Normally big is the opposite of green. These three tech companies prove that being massive doesn’t mean you can’t be environmentally responsible.

Chances are, you’re reading this on a device made by one of the big three tech companies: Apple, Google, or Samsung. Between them, this trio of corporations are responsible for a vast majority of the mobile technologies on the market today (and as we all know, Google pretty much has a lock down on internet search).

These tech companies aren’t perfect, and they deserve the flack they catch for contributing to the growing e-waste problem, avoiding taxes, and allowing  unsuitable working conditions in their overseas factories. But with billions of dollars of revenue comes the ability to make big green changes. They may not be able (or willing) tackle the social injustices that arise from their industry, but they are taking steps to reduce their footprint at home.

1. Samsung – North San Jose Megacampus

Samsung recently broke ground on a 1.1 million square foot research and development headquarters north of downtown San Jose. Designed by NBBJ the 650,00-square-foot office looks like a layer cake, but what hides inside is a lot more exciting than icing. The design “embraces the new urban design guidelines developed by the City of San Jose which call for densification, more active streetscapes, and environmental stewardship,” explains Samsung.

The entire site will be divided into four zones, which move from ‘urban’ to ‘garden’. Various courtyards will feature porous pavement, and lush native trees and plants. The tower itself will be clad in white metal and clear glass, carefully balanced to reduce solar heat gain and provide a sense of lightness. The goal is that no employee will ever be more than one floor away from green space.

2. Apple – Cupertino “Spaceship”

Looking a lot like a UFO Apple’s new 2.8 million square foot facility [PDF] will house up to 14,200 employees, and almost as many trees. Designed by Foster + Partners, nearly 80 percent of the massive campus will be green landscaped, including a company garden.

The parking lot would be house underground, avoiding the runoff that usually results when you pave paradise. According to recent design documents, Apple hopes to make the entire edifice “net zero” by generating a significant amount of the Campus’ energy from on-site renewable sources, and developing partnerships with renewable energy providers for grid-purchased renewable energy.

3. Google – The Googleplex

This spring, it was announced that Google would begin construction on a new 1.1-million-square-foot headquarters in Mountain View, California. Also designed by NBBJ (nobody saw that as a conflict of interest?!), it will be the first time Google has built its own facility from the ground up, and company officials promise it will break new ground in environmental sustainability.

Each of the nine buildings strewn around the campus will face west and east to minimize heat and glare from the morning and afternoon sun. The buildings’ narrow design ensures that no matter where your desk is located, you’ll have plenty of natural sunlight, thus minimizing lighting costs. The Google HQ will make prolific use of solar panels, while a low-energy heating and cooling system will allow it to supply 100 percent fresh air without breaking the bank.

Images: Samsung, Google/NBBJ, Apple/Foster + Partners,

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Since the debut of the cell phone, watches have become more jewelry than time keeper. Does news that Samsung is working on a smart watch mean it’s time to take another look at wrist-bound technology?

Rumors that Apple is working on an iWatch seemed worthy of an eye-roll (what won’t they slap that ‘i’ on?) but it’s recently become clear that they’re not the only ones working on a smart watch. According to Mashable and others, Samsung is working on a similar wearable technology called the Galaxy Altius. But is this truly a progressive device or just another way to make a buck off of early adopters?

Screenshots of the Samsung device were spied by SlashGear on a Korean message board. They seem to indicate a wrist-sized display with a simple Android interface. As SlashGear points out, the screenshots suggest that the device is connected to the Korean SK Telecom mobile carrier, meaning the Altius could include its own data connection. Other screens show that the watch would likely give wearers easy access to a music player, a clock and digital maps, making it much cooler than your Timex, but still less sophisticated than your phone.

As James Bond-ish as a smart watch sounds, let’s not get too caught up in the hype. After all, the device seems to have a rather limited memory, suggesting that it would work in concert with, not independent of, other Samsung gadgets. Although it’s fun to fantasize about what smart watch could do, we’re already surrounded with more e-waste than we know how to handle. It’d be nice to have all the functionality of your phone strapped onto your wrist, but adding a redundant device to the pile seems, well, irresponsible.

For now, the Samsung Galaxy Altius will remain the stuff of online rumors. But it’s an opportunity to take a step back and examine how eager we’ve become to embrace technology for technology’s sake–rather than practicality or convenience. The gadgets we create are powerful tools that can change the world for the better, but that doesn’t make them all revolutionary. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.

Image: GalaxyAltius.org

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