"In the limelight" is a monthly series showcasing the ways people are using Google products to be better to the environment. Explore ways you can be greener with help from Google products on the Google Green website.

May is National Bike Month, an opportunity to celebrate the bicycle and its many benefits. All month long, Bike to Work Day activities are taking place in cities across the country. Whether you’re an avid cyclist or a casual cruiser, biking can save you money, improve your health and help you explore your community. As an added benefit, biking is better for our environment, too.

One way to discover bike routes in your community is Google Maps biking directions, which currently provides biking directions and bike routes in over 200 US cities, Canada, Australia, and 14 European countries. You can use Google Maps to plan your route for Bike to Work Day (or any day).

Today, we’re sitting down with Todd Scott, the Detroit Greenways Coordinator, who made cycling easier for his community. Using Google Map Maker, he’s built a comprehensive, accurate and accessible map of biking directions and routes in and around Detroit. Todd is helping build community and preserve the environment in an effort to transform the Motor City into “Cycle City.”



Detroit is the birthplace of the automotive revolution. What is the connection to bicycling? Active bicycling clubs began forming in Detroit in the 1890s, preceding the automotive revolution. These early bicyclists became the entrepreneurs, industrialists, race car drivers, salesman, and mechanics that led to Detroit becoming the Motor City. In many ways, we're getting back to cycling -- and for many reasons: improved health, being green, saving money, being social, and just having fun.

How did you come up with the idea to use Google Map Maker? I was at the 2010 National Bike Summit when Google first launched bicycling directions. I realized that in order for them to work well, we needed reliable map data that made it easy for people to discover bicycle friendly roads and trails. Google Map Maker lets me do that.

What do you consider the key benefit of promoting cycling in your city? There are so many benefits to cycling in Detroit that it's tough to choose just one. However, I hear from residents and visitors alike that they see a different Detroit on a bike than they do in a car. A ride from the abandoned Michigan Central Station to the Ford Rouge Plant is pretty amazing. This takes you through the heart of Southwest Detroit with many great restaurants, bakeries, murals, parks, etc. On a bike, it's so much easier to stop and appreciate the sights, sounds, and smells of these neighborhoods.

What are other ways in which your city supports cycling? The city of Detroit has lost nearly two-thirds of its population over the last half-century. That means our roads have very little vehicle traffic and are very bike friendly. Still, we’re focused on adding more trails and bike lanes in the city. This year we're adding 100 miles of bike lanes and expanding some of the city's most popular trails.

What does being green mean to you? For me it's core to my decision making process. I do try to bike and walk to work, the grocery store, the bank, and other local businesses. Sometimes this lifestyle is trumped by other factors. I do turn up the thermostat in the winter when my girlfriend visits.

You can find local bike trails and routes using Google Maps biking directions and start enjoying a healthier, greener lifestyle today!

Posted by Jeff Eisenberg, Google Green

It’s no surprise that Google appreciates engineers. And this Earth Day, we’re looking at some of our favorite engineers from nature to see how they can teach us to treat the environment better. We’ve created a website where we can see the beauty and ingenuity of the natural world through photos from National Geographic. We also want to provide easy ways to be greener in our own lives, so this site shows us how we can all be like those organisms by taking simple actions to care for the environment.



For instance, until recently I’d never heard of a remora. Turns out that these fish latch on to other ocean creatures such as whales and turtles to catch rides. In a way, these fish are using their own form of mass transit. To be like the remora and travel with a lighter footprint, we can plan trips using rapid transit. Or we can be inspired by bears—the true experts on “sleep mode”—to save energy in our own lives by adjusting our home thermostat and using energy efficient appliances.

Our doodle today also acknowledges the interconnections of the natural world. You can interact with elements of the environment to affect the seasons, weather and wildlife.

As another way to move from awareness to action, we’re hosting a Google+ Hangout On Air series focused on pressing environmental issues. We’ll kick it off today at 12pm ET with a Hangout on Air connecting NASA (live from Greenland), National Geographic explorers from around the world, and Underwater Earth (live from the Great Barrier reef). Throughout the week, we’ll hold daily Hangouts on Air covering topics such as clean water and animal conservation.

This Earth Day and every day, let’s take a moment to marvel at the wonder of nature and do our part to protect the natural ecosystem we all depend on. A salute to nature’s engineers!

Posted by Erin Reilly, Google Green team

We’re always looking for ways to expand the use of renewable energy. To date we’ve committed more than $1 billion to renewable energy project investments, signed agreements to procure wind power near our data centers, and installed solar panels at our corporate headquarters.

