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The Winter Olympics are over and amongst the medals and trouncing the US at hockey, Vancouver was praised for hosting the “greenest Olympics ever” with LEED certified buildings , the use of recaptured gas and the construction of a hydrogen highway. However, London looks set to raise the bar even higher with plans to blow Vancouver’s achievements out of the water in 2012. The London Olympic Authority have stated that they are aiming to make London 2012 the first sustainable Olympic Games, setting a precedent for future events.

Photos via the BBC It’s one of the (if not the ) rarest flower in the world: the Middlemist’s Red exists in only two known locations: a greenhouse in the UK, and a garden in New Zealand. Imported to Britain two hundred years ago from China, back when flowers where a luxury item, it has since been exterminated in its original homeland. And now the Middlemist is blooming again–nice looking flower, right?…

If you’re reading Inhabitat, you’re no doubt aware of how popular the ‘green’ trend has become. Businesses have finally started to realize that the environmental movement is here to stay, and that there is money to be made in going green

Harvesting wasted energy from unexpected places is one of our favorite topics at Inhabitat, however one of the last places we’d look for a “clean” energy source is the tailpipe of a car. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have announced that they are working on a new type of carbon nanotube thermocell that is capable of scavenging wasted energy from a vehicle’s exhaust system at a lower cost than ever before. Read the rest of TAILPIPE POWER: Nanotube Thermocells Harvest Energy From Car Exhaust Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: “clean energy” , alternative energy , green design , green transportation , heat scavenging , renewable energy , sustainable design , tailpipe power , tailpipe thermocell

In Apple’s 2010 Supplier Responsibility Report they announced that, among other things, some of their suppliers were found to have hired underage workers. They also uncovered that their suppliers underpaid workers, over-worked workers, improperly disposed of hazardous waste , conducted employee discrimination, and falsified formal records meant to cover up these violations. In a shocking display of transparency Apple released the report which found that one or more violations were found in 60 of the 102 facilities audited

TXU Energy , a large Texas utility company, will lease rooftop solar power systems to their customers in the Dallas area. Homeowners can sign up for the program with TXU and their partner in the project, SolarCity , will design and install the systems.  After tax incentives, an owner of a three-to-four bedroom house would owe about $35 a month for a lease, though for $26,000 they could buy the array outright.  When leased, SolarCity continues to own the array and performs any maintenance. Currently, the state utility infrastructure company Oncor has funds to offer rebates on about 400 home installations, but SolarCity expects the program to grow quickly over the next five years

Students at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD) designed these pieces of beautiful furniture for Far Coast Coffee’s (Coke’s coffee brand) social areas at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics . The furniture is made entirely out of blue pine wood in an attempt to raise awareness about the mountain pine beetle’s devastating effect on the pine industry. Read the rest of Far Coast Furniture Raises Awareness of the Pine Industry at the Olympics Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: apolo ohno , Coca Cola , Coke , far coast , lindsay vonn , olympics , scuad , vancouver

Images by B.Alter Vancouver gets a medal for being the greenest Olympics; the question is: which one?

Read the rest of LEED Platinum Vancouver Convention Center has North America’s Largest Green Roof Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: Architecture , artifical reef , broadcasting , eco design , ecosystem , green renovation , green roof , harbor , LMN , olympics , Sustainability , vancouver , VCEC , winter , XXI

Today is opening day of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics , which is being touted as the greenest Olympics ever . But the warm weather and rain of late at one of the venues has forced the organizers to haul in snow via truck and helicopter (because the Winter Olympics don’t really work without snow). Since trucks and helicopters emit a lot of carbon, critics and protesters are calling out the Vancouver Olympics for their somewhat hypocritical measures to save the 17 day event from total meltdown