Renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green building are key economic trends of the 21st century, each potentially worth tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars.There are many reasons why businesses in these fields will grow, including the massive investment by the US Government as part of the February 2009 stimulus bill. All of these industries make solid business sense, and make sense for our globe.Investments in these industries create jobs now and makes us more competitive in the future.For the many people looking for opportunities these industries provide great directions to look.Still, they’re left to wonder where the much discussed stimulus money is at.
There are a great many people having a hard time right now and thinking that the green business world may hold just the thing they are looking for.Unemployment has reached 9.5% and everyone anxious about the economy is eager to grab hold of the next big thing.While many have heard about all that green has to offer, they are often unsure where they might fit in, where to start, where the money is, and how to connect to it.Is there a giant pool of green money sitting and waiting to be tapped into?Is there “Free Money” waiting for you “Everyone approved” as the web ads proclaim?
Resources like GreenBusinessOwner.com provide the kind of information green business owners need to take advantage of these developing opportunities, including information about planning, marketing, raising money, certification, and many other common questions.The founder of GreenBusinessOwner.com, Dave Arthur has observed that the visitors to his site are often excited about the prospects of opportunities for green businesses, frustrated in the difficulty in finding opportunities that work for them, and confused about the status of stimulus funds that might help their business.“There appears to be a common sentiment among many business people that all kinds of money and opportunity is sitting out there in the green economy and that they are missing out on it,” says Arthur. “In my opinion, there is a hunger for good, practical information.”
Government action is creating opportunities in many ways, such as action on climate change in the works with the Waxman-Markey Bill that just passed the US House.The February stimulus package included over $80 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency (Entrepreneur, March 2009), some of which is now starting to reach the economy.
The answers are not always simple though, unfortunately.The money in the stimulus package is not in one large pool, but in several small distinct pools that are being processed and moved forward in different ways. As the money starts to move out to projects, it is moving through specific channels to make sure it meets the requirements and accomplishes the goals of each project.The movement of federal money will encourage the entry of others back into these markets as well over time.Some opportunities for green businesses are directly tied to stimulus funds, while other businesses benefit more indirectly, as tax credits and other measures encourage consumers to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Among the many measures in the stimulus, some have funding already on the way.Funding for green job training and summer jobs has already been distributed for some programs.In Sonoma County, California, the Sonoma County Youth Ecology Corps has been created, for example, creating summer jobs helping the environment for several hundred teenagers.A variety of training programs in the works funded by the stimulus will help meet the labor demands of the green collar economy.
The stimulus also includes $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation block grants, with states, cities and counties across the country applying for the funds.To find out what your city is eligible for, check here.How this money is spent is up to the cities, counties, and other government entities that receive it, within the guidelines that are provided.The projects include LED streetlamp installation, energy audits, and other energy efficiency measures.
The initial deadline to apply for these block grants was June 25, although this deadline was recently extended.Applicants are supposed to hear back from the Department of Energy within 60 days, at which point they have 120 days to submit a strategy proposal, and the DOE has another 120 days to approve it.Then the grants can be funded.Once funded, the money is supposed to be committed within 18 months, and spend within 36 months.If you’re adding up all those days, it might seem like a long time.But at least knowing the funding is on its way is giving a boost to governments and businesses to plan on how best to use the money. Look for information from your state or local government about their plans for the block grants - you can see if there is a way your business can participate in the proposed work.
Tax credits for energy efficiency measures in homes will broadly benefit all businesses that provide relevant products and services, including home energy auditing, and contractors installing eligible efficiency measures.The full list of measures is available at the Energy Star website, and from this businesses can trace these pools back to their business.Businesses in some of these fields are starting to see customers realizing the opportunity to save money by investing in energy efficiency, including businesses installing:
solar hot water heating
photovoltaic systems
efficient windows
small wind turbines
insulation
energy efficient HVAC systems.
Some of the other stimulus funding targeting the green economy is still getting sorted out.Loan guarantees and cash grants enacted in the stimulus bill will provide a significant boost for the renewable energy industry once they are fully in place, and the guidelines for these are expected to be released in July.Some are concerned that it will take too long for funds to become available, while others are concerned that moving $ billions through a system too quickly and without sound controls would create new problems.“It's critical that we strike the right balance between speed of spending and effectiveness of spending,” says Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives at Google.org (Renewable Energy World July 3 2009).
