by Beth Buczynski

Last week I utilized Airbnb for the first time ever. Since many people I talk to still haven't heard of this unique travel-sharing service, I wanted to post a little summary of what it was like to come home to a house and family instead of an empty hotel room.

This past week was the first-ever SxSW Eco conference in Austin, Texas. Featuring some of the coolest green companies and brightest minds in the environmental and collaborative consumption space, I knew I had to be there. Only problem was the recommended hotel was over $120 a night. Not possible for this freelance writer.

So I decided to put my money where my mouth is, and book lodging on Airbnb instead. (For those who aren't familiar, Airbnb is a peer-to-peer travel service that allows people to list their spare apartments, vacation homes, and guest bedrooms at reasonable prices for budget-conscious travelers looking for a more personable experience).

After browsing lots of listings in the Austin area, I finally settled upon an East Austin Artists Home listed by Andrea and Lance. I appreciated that the listing included lots of pictures, both of the inside and outside of the home, so that I had a good idea of what I would find. As you can see above, these pictures were vetted by Airbnb, so I knew they really represented the home. Not everyone on Airbnb does this. I also like that this listing had over 50 positive reviews and 3 references from previous guests. This boosted my confidence that Lance and Andrea would be good hosts and my stay wouldn't be awkward.

We exchanged a few emails once my reservation was accepted, and Lance even offered to pick me up from the airport and drop me off downtown for the first day of the conference. When's the last time your hotel did that for free?!

Upon arrival at the house, I got a complete tour, was informed of the house rules (aka where you could and couldn't smoke, how to use the alarm system, and what food was free to eat), got some tips about using public transit, and got to meet the awesome pets, Duke the dog and Chelsea the very-talkative cat.

Other than that, I was free to come and go as I pleased. The first night, the conference ended early, so I got to enjoy some drinks and conversation with my hosts on their lovely back porch. The second and third nights, I came home later, so I didn't see them. On the day of check out, my flight wasn't scheduled until around 5 p.m. But unlike a hotel, which would have kicked me out at 10 am, I got to hang out at the house until Lance gave me a ride to the airport.

Besides the amazing monetary savings and transportation assistance, booking with Airbnb introduced me to an awesome couple living in East Austin! I got to learn about what it's really like to live in Austin, where all the great eating and drinking spots are, and an invitation to stay again any time I'm passing through.

by Jennifer Shockley

Architecture and art are considered different fields but in many forms they are very similar especially as they both are commonly striving to bring people and their environment together in a unified, unique and memorable experience.

Architects are taught material characteristics so that they can understand how to design a functional structure. Artists work with materials and know how to push those characteristics to and past known functional extents, creating new boundaries.

An interesting, and not a far-fetched, comparison can be found in Jason deCaires Tayor's Underwater Sculptures and the underwater restaurant on Rangalifinolhu Island.

The island resort called The Conrad Maldives Rangali is an exclusive getaway only accessible by airplane. It boasts the first ever glass, under-the-sea restaurant, sitting 16 feet below the surface, entitled Ithaa Undersea Restaurant. This is a chance for people to experience their environment in a different manner than normal.

The glass restaurant opened in the mid-2000's and for special occasions the dining room can be transformed into a private (well besides the fish) bedroom for two.

The island resort is a private excursion whereas the recent sculpture museum of Taylor's is more for public viewing.

The underwater museum opened in 2009 off the coasts in the water surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc and is named MUSA (Museo Subacuatico de Arte).

Along with the artist, Jason deCaires Taylor, the museum was founded by Jamie Gonzalez Cano from the National Marine Park and Roberto Diaz from the Cancun Nautical Association.

The underwater museum is still expanding but opened with 403 permanent life-size sculptures done by Taylor aiming to demonstrate the interaction of art and the environment. The material used is specialized to promote coral life and the location promotes the recovery of the natural reefs, relieving pressure by drawing visitors away to visit the underwater museum.

There have been four installations:

1. La Jardinera de la Esperanza
2. Coleccionista de los Suenos
3. Hombre en Llamas
4. The Silent Evolution

"The Silent Evolution, his most ambitious work to date, is a collection of over 400 life-size figurative works, forming a vast gathering of people aiming to define a new era of living in a symbiotic relationship with nature."

