies alongside nonprofit tables. Representatives are on hand, as well as food, refreshments and a free recycled-art table for little ones. Live DJs, Eternal Harmonics, will provide music all day (www.TraansAatma.com).