By Lena Babaeva Coradini

A bit of discussion on the "greenness" of the Olympic games in Vancouver. Here are some examples of some of the efforts made in the Olympic compound:

Let's take a look. The Vancouver Convention Center, home to the media center, has a living roof of 400,000 native plants that capture and reuse rainwater. It also has seawater heating and cooling and on-site water treatment.

The dramatic Richmond Olympic Oval,  where speed-skating events are held, has a massive wood wave roof  made with local lumber that was salvaged after a pine-beetle infestation. The Oval has an innovative rainwater collection system that uses the water for irrigation and toilet flushing.

Like the Oval, the new buildings in the Olympic Village are designed to meet the standards of the Canada Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, which certifies that they conserve water, energy and natural resources.

The athletes' village is built to earn gold, the second-highest LEED standard, except for the community center, which aims for platinum, the highest. All the buildings have green roofs, cisterns to catch rainwater, passive solar design, upgraded insulation and windows as well as carpets and paint with low or no VOC (volatile organic compounds.)

They use residual heat from the city's sewer pipes as well as ground-source heat pumps to warm the water that feeds into their hydronic heating system. Their electricity comes from local hydroelectric dams.