These two distinct works, a resort restaurant and a museum exhibit, are related by not just the water that they are submerged in but also in the drive for the people to interact more with nature and to understand the life that is all around us without disturbing its wonder.

Architecture and art are profound fields that can teach people the reasons that sustainability is not only a necessary element, but a beautiful, interactive experience.

by Kristy Hessman

Budget Travel has named its 10 Coolest Small Towns in America 2011 - towns that are "short on people," with populations under 10,000, "but long on personality." Because these towns are so small, most are not widely known, but EarthTechling readers will recognize one name on the list.

Greensburg, Kan., comes in 10th on the Budget Travel list, with the magazine touting the town's many eco-friendly characteristics, including wind turbines that produce 100 percent its power, as well as LED streetlamps. How did a town of 777 in the middle of the country become so green? As we reported earlier this year, Greensburg ironically owes its sustainable character to a twister that blew through in May 2007 and destroyed most of its infrastructure, homes and buildings. City officials decided to rebuild the ecofriendliest town ever. They've done a good job. All but one of the buildings in town is LEED-Platinum certified. That one building is LEED Silver certified.

Throughout the town, visitors will also see other green building signs, such as solar panels, geothermal heating and cooling systems and windmills to bring water out of the ground. Greensburg residents say the "green" change of heart is no mere fad; it's a way to get back in touch with many of the ways the pioneers before them made a living in harsh prairie conditions.

One resident was quoted in the Budget Travel story as saying, "These are the same tennents used in pioneer days - south-facing windows in chicken coops to increase sunlight, reusing everything like Mennonites do." The Budget Travel piece also mentions local green busnesses that visitors might want to check out, including Green Bean Coffee Co. and Silo-Eco Home B&B.

by Susan DeFreitas

The United Nations has a stake in reduced greenhouse gases on a global scale, and as part of its climate mitigation strategies has recently launched a green hotel toolkit designed to help hoteliers go green while cutting operational expenses.

This new online toolkit, called Hotel Energy Solutions, will help hotels evaluate their energy consumption, find renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiency, and calculate potential cost savings over the long term. It was tested by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and its partners, initially, in more than 100 European properties in four different destination areas - Haute-Savoie in France, Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Bonn in Germany, and Strandja in Bulgaria.

The toolkit garnered positive feedback from hotel owners and managers in pilot hotels and was finalized in August.

The UN reports that while hotels and other types of accommodation account for only 2 per cent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, UNWTO has identified the greening of this industry as a small but important priority for the tourism sector. It is believed the project specifically can increase energy efficiency in European small and medium hotels by 20 percent and their use of renewable energies by 10 percent.

Recently there has been a significant amount of buzz circulating about eco-tourism and, more specifically, about agritourism. This buzz coincides with the renewed interest in farmers markets and consumers who are interested in once again becoming closer to their food. With outbreaks of E. Coli and Salmonella, who doesn't want to know more about where their food comes from? Another reason - It's just plain fun.

What is Agritourism?
The term agritourism can include a variety of activities - anything from a week volunteer farm stay, to picking pumpkins, to an afternoon tour of a farm operation. Any version gives the consumer an opportunity to see the side of a farm that would not normally be open to the public, to learn more about the source of their food, and to ask whatever questions happen to come to mind. For a short period, you get to experience the beauty of rural life, usually without most or any of the work. Many tours even include tastings of wine, cheese, meats, and other loveliness that is sourced on the farm or in the local area. At the end of the tours, customers can often purchase the goodies they sampled in order to take a piece of the experience home with them and further support the farmers and farms they visited.

From a farmer's perspective, it is an excellent chance to build a relationship with customers, and to show off their farm, and their wares. Additionally, it diversifies income by offering a new source (tourism) that may not have been previously available. Liability concerns aside, it seems like a clear win/win for all parties.

Farm Dinners
One of the latest and the most popular agritourism events on the farm is "farm-to-table" dinners. Imagine having the opportunity to participate in an on-the-farm dinner where you are served the foods that were harvested and cooked on the same day. You start with appetizers upon arrival often outside. The view is beautiful - you can look out over a field, or over a productive garden. After mingling, the farmer will introduce him/herself to the group and guide everyone around for a tour of the farm. He or she will tell the story of their farm and what they do. You have the opportunity meet the animals, maybe bottle feed one or two, and ask any questions you may have. After the walk, you are taken to a table where you sit down to enjoy a five course meal. Most ingredients are local and there is discussion of each item as it arrives. The tour ends with a fantastic dessert and coffee as darkness sets in.

