That's 'green' as in 'sustainability', not 'green screen'. Here is what I discovered when I went looking for green at the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show, attended by over 80K people from 150+ countries.

A search, using various sustainability terms, of the exhibitor press releases proved to an unhelpful starting point, yielding only NAB Show Boosts 'Green' Efforts for 2010 about the show itself.

The Radio and Television News Director's Association section of NAB (RTNDA@NAB) is usually full of groups seeking to influence media coverage, although the exhibit floor was sparsely populated this year. The US Department of Energy (USDOE) offers a rich array green energy/tech programs and resources, so I expected it to be presenting a similar face to the media. Instead, it appeared to be represented only by its Office of Fossil Energy. The National Oceanic and Admospheric Administration (NOAA) presence was focused on climate change. This provides important balance for RTNDA given widespread climate change skepticism among TV news' weathercasters.

What better technology to take a look at in the blazing Nevada sun than portable solar? Patriot Solar Group is showing a number of products ranging from solar-arrays on trailers to solar backpacks. I was most interested in its hard case portable solar power units, which offer 28W-40W of power at about 2W/kg for the solar array, batteries, and controller/output system. It appeared to be a heavy but workable solution for everything from a simple field video production unit (camera and postproduction laptop) to a mesh wifi system for emergency ICT.

Many e-media industry manufacturers have sustainability initiatives, but almost none presented that information in their exhibits. Sony and Panasonic were two exceptions. Both addressed the topic in digital signage, but neither had someone knowledgeable on the at their respective booths to answer questions. We'll see how they perform with my follow-up requests.

My takeaway is that most e-media equipment and services vendors, particular niche players, perceive little stakeholder pressure to address sustainability topics. Even vendors we know are compliant with EU energy, waste, and ROHS directives don't seem to feel there is yet value in publicizing it at NAB.

More about sustainability at international broadcast trade shows. See Green Media menu on left for all our information and resources for sustainable e-media.

Update 2010.04.27:
See Sony's response to my follow-up contact

Update 2010.04.28:
See Panasonic's response to my follow-up contact