Yahoo! Redefines the “Power Lunch”

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Yahoo! has launched its first ever “Green Screen.” It’s an interactive energy monitoring touch screen display located in Yahoo!’s URL cafeteria at its Sunnyvale headquarters.

Last year Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Green, while at the same time pledging to become carbon neutral. On the Green Screen, data can be viewed in megawatt hours, tons of carbon, or dollars. So, for example, employees can see how many pounds of carbon have been emitted per person on the Sunnyvale campus from the energy usage that day. The screen uses the “Building Dashboard “technology by Lucid Design Group, and gives anyone the ability to play with the information.

In addition to power consumption, the Green Screen displays tips on being green, including green products at Yahoo! Shopping’s Green Center.

According to Kate Gerwe, Senior Marketing Director, Corporate Partnerships and Yahoo! Green Team Leader,

Our hope is that this opens a healthy dialogue about our energy usage and empowers our employees to be more aware of our impact on the environment, and engages them to take action in their own way. This is one of the small pieces that helps us continue to reduce our carbon footprint and serves as a reminder that any action, no matter how big or how small, does make a difference.

To be honest, it’s a genuinely cool - and green - idea.