Sounds heavenly? It absolutely is. Very similar experiences are happening all over the country as more and more farmers begin opening their farms for agritourism events.

Where to find Agritourism?
North Carolina is lucky enough to have two fantastic organizations who organize farm tours and other agritourism events several times a year. The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project have both done much to market farms and farmers state wide. Not only do they hold farm tours where consumers can visit multiple farms over a two day period, they also publish local food guides, and publicize on-farm dinners. If you're in North Carolina, you can check their web sites, or keep up with them on Facebook.

Check with your local extension office for information about agritourism and local organizations that support farms. Summer is the time - support local food and plan your farm visits now.

This post is written by a guest writer, Julia Gold, a co-owner of Belle Terre, a natural personal care product company. Both Julia and her husband Wayne are passionate about sustainable and purposeful living. When not working, they tend their bees, keep a small garden, and love their four dogs.

Next Saturday, June 25, is the 5th Annual Sea No Evil Art show to benefit the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The event will be in Riverside, California.

Over 100 artists have been confirmed for the show! Some of the confirmed artists are:

Jeff Soto, Shepherd Fairey, Kinsey, Lola, Gary Baseman, Korin Faught, Mark Dean Veca, Vince Chan, Ryan Jacob Smith, Gretchen Ryan, Renee Lawter, Kevin Christy, The Clayton Brothers, Aunia Kahn, Mike Ski, Tara McPherson, Camille Rose Garcia, Kev Munday, Angie Clayton, Freida Gossett, Martha Rich, Michelle Valigura, Maya Hayuk, Ana Bagayan, Chris Anthony, Chivo, Bud Bottoms, Eric White and Joshua M. Smith/Hydro74.

In addition, Sea Shepherd crew members Matt Kimura and Chad Halstead and "Operation: No Compromise" campaign photographer Gary Stokes are donating pieces.

"VIP Tickets Now Available!!" the site writes.

VIP Ticket UPDATE: Now includes a private meet and greet with Captain Paul Watson before the show. Get into the show at 5:30 PM to meet Captain Watson, pre-view the art, get your Poster and Sea No Evil T-shirt included in the VIP Package!

Purchase Advance VIP tickets to Sea No Evil Art Show!! Get VIP entrance into the show, plus a show poster signed by Captain Paul Watson and Sea No Evil T-Shirt, all for $100. Order your VIP ticket by clicking the link here... Sea No Evil VIP Tickets

The Pacific Northwest corner of the United States is well known for its scenery and nature-focused tourist spots. Slightly less well known, however, is that there are several renewable energy plants that also double as tourist destinations.

Among them is the Bonneville Dam, a popular destination for locals found in the Columbia River Gorge. The facility offers tours of the plant where observers can check out some of the generators that provide the area with over a gigawatt of electricity. A lesser known green destination is located in central Washington, near Ellensburg. Puget Sound Energy's (PSE) Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility, has a opened a portion of its operations to the public which is called the Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center. The center is open to the public seven days a week from April through November (weather permitting). Guided tours are offered and private tours are available by appointment.

The center offers informational displays as well as guided hikes that lead past some of the facility's 149 operating wind turbines as well as a large solar power array consisting of over 2700 solar panels.

PSE owns about 67 percent of the property; the rest is leased from the state of Washington and is open to public recreation.

Fifty years ago, just after the election of President John F. Kennedy, Cape Cod brothers Dick and Bob Scudder teamed up with a business associate of their father's to buy a circa 1911 150-foot passenger boat to ferry people to the nearby Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, so they might be able to catch a glimpse of Camelot in action. And while what has now become a 350-employee, multi-purpose ferry company linking Cape Cod and the Islands, Hy-Line Cruises likely wasn't always in good graces with the Kennedys. And just as some members of the Kennedy clan likely didn't appreciate Taylor and the Scudder brothers' little paparazzi ferry tours then, it is ironic, to say the least, that the Hy-Line Cruises project is a partnership with Cape wind to ferry residents and tourists out to the nation's first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind, a project the late Senator Edward Kennedy and his nephew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both opposed.

