Yahoo! Goes Green

Last Wednesday, Yahoo’s in Sunnyvale celebrated the dedication of the new LEED ® Gold Plaque for our Headquarters Campus, the launch of a pilot Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle carsharing program, and the annual Green Team Summer Fair!

Green Buildings turn into Gold!

We were thrilled to celebrate the news that Yahoo!’s entire headquarters campus has been awarded LEED ® Gold certification under the US Green Building Council’s standards for Existing Buildings: Operations + Maintenance.  Yahoo! was further honored to receive the first LEED ® Gold designation ever given to a multi-building office campus under this standard.

What does this mean?  It means that our Sunnyvale campus ranks among the top tier of buildings which make smart use of energy, water, natural gas, and other resources.  Our offices have been retrofitted to improve indoor lighting and air quality, and purchases of electronic equipment, furniture, cleaning supplies, and food were monitored to ensure compliance with LEED® standards for local purchases, re-use, and recycling.   The project to certify the entire campus took two years and included assessments of everything from the ground floor walk-off mats to the air filters on the roofs.   The investments made have already paid for themselves in terms of efficiency, and we know we did the right thing for Yahoos and for the environment.

WeCar Carsharing Program Pilots Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles

Yahoo! offers the WeCar carsharing program in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, which enables employees to rent vehicles by the hour for day-time errands and trips.  This month, Enterprise and Toyota have placed a pilot pre-release Plug-in Hybrid Prius at Yahoo! headquarters.  From August through December 2011, Yahoos will be able to check out the Plug-In Hybrid Prius for personal use through the WeCar program.  Cool!

Green Team Summer Fair

And, to round out the excitement, last week, the Yahoo! Green Team hosted their 2011 annual Green Team Summer Fair in Sunnyvale, featuring local environmental organizations and spreading the word about our new office compost program.

Catch this video that highlights some of the green celebrations in Sunnyvale last week:

Want to learn more about ways that we can all make more sustainable choices?   Check out www.green.yahoo.com, the #1 destination for green content on the web.