It’s also important to work directly with our utility partners to find solutions that will make more renewable energy available for us and for others. The most straightforward way to do this is for utilities to offer a renewable power option for companies that request it—something that’s not currently offered by most utilities. We’ve just published a white paper laying out our thoughts on how and why such programs might work.

We’re also announcing our first effort to put this idea into practice. We’re expanding our Lenoir, NC data center, and our local electricity provider, Duke Energy, has pledged to develop a new program for large companies like Google who want to buy renewable power for their operations. Duke will file the plan with their state commission within 90 days.

Our data center in Lenoir, NC. 

Offering companies like Google a renewable energy option has many advantages. Because the service is made available to a wide range of customers, companies that don’t have the ability or resources to pursue alternative approaches can participate. And by tapping utilities’ strengths in power generation and delivery, it makes it easier for companies to buy renewable energy on a larger scale. Of course, the approach is not without its challenges: utilities will need to work out the mechanics of the service within their local regulatory structure, and in many cases state utility commissions will need to approve the programs. There’s also the challenge of finding cost-effective renewable projects.

We'll continue to find creative ways to supply our facilities with renewable energy, but we think this solution can provide an important new way to increase the use of renewable energy nationwide. We look forward to working with utilities, state utility commissions, companies and other stakeholders to make it a reality.

Posted by Gary Demasi, Director, Global Infrastructure

The Internet is a virtual place for most people, but data centers -- the large industrial warehouses filled with servers that power the web -- are anything but. We want our data centers to be both environmentally sustainable and safe places to work, so we make sure that that they meet the highest standards of environmental management and workforce safety. Our three owned-and-operated data centers in Europe - located in Belgium, Finland and Ireland - have now joined our U.S. facilities in receiving ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification.

In order to receive these certifications, you need to say what you’re going to do, then do what you say — and then keep improving. The ISO and OHSAS standards dictate what key elements are required, but it’s up to us to figure out how to follow through. So we’ve developed a comprehensive system of procedures and improvements that our data center teams follow every day. Each of our data centers is different, so many of the improvements we’ve implemented are specific to local needs.

In Belgium, we use an evaporative cooling system that’s well-suited to the temperate climate. After cooling the servers, water runs through large cooling towers, where much of it is released as water vapor. This process is very energy efficient, but keeping the cooling towers clean and clear of outdoor dust is a time-consuming process. So the team tried a simple fix: they attached screens to the outsides of the towers, which allow air to flow freely but cut down significantly on the amount of build-up. This worked so well that our other data centers have begun to install screens as well.

 

Screens keep outdoor dust from entering these cooling towers.

In Ireland, we’ve found a way to use excess heat coming out of the server rooms to heat our office space. Hot air that would normally be sent outside through our cooling infrastructure is instead drawn over an air-to-air heat exchanger, where it is used to heat up incoming fresh air for the office area. This eliminates our need for gas heaters in the facility, and, like in Belgium, it’s working so well that we’re considering implementing it at other facilities.

In Finland, where we cool the data center with seawater, we want to bring the temperature down before sending the water back into the Gulf. So we built a “tempering hut,” where we manually mix the outgoing warm water with fresh cold water. We’re constantly tweaking the temperature and amount of the cold water to reach the optimal temperature, and we track that data as part of our ongoing efforts to monitor and improve our operations.

 

The tempering hut, the small building on the far left, is where we cool water down before returning it to the Gulf of Finland.

We want to lead the industry in environmental management and workplace safety, and we’re proud to be the first major Internet services company to achieve these certifications across their entire U.S. and European fleet.

Posted by Joe Kava, VP, Data Centers

As a member of the Google Green team, I enjoy working at a company that’s committed to minimizing our environmental impact and supporting sustainability around the globe. As part of these efforts, I’m pleased to share that our Google Green and Data Center websites are now available in 10 languages (listed below).

Personally, it was really interesting to see the sites in languages other than the English versions we use everyday (see some screenshots below). And it’s been particularly fun to learn to say “data center” in German (“Rechenzentren”) and Finnish (“Palvelinkeskukset”).