Throughout the tumultuous ten-year battle over Cape Wind, opponents argued time and again that the project would not only destroy the fishing industry that operates in Nantucket Sound (to say nothing of the ecologically-devastating trawler-fishing operations most of these boats run), they maintained that the very presence of "industrial power plants" 7 miles from the coast of will destroy the economically vital tourism industry on Cape Cod.

On Monday, officials from Cape Wind and Hy-Line Cruises announced a partnership based on the premise that not only will the wind farm not threaten the local tourism-based economy, it will actually be a boon to it.

Starting this season, Hy-Line plans to augment its popular high-speed ferry services between Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket with guided tours of the Cape Wind farm, both during construction and after completion.

"For the past year, Hy-Line has looked at the growth and potential of the eco-tour cruise industry when operated in conjunction with the development of off-shore wind farms in Europe," said David Scudder, Vice President of Operations at Hy-Line Cruises at a Monday press conference. "We found that eco-tourism is one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry globally," Scudder said.

But Hy-Line hasn't always been sailing under the Cape Wind flag. In fact, the ferry operator had been a stalwart of the opposition camp since the project was first proposed in 2001, arguing that its construction would be "courting a maritime disaster." On Monday, however, Scudder and Hy-Line had clearly staked out new territory, saying that Cape Wind had sufficiently addressed the company's concerns over navigational obstacles presented by the wind farm.

But the Cape's other major ferry operator isn't so sure. Officials from the the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority told South Coast Today that Cape Wind and the Coast Guard still haven't detailed the mitigation efforts that would address their concerns.

"The Coast Guard has said in the past that they have a lot of tools in their tool box," General Manager of the Steamship Authority Wayne Lamson said. "They didn't specify what those were."

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said, "The Cape Wind Eco Tour and Visitor's Center at Hy-Line Cruises represents more than creating a world class tourism attraction and drawing visitors from around our region, nation and globe. It will stand as a testament to the spirit, ingenuity and progressiveness of Cape Cod and Massachusetts and how our community harnessed the wind to protect and preserve our environment, to revitalize our economy and to create a healthier more secure future."

Hyline officials said the new enterprise could add up to 100 new jobs at the outset and perhaps hundreds more if things go well.

In addition to employing a team of interpreters who will explore issues of energy, the environment and the political battle to build an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound from the decks of a Hy-Line vessel, the plan also calls for a Visitor Center, that will both serve as an educational portal for visitors to learn about local culture's experience with energy and also serve as a platform to develop a curriculum of credit and non-credit courses for students at Cape Cod Community College.

"Specific emphasis will be placed on the history of energy of Cape Cod and the Islands ranging from historic windmills on the Cape to whale oil on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, to fossil fuels, and the transition to a clean energy economy," Hy-Line's Scudder said.

Scudder said Hy-Line is committed to developing a green vessel to be used for the ecotours and they are exploring the purchase of a hybrid engine vessel made by a Massachusetts company.

It's getting to be where you could put together an extensive wine list drawn entirely from wineries that use solar power. An Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon as an alternative to all those Napa Cabs? Why, certainly - there's the one from Hafner Vineyard, which has been using solar power since 2002 and just quadrupled the size of its system.

Not that Hafner is boasting about this. It's a small, family-owned winery - not a giant like Constellation, whose solar efforts we told you about last fall - and it probably hasn't issued a press release in all the years since it began making wine in 1971. But Solar Craft, the company that tool care of the Hafner expansion, did.

According to the company, the Hafner project consisted of 1,298 square feet of Sharp 235-watt solar panels. An interesting thing here is that, according to Solar Craft, unlike conventional photovoltaic systems, each pair of these panels is linked to a microinverter. Because of that, even if some of the panels are shaded, the ones that aren't can continue to produce power, boosting overall efficiency. These microinverters were manufactured right in Sonoma County at Enphase Energy, which goes into some detail about the technology here on its website.

With all that, Solar Craft calculates the Hafner system will yield 21,233 kilowatt hours of energy each year, meeting nearly a third of the winery's needs.

When the question of vacation spots comes to mind, most people think beaches and tropical getaways, but given the opportunity would you venture to the other extreme? Approximately 40,000 people each winter make that choice and head north, 125 miles past the Arctic Circle, to the little town of Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. Here they will travel by snowmobile to their destination that has been booked for months and sleep on a bed of ice. What? Yes, you read that right, ice!

