Sony Europe announced today that it will power its 32 largest sites throughout Europe, large meaning more than 100 employees, entirely from renewable resources. In a press release, Serge Foucher, Executive Vice President of Sony Europe, stated that the company has reduced its Co2 emission from fiscal year 2000 - 2008 by 90%.

The company has achieved these reduction through energy saving programs on all sites, “eco-thinking” as well as looking at shipping, reducing packaging and product energy use.

Via Environmental Leader

Hoping to do something about the less than 0.05% of milk and juice cartons in the US that ever end up recycled, Portland industrial designer John Schreiber created Milkmuny, producing highly-functional wallets from the familiar paper cartons we regularly discard. Milkmuny pays local groups seeking to raise funds for the cartons they collect, and after washing them, create wonderful multi-pocketed wallets through an intricate folding process—$10 each, with a 45 day warranty and a percentage of sales donated to environmental groups. Schreiber explains that

“I wanted to challenge traditional design thinking and create a mass produced product that didn’t expend more energy to create or require more resources to produce but was also aesthetically pleasing and uncompromisingly functional.”

[via TreeHugger]

In a summer season filled with outdoor BBQ’s and picnics in the park, a level of convenience and disposability goes a long way. Unfortunately, for most of us that generally means trash bags overflowing with plastic cups and utensils, paper plates and napkins destined for the dump.

Enter Branch’s Biodegradable Party Kit, an all-in-one package with everything you need to serve 50 at your next gathering. The plates, cups and bowls are made from 100% sugar cane fiber (bagasse), the utensils are produced with potato starch and the napkins are from recycled paper. And while it can’t match the sustainability of reusing your dishes at every event, as an alternative, this kit just might be the next best thing.

[via Inhabitat]

Foot Pump Phone Chargers

Festival goers at Glastonbury, in the U.K., can charge their cell-phones through using a standard airbed foot pump, the type normally found all over festival sites. The Orange Gotwind power pump’s turbine is rotated at speeds of up to 2000 rpm from the air flow generated by the foot pump, this turbine then directly drives the small but powerful alternator. A 5 minute phone call will require approximately 1 minute of foot pumping.

Learn more here.

Green Applications

T-Mobile introduces Green Perks, a free downloadable application that delivers exclusive discounts on green products and services directly to your phone. Just scroll through the offers on your phone, flash your Green Perks coupon when you check out, and you’re done. Featured offers include a 20% discount off Method home care and personal care products, as well as Jamba Juice, Quiksilver and Volcom.

Find out more here.

Standardized Phone Chargers

Ten leading mobile phone and chip makers have agreed to develop a universal standard micro-USB phone charger for the European market. The EU expects the first generation of standard mobile phone chargers to reach the market by 2010. The new standard charger will replace the more than 30 different kinds of charger currently in use and minimize electronic waste.

Find out more here.

Carbon Counters

In late June, Deutsche Bank place an 67-by-32-foot electronic billboard outside Madison Square Garden, where over 500,000 people see it daily. The Carbon Counter works as a meter on human-caused climate change, monitoring the real-time, cumulative pollution humans are emitting into atmosphere via data from MIT’s Global Climate Change Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Tracking progress through measurements and transparency.

Find out more here.

Air Purifiers

GreenAir builds on the ancient idea of purifying the indoor environment with living plants. In most cases, indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air. GreenAir absorbs contaminants from indoor air through the roots and leaves. A solar-powered fan lures the polluted air to the root region so that huge amount of contaminants can be gathered to purify in a shorter span of time. Designed by Sherly Gunawan at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore.

Innovative Government

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arranged its first-ever Water Quality Video Contest to engage citizens about water pollution and protection. Encouraging creativity and educating citizens about actions that they can take to reduce their impact is vital to improving the nations water quality.

See the winners here.

From Coal To Culture

If provided with the right knowledge and insights, culture is at its best a very powerful way of communicating. Global FOCUS works with Chinese artist and filmmakers, looking at the positive impacts the creative sector will gain as we move from a coal consuming society to a culture consuming society.

Find out more here.

Sustainable Automobiles

The Royal College of Art in London Summer Graduate Show is serving up fresh ideas on the future of cars. The department of Vehicle Design has produced several prototypes for sustainable automobiles to be admired and to inspire and industry in great need of innovation.

Find out more here.

Small Luxury Cars

In the meantime, Aston Martin launches the Cygnet.  A concept that represents a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence – and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin’s luxury brand ownership.

Find out more here.

Taxibots

Airbus and Israel Aerospace Industries is pursuing a joint venture of developing and testing environmental friendly pilot-controlled towing semi-robotic systems. Helping airplanes to taxi between the gate and runway without using their jet engines could potentially reduce CO2 emissions from 18 billion tons to 2 million tons, cut fuels costs from $8 to $2 billion and significantly reduce noise pollution.

Find out more here.