Ricoh will erect a sign in New York City's Times Square that will be 100 percent powered by solar and wind power. The electronic billboard, the first ever to be totally powered by natural resources in Times Square, will be located at 3 Times Square at the corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street.

The sign, which is 47 feet high by 126 feet long, will be illuminated by floodlights and powered by 45 solar panels and 4 turbines for wind generation. By using all natural energy sources, Ricoh will reduce the amount of CO2 usage by 18 tons per year. If there is not enough solar or wind power, the Times Square sign will not be illuminated. Ricoh also currently has a similar eco-powered sign in Osaka, Japan, that uses 100 percent solar and wind power.

Dog Fancy offers dog owners 10 easy suggestions to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle with their dog in their August 2008 issue.

Eco-friendly ways dog owners can help shrink their dog's carbon paw print include:

• Make organic food choices. Feed your canine companion an all-natural diet, such as raw vegetables, fruit and natural foods that limit the use of additives and processed fillers.
• Use natural household cleane
• More details after the jump.

Sprig.com adds new features, columns and online tools to inspire readers to easily integrate beautiful green choices into their daily lives. Brand new content—breaking news, actionable fashion and beauty tips, and celebrity scoop—and interactive features, including the ability to share, bookmark and comment on stories and products, will help readers take easy steps towards a more beautiful, stylish and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Taking a long-term approach to reducing your environmental impact is the key to greening your lifestyle successfully.

Richard Daly and Todd Singer advise homebuilders, realtors, and homeowners on green construction, renovation and design in their Phoenix, Arizona design-build firm, REDesign-Green. In their experience, homeowners know that sustainability is good for their families and the environment, but they are often discouraged by previous false starts.

"People want to do the right thing," says Richard Daly, "but making changes haphazardly will cause frustration, guilt -- or worse -- apathy."

Daly and Singer recommend that people approach sustainability incrementally by planning and then adopting new habits. They offer these tips for going -- and staying -- green at home.

The average American household spends hundreds of dollars each year buying bottled water. If these families were to fill reusable bottles with their own filtered tap water, they could save an average of at least $500 per year and help reduce the nearly 200 million pounds of plastics waste in the country’s landfills annually.

To help consumers reduce waste every day, Base Brands today introduces WaterWeek, a set of five 16 oz. reusable, BPA-free water bottles for the work week in a specially-designed tray that fits neatly in a refrigerator. Available in a variety of colors and patterns, these leak-proof bottles are ideal for a variety of indoor/outdoor activities where consumers typically use bottled water like the office, car or gym.

GPS pioneer Navman offers its expertise in route planning to sustainable transport organisation, Revolve. As part of the annual People's Eco-Rally, celebrity enthusiasts Quentin Wilson, Lisa Rogers and Robert Llewellyn, will join members of the public to drive from Brighton to London in the greenest way they can. Promoting economical and greener driving, Navman has pledged the flagship S90i GPS device to each of the eco-rally vehicles taking part, assisting them in arriving via the most efficient route. For the five greenest drivers and vehicles on the day, the device will be theirs' to own!

Navman GPS devices offer the most up to date TeleAtlas maps, with 100% street network coverage for all major European countries - meaning no more getting lost at home or abroad. With the additional benefit of the S90i's onboard camera, competitors will be able to take geo-tagged Navpix of their journey along the way and upload to the Navpix library - making it even easier to share their experience with the world. To start driving more economically today follow Navman's 'Top Tips' for greener driving.

It is no secret that Chicago weather is unpredictable. One thing is certain, however -- the Windy City summers are notoriously hot. With the summer temperatures regularly soaring into the 90's -- often accompanied with unbearable humidity -- Chicagoans are always looking to beat the heat. With energy costs hovering at all time highs and a nationwide emphasis on conservation, Chicagoland's leading residential heating and air conditioning provider, Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning, announced today a list of the Top 10 tips for consumers to conserve energy and save dollars this summer without sacrificing comfort.