A newly trending getaway is the ICEHOTEL. Everything inside is made of ice and snow, including:

- Unique Rooms
- Bar
- Dinnerware
- Churches
- Museum
- Artwork

Yngve Bergqvist, founder of the ICEHOTEL, traveled the world looking for ideas on how to get tourists to visit the Arctic city of Jukkasjärvi through the winter months. He visited multiple cities and their winter festivals, where he came up with the idea in 1990 to build an igloo, the Arctic Hall, for an art show. People came to visit the winter attraction but the first people to sleep there was in 1992, when the local hotels were booked full. They had reindeer skins and arctic sleeping bags, plus were questioned in the morning as to how their stay was. The group of visitors were delighted. Thus, the idea behind the ICEHOTEL was born.

Construction for the ICEHOTEL begins in November of each year and takes a month to complete. They use ice that is harvested each spring from the local Torne River and each spring the past year's hotel melts and is returned to the river. The building is formed by spraying snow on shaped, metal sheets, which are then allowed to freeze. After a few days, the metal is removed, leaving a maze of ice corridors behind.

For the 2010/2011 hotel, the construction was completed in phases. After the entry and bar were completed on December 10th, each week a new addition with more rooms would be opened to the public. The entire hotel, this season, held 60 rooms. Also nearby, for those that do not find the ice-sleeping accommodations to their liking are heated chalets. Plus there are heated storage rooms, restrooms and changing rooms to make the stay more comfortable. In fact, the ICEHOTEL encourages one night's stay in an ice-room, and then the remainder of the visit to be carried out in 'normal' heated rooms. The hotel is kept between 17-23 degrees to keep from melting.

Each summer the ICEHOTEL holds a competition for that year's designs and artwork, therefore it is never the same.

The idea behind the ICEHOTEL has now traveled to other frozen areas of the globe. There is the Alta Igloo Hotel in Alta, Norway, which is more like an actual Inuit igloo than the others, the Alpha Resort - Tomamu's Ice Village in Shimukappu Town, Hokkaido, which is Japan's northern most island which charges approximately $800/night for two, the Ice Hotel Glace in Quebec, Canada, and the Ice Palace in Chena Hot

Springs, Alaska. All very different, but incredibly the same, as minute details down to the glasses you drink from are made of ice.

In 1996, the ICEHOTEL partnered with ABSOLUT Vodka and designed the ABSOLUT ICEBAR. It was promoted by Versace and is world-known because of its advertisements using supermodels, such as Naomi Campbell. The ICEBAR has now branched out and can be found in many cities, even south of the Arctic Circle, such as the newest in Copenhagen, Denmark. At this ICEBAR there is the "coolest drumset" made entirely of ice, which can be viewed on YouTube as Hellacopters' drummer Robbert "Robban" Eriksson plays and smashes the first set, then plays and walks away leaving the second set intact.

Beautiful artwork and an unique tourist attraction was the driving force behind Bergqvist's initial idea of the ICEHOTEL. Today however he is environmentally more conscience. He gives acknowledgement to the use of the existing river, without which their city would not survive and also to the fact that to build a new hotel each year requires a lot of energy. They have recently partnered with Gavle Energi, one of Sweden's most environmentally energy friendly companies, to use 100 percent renewable energy and has announced to become CO2 negative by 2015. They offer an Ice Climate Academy, to help others who build understand the importance of being environmentally aware, and so that they do not have to make the same mistakes Bergqvist's ICEHOTEL has made. He states,

"We are offering a unique business development programme designed to inspire and guide forward-thinking companies on how to become winners in a low carbon economy.

This four day programme takes participants on a journey that involves developing a deep understanding of climate change, including its societal and business implications, and helps participants identify the concrete strategies and action steps needed to craft implementable low carbon projects that lead to measurable results.

Our climate goal includes all our operations in Jukkasjarvi, all activities and ground transportation, all our ICEBARs and events around the world."

They have also teamed with wildlife foundations to ensure the safety and continued existence of native wildlife, such as the reindeer.

So perhaps now, as you plan next year's vacation, your wedding, or a work bonding getaway, you'll consider a cooler alternative. Go north and explore!

InterContinental San Francisco - recently featured by GBE - has been awarded LEED Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED EBOM)."

