Yahoo! announced two initiatives today to become, in their words, the “go-to resource for all topics green.” That’s green as in, environmentally friendly. The first is a competition called Be a Better Planet to find the most eco-friendly city in America. The prize? Carbon credits and a fleet of hybrid taxis. Participants can also earn free compact fluorescent light bulbs for themselves.
More notably, Yahoo! is launching Yahoo! Green, a climate change information portal that includes news, information, and guides to help people cut their carbon emissions and do other things to become more “green.”
One of the niftiest features of the site is the Take Action page, which allows users to create their own carbon cutting plan. Users can drag and drop CO2-lowering actions onto their plan — things like “Change the porch-light to a compact fluorescent” or “Install low-flow shower heads” — and instantly get a report about how many tons of carbon they’ll cut at a result.
Yahoo! is actually putting its money where its mouth it, pledging last month to become carbon neutral by the end of 2007 — no small feat for an 11,000 employee company. While we’re in the carbon-cutting mood, since it’s been said that a black web page consumes less energy than a white one, perhaps a redesign of Yahoo! in order? Doubtful, but though some cynics question the motives behind big companies pledging to go green, affecting positive environmental change will likely do nothing but good.
