I found this this morning, but Google Japan has announced the One Green Project. There are two elements to the One Green project.

Quick Update: Turns out that the lead developer on the One Green Project is Shibata-san, the same developer of Coreblog which powers this blog on plone.  His post is here.

The first is a google gadget that goes on to your igoogle page. Once you have added the google gadget to your site, you will need to login using a google account. Or you can do it the other way around, login to the project and then add the google gadget to your igoogle page. Whatever floats your boat. When registering, they will ask for a nickname and your address. You can add a comment if you so wish, and an idea for saving energy. Some examples I've seen is to use a bicycle where possible, or purchasing regional farm products.

Having added and "configured" the gadget, when you visit your igoogle page, it'll give you an idea for reducing CO2 emissions. By clicking on "take this action", it will show you your reduction. For example, "taking the action" of turning "down" your air conditioner from 78 degress to 82 degrees, you reduce 83g of CO2 emissions. If you then take a 1 minute shorter shower, your daily savings jumps to 157g.

The second thing you can do with the google gadget is to post your idea for saving energy. For example, bicycle to work.

The second element to the project is a mashup using google maps. Daily savings by each participant and their ideas are shown on a google map with their chosen icons. When you click on the link to the One Green project page, you are shown your location with your idea and the savings you have accumulated for that day. Just like google maps, you can click on other icons and show their ideas or the ideas that they have to implement cost savings. You can "support" other participants ideas and the idea will show how many people support that idea. The more energy you have saved, the color of your icon/avatar changes from red to yellow, and then to green.

As I was looking through this, I thought this would be a great project for Green City Blue Lake, for example, to undertake. Perhaps in partnership with Youngstown's Green Energy TV and others. What I don't see, in the One Green project is a calculation of the total daily savings of all participants. This would be an interesting additional piece to add to the project, so that participants can see the total effect of their group efforts.