The HVAC experts at Four Seasons Heating and Air Conditioning located in Chicago offer the following tips for consumers to heed this summer:

Top 10 Tips for Conserving Energy and Save Cold Hard Cash in Hot Summer Months

With gas prices parked over four dollars a gallon and record breaking temperatures looming this summer, workplaces of every stripe are looking for ways to save money, stay cool, and, hopefully, remain good environmental citizens in the process.

“Fortunately, some of the best ways to reduce an office or business’s water, electric, and maintenance costs help reduce energy consumption and save money, too,” says David Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of EnerLume Energy Management, makers of an energy savings lighting device. Mr. Murphy offers the following suggestions to businesses:

• Bulbs: Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Although CFL bulbs cost more money, over the course of each bulb’s lifetime, businesses should save over $90 per bulb in energy costs.
• Heating and Air Conditioning: The best option here is for workplaces to install a high efficiency furnace and cooling system with a programmable thermostat. Set the thermostat for 68% in the winter and 78% in the summer; then program the thermostat a couple of degrees for extended times away from the workplace such as evenings and weekends.
• More after the jump.

Having a baby gives moms a whole new outlook on being eco-friendly. But choosing the best foods, clothing and nontoxic products for pregnancy, babies and young children can be a source of anxiety for many women.

Experts speaking at a March of Dimes luncheon for reporters here, titled "The Eco-Friendly Baby: Common Sense Guidelines for Mom," helped de-mystify the subject and provided tips to help moms become smart and knowledgeable "green" consumers.

Alan Greene, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician and author of "Raising Baby Green: The Earth Friendly Guide To Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care"; and Joel Forman, MD, associate professor of Pediatrics and Community and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, answered some of the most frequently asked questions, including:

Find out after the jump.

Sorting hotel search results by Price, Hotel Name, or Distance from a Landmark are familiar tools to almost any traveler, but RezHub.com is now providing a sort feature with a conscience: Sort by Green Score. Customers using the RezHub.com hotel search are now able to view hotels in order of the way they care for the environment.

RezHub.com and their Green Travel Hub launched in September of last year with a dedication to providing green travel options to everyone and for every trip. Since their launch, the site has continued to provide innovative tools to help travelers learn that going green does not have to mean going to extremes. The RezHub Green Score ratings system for hotels was designed to show customers exactly what steps individual hotels are taking to protect the planet. Hotels earn points and Green Score “Branches” by completing tasks ranging from incorporating recycling programs, to using Energy Star Appliances, to landscaping with native plant gardens. RezHub became the first travel site to include a Green Score in every hotel search, and the launch of their Sort by Green Score feature is the perfect enhancement. The Sort by Green Score feature works just as a “sort by price” would work. When sorted, hotels appear in order of their Green Score starting with the highest at the top and ranging down to the lowest.

As American consumers and businesses struggle with the myriad of light bulb choices available to achieve energy efficiency and other objectives, Lutron Electronics has created an easy-to-read website designed to answer the basic question, “What is the best light bulb for me?”

The new site compares standard-socket (E26) incandescent, screw-in compact fluorescent (CFL) and halogen bulbs. The bulbs are evaluated in a variety of categories, including efficiency, price, performance, controllability and quality of light.

The U.S. Postal Service is offering greener choices, and an easy, online resource for consumers to make environmentally friendly decisions about their mail.

From eco-friendly products and services to ideas for recycling and ways to help marketers create greener advertising, usps.com/green contains hundreds of facts, suggestions and programs to help improve environmental awareness and make it easier for consumers to go green — including a way to calculate carbon footprint savings by conducting Postal Service business online.

Almost anything a customer can do in a Post Office can be done online. The green web pages provide the extra benefit of one quick, easy and convenient location to learn how to be greener consumers. An easy-to-use navigation bar directs users to product, recycling, Postal Service environmental innovation, direct mail and ideas for greening mail, including links to local recycling centers, reusing boxes and packages for shipping, and ensuring home addressing is current to make sure consumers receive the mail they want and eliminate waste