The green Olympics leave us with high-tech, eco-uniforms

China has hyped the XXIX Olympiad as the "green Olympics" with everything from adding a little bit of clean power (versus coal) for Beijing to earning an energy-effeciency award for the Olympic Village.

Critics say China hasn't done enough to clean up its act, and even Beijing officials admit they won't continue all the same pollution controls once the Olympic flame moves on.

Perhaps one small, but lasting token of the "green Olympics" is Nike's uniforms and shoes for both American and Chinese athletes. The sports gear company worked with Team USA the Chinese Olympic Committee to create high-tech, high-performance outfits for the games.

But what's truly innovative was Nike's extensive use of recycled polyester. In particular, the Swift Suit for the track and field events is entirely made of 100% recycled polyester. This means the fibers are reclaimed from soda bottles and post-industrial scraps.

The company claims that this suit has a 7% drag reduction over the one it designed for the Athens Olympics. This could cut 0.02 seconds off a sprinter's time in a 100m race, and in the Olympics, those fractions may be the difference between gold and silver.

Nike's new Swift Suit is proof that a business can combine environmental responsibility with advanced technology. And that's not the only improvement Olympians are wearing.

The footwear -- especially those on the 'Redeem Team' for U.S. basketball -- is 18% lighter than the average Nike shoe. Both the basketball shoes and the track and field shoes use a new Flywire design that radically reduces the weight and ends the use of multiple layers of material to create support in the shoes.

All of this could be a long-term environmental gain because using less material in shoes means using less resources overall. Plus, the shoes would have less to recycle after they're worn out. The Flywire technology is available to the public in Nike's Hyperdunk shoes.

Hopefully this "making more out of less" concept will extend throughout Nike's product line. That could help the green Olympics last well after Beijing passes the torch.