I've been keeping track of the Olympics a bit over the past few days, as much as my attention span will allow. I heard that China had worked to make this what they are calling a "Green Olympics" by making a concerted effort to be environmentally-friendly in the construction of the Olympic Village and surrounding buildings. Here are some of the highlights:

• the residential high rises for the Olympic athletes uses solar panels and recycles wastewater for heating and cooling

• the Water Cube features natural lighting and a rainwater capture system

• the Bird's Nest has massive solar panels which power the parking lot underneath; it also is designed to provide natural ventilation

• the Olympic Village uses solar cells and geothermal heat pumps and was deemed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified.

I was happy to see sustainable, eco-friendly design made a high priority in this year's games but, of course, there are still things to be improved upon. I found a rather thought-provoking blog post regarding the fact that the NBC set at the Olympic games is outdoors...and air conditioned. I mean, I'm sure the smog and the heat make newscasting [is that a word?] outside uncomfortable, but isn't that why we have indoor news sets?

Anyway, hooray for all that has been done...and maybe in 2012, NBC can find a cozy place inside for their set!