Google is celebrating Earth Day '08 with the launch of a new web site to highlight green projects by design professionals who use SketchUp.

Google usually changes its logo to highlight holidays or special days and this year is no different, it has changed its logo today to highlight Earth Day, 2008, which is celebrated today. Last year, it did the same when it had the following logo to highlight global warming on Earth Day 2007.

Besides the symbolic change, Google uses its products to support the environment on a regular basis. One of them is Google SketchUp: Go Green! Project, to highlight green projects by professional builders using Google SketchUp.

Google SketchUp is a free software you can use to create, modify and share 3D models.

The video highlights Michelle Kaufmann, a designer who uses Google SketchUp to create many green buildings. Her company creatures prefabricated single-family and multi-family homes in the western parts of the US.

Google SketchUp provides the following benefits for green project builders.

• how the solar industry uses SketchUp to design solar system installations for buildings

• SketchUp-compatible energy-analysis tools that you can use to better understand the environmental impact of your designs

• other resources that are available for folks who are interested in green design

And for others who want to celebrate Earth Day, Google has created a special page, “What will you do for Earth Day ’08?” and lets users to post their thoughts. You can see a mashup of Google Maps/Video here. There are more than 2,230 comments so far. You can also submit your comments there.