While other companies plant seeds of environmentalism, this one lays down sod. In 2006, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch instituted the Cool Change Initiative, proclaiming that all the media conglomerate's holdings, including Fox, would be carbon neutral by 2010.

The studio has been on the greening fast track ever since, installing more efficient lighting, extending the reach of its two water chiller plants (up to 50% more efficient than regular air conditioners) to additional buildings, using biodiesel generators on location and switching over to biodegradable food containers and utensils (made of corn and sugar cane polymers) that, once used, are diverted from its regular waste and sent to a composting facility. It's also been greening productions like "24," which this year declared itself TV's first carbon-neutral show.

For the "American Idol" finale and the "Teen Choice Awards" last year, Fox arranged for solar energy systems to be donated to the productions, which were in turn donated to schools. Its television department also has acquired a fleet of Toyota Priuses for the use of location managers and PAs, along with four 5-ton diesel hybrid prop trucks. In addition, the studio has instituted a incentive plan that gives employees $1,000-$4,000 toward the purchase of a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle, depending on its fuel efficiency.

"We've had literally hundreds of employees take advantage of it," says Lisa Day, Fox's energy initiative manager. "Sometimes, when I'm leaving the parking garage, I'll count the hybrid cars that I see, and I get in the double digits after only one level, which is kind of a kick."