InterContinental San Francisco is the first property in the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts portfolio to achieve LEED certification for an existing building. LEED is USGBC's rating system for designing, constructing and maintaining energy efficient buildings.

The hotel was evaluated on operational efficiency and minimization of environmental impact. To date, it is the largest hotel property to receive LEED EBOM certification in California. The hotel joins only thirteen other hotels in the nation and is the third largest to receive this distinction.

"We recognize the importance of becoming more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable and are committed to working with the hotel community to deliver sustainable hotel solutions," said Simon Scoot, Vice President, Brand Management, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, IHG.

Prior to opening in 2008, InterContinental San Francisco's Chief Engineer Harry Hobbs (see photo next page) asked all hotel employees to pledge to incorporate sustainable practices into their day-to-day activities. Shortly after opening, the hotel formed a "Green Team" with Hobbs at the helm, making the pledge a reality and beginning the certification process.

The 550-room hotel is located in the city's South of Market district. Since its debut, the hotel has integrated many sustainable features and practices into daily operations including:

- Floor to ceiling windows throughout the entire property
- Public transportation is used by more than 95 percent of the hotel's staff, reducing the carbon dioxide emitted by commuting.
- Energy efficient ENERGY Star labeled appliances are used throughout the property.
- Retro-commissioning of its energy systems by bringing in a third party to evaluate and upgrade its current systems, making them more efficient.
- Motion sensors in guest rooms, meeting spaces and other areas to reduce power and conserve energy.
- Implementation of a comprehensive recycling and composting program, diverting 80 percent of the hotel's generated waste away from landfills.
- Guest room eco-features include a linen and towel re-use program.
- Green cleaning methods are used throughout all hotel operations.

The InterContinental San Francisco is owned by Continental Development Corporation of El Segundo, CA.

California State University, Northridge has a brand new performing arts center that can easily accommodate orchestra, opera, Broadway, film and dance. The project, designed by HGA Architects and Engineers, is also focused upon LEED certification and said to exceed the standards for Silver certification.

Featuring the dramatic design befitting such a venue, the $125 million, 166,000 square foot Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) officially opened on January 29th with a black tie gala. The center has been heralded as "one of the top three arts venues in Southern California and the new crown jewel of cultural entertainment in the San Fernando Valley." Highlights of this cultural-landmark-in-the-making include a sculpted stone wall, a dramatic glass-wall lobby and a grand 1,700-seat concert hall with state-of-the-art variable-acoustic tuning.

Efficiently heating and cooling such a huge space was a challenge for the architects, especially in light of the fact that the system employed had to be virtually silent. HGA's design team chose a displacement ventilation system that uses the natural buoyancy of warm air to provide ventilation with air supplied from floor-mounted registers under audience seats-a system that is both more energy efficient and quieter than conventional overhead systems. Ductwork had to be larger than normal to ensure quiet operation, as well.

The VPAC is set to kick off its inaugural performance season with Grammy award-winners Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainwright III-and later, soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the Russian National Ballet, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Metales M5, Arianna Huffington and Rosanne Cash.

There will come a day when an electric vehicle (EV) charging station going in anywhere - save, perhaps, the moon or Mars - won't be news. But we're not there yet. EV infrastructure is still in its infancy, so we bring you word now that a company called EV-Charge America has announced installation of charging stations at the the Flamingo Las Vegas.

What's interesting here is that this charging station is outside Ecotality's EV Project and Coulomb's ChargePoint America programs, which are getting federal government backing. Not only that, the company that did the Vegas station isn't one of the other big charging-station players we've been hearing about, like AeroVironment (which has a deal with Nissan to provide Leaf buyers with charging stations) or Leviton (which will offer stations to Ford Focus Electric buyers).

EV-Charge America is based in Las Vegas. The company said the Level 2 chargers installed at the Flamingo are the first such devices to be "produced in any great quantity in the United States."t also said it anticipates "strong demand for Southern California EV driving visitors in the near future," which isn't out of the question but does make you wonder if they plan to install charging stations in Barstow as well.

The company noted also that its system "allows for users to establish a wireless-LAN account which translates to seamless billing and even parking-meter management." This roughly means it will be much easier to take your credit card information and charge up your EV while you wear down your banking account gambling at the slots.