With Earth Day once again upon us, businesses around the globe seem to be discovering increasingly creative ways to use technology to help protect the environment and save money.

My personal favorite, so far, is the "Cycle for Your Supper" program offered by the Danish hotel, Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Tower. The hotel connected stationary bicycles to generators and is inviting guests to help produce power, CNET reports. The wattage cyclers generate is shown on iPhones hooked to the handlebars. Anyone who can pedal 10 watt hours of energy receives a $44 voucher for a meal at the hotel. The hotel saves on energy costs; guests burn some calories; and everyone involved reduces their carbon footprint.

Taking a more conventional approach to being green, a Holly Springs, N.C. maker of office and school furniture installed solar panels on its roof to produce energy and sell it to the local power company. The manufacturer, OFM, spent about $1.3 million to build the solar farm as part of a program sponsored by the power company, according to an article in FastCompany. The initiative is expected to cover its costs in five years and then add to the manufacturer's bottom line thereafter.

Meanwhile, tech companies themselves have been getting deeper into the energy saving business. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has taken on initiatives dealing with wind and solar power, the smart grid and reduced-power chips. Last week the chip maker showcased a new device that combines server and sensor capabilities to track the power consumption of appliances in workplaces and homes and send the data over WiFi to a remote management device. Ultimately, Intel plans to include remote control functions so that thermostats can be lowered or lights extinguished to save energy, according to an article in Wired.

For more:
- read this CNET article
- read this FastCompany article
- read this Wired article

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