Sony recently announced that they’ve lowered their global CO2 emissions by 31% since 2000. The electronics giant also made a 54% reduction in waste generation and a 41% reduction in water use.

They improved efficiency not only at their plants and offices, but in their product design as well. Their most popular TV model – the Bravia -uses 30% less power than it did just three years ago.

Sony accomplished that high percentage reduction using advanced and thorough recycling practices. Sony has publicly stated that they wish to be a zero-emissions company by 2050.

A new report from the Electric Power Research Institute looked at the energy consumption of the three most popular video game consoles, the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3, and discovered that the Wii was the most energy efficient, using one-sixth the power used by the other two.

The researchers played one hour of Madden NFL 11 on each system and then recorded the power consumed. The Wii used 13.7 watts, the Playstation used 84.8 watts and Xbox used 87.9 watts. The reason for the huge disparity between the Wii and the other two is that the Playstation and Xbox feature much higher quality graphics and more powerful processors.

Beginning in 2011, TVs will come with Energy Guide stickers like those found on appliances like refrigerators or washers and dryers. The idea is that this will empower consumers to make energy efficient choices.

The Federal Trade Commission is requiring all TVs to bare the stickers, which will feature the estimated annual energy cost of the TV, with a scale comparing it to other TVs in the same size range. The figures are based on a cost of 11 cents per kWh and five hours use per day.

The new requirement applies to all TVs sold in stores as of January, but websites have until July 2011 to add the labels.

Created for the Evolo Skyscraper Design Competition, the Gyre Seascraper is a floating zero emissions eco-development from Zigloo Design, a Canadian based company. Only at the conception stages this underwater skyscraper was created to bring both scientists and tourists together to better understand the ocean.

The multi-level design spanning 52.3 acres, uses wind, solar, and tidal energy generation technologies all while providing adequate space for living and working, shops, restaurants, gardens, and recreation activities. Cool, sounds like its right out of an amazing Sci-Fi movie!

With radial arm that extend out from the central area for stabilization this also creates a 1.25km long port which makes it perfect for accommodating the worlds largest ships.

The centre column of the Gyre Seascraper features multiple floor levels within a double-hulled vortex with glass windows. The top two levels are dedicated to restaurants, shopping and community activities while the intermediate levels are designed to accommodate long-term residents, ocean experts, and hotel guests, with room for more than 2000 people. The lowest levels are dedicated to oceanographic research and also will feature space for a public interpretive centre.

According to Mr Steve Jobs, they went down the full environmental checklist. At .5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds — 9.7 inch IPS display – hopefully that won’t require a ton of packaging. Apple is usually good about keeping their packaging and boxes a reasonable size – usually just the size of the product you’re buying. The green spin? Arsenic-free, BFR-free, Mercury-free, PVC-free, and highly recyclable. And a claimed 10 hours of battery life.

So…nothing too new as far as making the Tablet greener and more efficient than any of the products they’ve released in the last year.

PRICE UPDATE: Full pricing: The 16GB, Wi-Fi-only version costs $500, while the 32GB is $600 and 64GB is $700. Pricing increases by $130 to add 3G. The Wi-Fi-only models ship in 60 days, while 3G models will ship in 90.

This year’s Greenpeace “Guide to Greener Electronics” was just released. The lowest scores are higher than last year, but the highest scores are lower. Nokia is still at the top of the list.

Below is the list with each company’s score from 1 – 10 with the brief explanation of the score provided by Greenpeace.

7.3 Nokia — Remains in first place with good scores on toxics use reduction, but lost points on energy.
6.9 Sony Ericsson — Moves up with top marks on toxics elimination but weak on recycling.
5.3 Toshiba — Good score on toxics elimination.
5.3 Philips — Loses points for failing to lobby for phase out of hazardous substance in legislation.
5.1 Apple — Continues to improve, scoring best on eliminating toxic chemicals and e-waste criteria.
5.1 LG Electronics — LG score improves, but is still penalized for postponing date for toxics phase out.
5.1 Sony — Maintains overall score with better energy total, but needs stronger chemicals legislation.
5.1 Motorola — Slightly reduced score, due to lack of lobbying for stronger chemicals legislation.
5.1 Samsung — Big drop due to penalty point for failing to meet commitment to phase out hazardous substances.
4.9 Panasonic — Score unchanged, strongest on energy but poor on e-waste and recycling.
4.7 HP — Improved position thanks to clear support for global emissions reductions, but needs to lobby for improved chemical legislation.
4.5 Acer — Score unchanged but Acer is lobbying for stronger chemicals legislation.
4.5 Sharp — Loses points due to poor information on toxics elimination and fails to support stronger chemicals legislation.
3.9 Dell — Reduced score on energy criteria and penalty point for delaying toxics phase out till 2011.
3.5 Fujitsu — Improved score due to support for global carbon emission reductions and cutting its own emissions.
2.5 Lenovo — Score unchanged, with penalty point for indefinite delay on toxics phase out.
2.4 Microsoft — Reduced score, fails to support strong chemicals legislation.
1.4 Nintendo — Nintendo remains in last place with the same score.

The full report by Greenpeace has a lot more detail about the rankings and each company’s individual performance. Check it out here.

BlackBerry is blaming a flawed application for its latest round of email and Internet outages.
Things started going bad on Tuesday night, when customers in North American and South America were unable to send or receive messages. Phone calls and text messages were not affected.

Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerrys, said Wednesday morning that a “preliminary analysis” showed that the outages were caused by a flaw in recently released versions of the BlackBerry Messenger application.

Anyone who downloaded the new BlackBerry Messenger application since Dec. 14 should download a replacement (version 5.0.0.57), according to Research In Motion.

Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that apparently lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The new LED bulbs are in the EverLed line, and they’ll be siold in Japan starting October 21, with monthly production at 50,000 units. No changes to lighting equipment used for incandescents are required.

If used an average of five and a half hours per day, the new bulbs can last up to 19 years, according to Panasonic. That’s 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs. The bulbs use 1/8 the power of regular bulbs.

Energy Star has announced that the new 4.0 and 5.0 specifications for televisions have been set. They’ll go into effect May 2010 and 2012 respectively, and the impact will save users anywhere from 40% to 65% in electricity consumption.

There are about 275 million TVs currently in use in the U.S., consuming over 50 billion kWh of energy each year — or 4 percent of all households’ electricity use. This is enough electricity to power all the homes in the state of New York for an entire year.

The White House announced the resignation of  top environmental adviser, Van Jones, who had talked smack about Republicans and signed a petition supporting the 9/11 conspiracy theory.

Van Jones issued a statement decrying “lies and distortions” and a “smear campaign” that he claimed was waged against him by conservatives even though Jones was forced to apologize in recent days for some past statements, including a speech posted on YouTube in which he called Republicans “assholes.” (Editor’s note: *snicker.)

“On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,” Jones wrote in his resignation letter. “But I came here to fight for others, not for myself,” Jones added. “I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past.”

Nicknamed the “Green Jobs’ Czar,” Van Jones is the founder of Green For All, an organization that promotes green-collar jobs for the disadvantaged. He also authored the 2008 New York Times best-seller, The Green Collar Economy.