We invite you to explore these sites and share them with others committed to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Our sites are now available in the following languages: French (Google Green, Data Center), Italian (Google Green, Data Center), German (Google Green, Data Center), Dutch (Google Green, Data Center), Finnish (Google Green, Data Center), Spanish (Google Green, Data Center), Latin American Spanish (Google Green, Data Center), Brazilian Portuguese (Google Green, Data Center), Traditional Chinese (Google Green, Data Center), Japanese (Google Green), English (Green, Data Center)

Posted by Jeff Eisenberg, Google Green

"In the limelight" is a monthly series showcasing the ways people are using Google products to be better to the environment. Explore ways you can be greener with help from Google products on the Google Green site.

These days, you can learn how to do almost anything on YouTube. From everyday tips on composting to more off-the-wall tutorials like how to solar power your next grilled cheese sandwich, you can find a wealth of videos that showcase ways you can be better to the environment. Today, we're sitting down with Cobi Kim of Veggietorials—a YouTube channel focused on healthy, meatless twists on classic comfort food dishes.

What was the inspiration behind creating "Veggietorials"?

I created Veggietorials to share my love of delicious and beautiful plant-based food. I want to give people a comfortable entry-point to learn, discover, and explore how delicious and easy veggie cooking can be.

How do you come up with ideas for your videos?

I find inspiration in so many different places. Sometimes I want to recreate a dish I’ve enjoyed while traveling. Other times, I'll see a friend post photos of an incredible meal that I want to try. My videos show you how to put a vegan twist on everything from decadent sticky buns to homestyle meatloaf. I live in Hawaii, so my dishes often have a local flair. Most of the time, I make videos about local comfort food dishes that I want to celebrate, like the hearty Loco Moco. That's a popular Hawaiian plate lunch usually made with two scoops of rice, a burger patty, and a generous pour of brown gravy—all topped with a fried egg.

Who watches your videos? Are most of your followers vegan and vegetarian?

Not necessarily! Many of my viewers are omnivores who are interested in trying something new. It’s such an exciting time to try meatless recipes because there are so many choices. I remember when vegetarian options were limited to tofu, salads, nuts, and seeds. Now, there are alternatives to almost any animal product or ingredient you would ever want to use. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to change your entire palette if you decide to go vegan or vegetarian. You can continue to make the foods you've always loved.

How do you connect with your audience?

I reply to every single comment that I receive. I'm thrilled when people share photos of their version of a dish I've featured in a video. That's my favorite part of building this channel. And I create at least one viewer-inspired video each month, based on a specific request, a particular dietary need, or a fresh idea.

Lastly, what does being green mean to you?

In my world, being green means growing my own organic food to stay connected to the source, buying locally, and supporting environmentally conscious companies. These are just some of the ways we can tread more lightly on our planet.

You can find more creative recipes on the Veggietorials YouTube channel and plenty of green how-to videos on YouTube. Happy viewing!

(Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog)

For the third year, I’m excited to announce the call for 2013 Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants applications is now open. Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants provide funding to nonprofit organizations ranging between $10,000 and $20,000 on average to build a map that will help them accomplish their mission, be it around environmental issues, humanitarian causes, disaster relief prevention, or health issues. If your nonprofit has a great idea for a map that can change the world, apply for a 2013 Google Earth Outreach Developer Grant today.

This year, we checked in with our 2011 Developer Grantees to learn about the impact their maps had on each nonprofit’s overall mission one year after the launch of the map. We were proud of the many achievements of the nonprofits’ work. Here are some of my favorite examples:

 

WWF & Eyes on the Forest mapped deforestation rates and wildlife habitat in Sumatra.

WWF & Eyes on the Forest created a map to showcase deforestation in Sumatra. With the Google Maps Engine map as part of their “Don’t Flush Tiger Forests” campaign, they convinced 17 out of 20 US retailers to stop buying toilet paper from companies cutting down intact hardwood rainforests and critical tiger habitat in Sumatra.

The HALO Trust mapped their minefield clearance work in a Google Earth Tour

The HALO Trust clears minefields in previously war-torn regions around the world, including Angola, Afghanistan and Cambodia. Upon the launch of their Google Earth tours designed to raise awareness about their work, they saw the most traffic to their website over the entire calendar year.

iNaturalist taps into citizen scientists who submit research-grade species observations to a global map using Android devices and iPhones

iNaturalist.org’s Android app, designed to collect species observations from around the world from citizen scientists, has been installed on over 2000 Android devices. The number of scientific-grade research observations has more than quadrupled. We look forward to hearing about the impacts of our 2012 Developer Grantees’ maps as they are launched in coming months. Good luck to nonprofits who apply to our 2013 Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants, and if you are a nonprofit with a great idea for a map, apply for a grant!

Posted by Tanya Birch, Google Earth Outreach