The good news is that people seeking to find their way through these opportunities and challenges are not on their own.Resources like Green Business Owner are there to help businesses find the pools and track down how to tap into the channels for their business.“It's really important to recognize that whenever there's great crisis, that also means there's great opportunity,” says Arthur. “So it's really a matter of doing your research in your situation, and seeing if you can recognize the opportunity and the gaps and what is needed, and be able to fill those gaps.”
Stay tuned in the months ahead as more of the stimulus money reaches its green target.
Glenn Croston is the author of “75 Green Businesses” and the founder of Starting Up Green, where the Green BizBlast is helping to connect those seeking and providing green products, services, events, opportunities, and information.
With so many challenges facing our country and the U.S. government, many people have doubted whether we would see significant action on climate change this year.They may still prove correct, but with the passage of the Waxman-Markey Bill (the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, or ACES) by the U.S. House of Representatives the wheels are moving.It was no sure thing that the bill would pass the House, and it’s even less sure that it will pass in the Senate.There are more than a few who would rather it doesn’t.I’m going out on a limb though – I think we should do something about climate change.And to go even further out on the limb, I’m going to say that the ACES bill is a step in the right direction.
While it still has to make it through the Senate this fall, getting approved by the House of Representatives is a historic achievement for a climate bill. The last major attempt, with the Lieberman-Warner Act, died quietly after a brief flurry of excitement in 2008.
The Waxman-Markey effort targets a 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020 and an 83% reduction by 2050, primarily by using a cap and trade system.One of the difficulties with cap and trade is that most people still don’t get it, not knowing what the term means.That makes life hard for those working to move the bill forward.
Cap and trade means is that major polluters will have a cap, a limit, on the quantity of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) that they can produce.Some businesses like burning coal for power produce a huge quantity of CO2 and these will be affected the most.You can meet your cap either by reducing how much CO2 you produce, or buying something called carbon allowances.If your business comes in under your cap because you got creative and efficient, then you’re all set.If you produce more than your allotted share of greenhouse gases though and go over your cap, that’s where the trade part comes in.The cap and trade system allows you to buy carbon credits, or allowances, to meet your target.
It’s simpler than it sounds actually, and cap and trade systems like this have been shown to work, helping to greatly reduce acid rain in the U.S. in a short period of time and for a lot less money than the critics said would be needed, for example.
Over 1000 pages long, the ACES also contains a host of provisions to support energy efficiency and renewable energy production to help us realize these reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.Still, when you’re reshaping a good-sized chunk of the economy it’s hard to please everyone, stirring a variety of groups to oppose the bill, and a long list of players angling to secure a piece of the action.
Businesses and states heavily invested in high-carbon industries like coal are not excited about the measure.This is to be expected.If you are an operator of a coal-fired power plant, a cap and trade system will eventually have to make your business more costly, or else it won’t work.Critics of the ACES are saying the cost of implementing the ACES will dramatically increase the cost of electricity as a result.
The biggest argument against the bill so far goes like this is that it will cost money, and is therefore a tax.Since few people understand cap and trade and nobody really likes taxes, this is probably a good way to go for opponents of the measure.But I think the strategy for the supporters should be to compare the cost of doing something with the cost of doing nothing.
The EPA has estimated that the bill will cost the average household somewhere between $80 and $110 a year, and the Congressional Budget Office has estimated it will cost the average household $175 a year.
Let’s compare that to what will happen if no action is taken on climate change.The Stern Report found that failure to take action to slow the rate of climate change could reduce global GDP by 5- 20% a year, a massive impact.Since the impact would be present every year, and not just for a single recession cycle, and the impact would only grow worse, climate change would be the worse economic disaster ever, not merely an environmental problem.
This might be a better argument than polar bears for a lot of people, really bringing home the impact.
Failure to take action on climate change, doing nothing with the present ACES bill, or any others any time soon, would eventually extract an enormous economic cost, and probably a very regressive one, hurting the poorest people around the world and in the US the most.Let’s call this economic cost the “Do Nothing Tax of 2009”, producing a little bar chart of $175 per household compared against 5-20% of lost GDP.We can create a campaign to contact senators who oppose Waxman Markey, praising them for their courage in supporting the massive “Do Nothing Tax of 2009”.
Some environmental groups are also opposing the bill.One argument is that it doesn’t go far enough.Greenpeace has already pulled their support, along with others, saying that the measures are too watered down by political compromise to achieve what must really be done.Others don’t like the role of carbon offsets in the bill to meet climate targets, or they are upset because most of the carbon allowances will be given away at first.
I’m sure they’re right, that the bill involves compromises, is not perfect, and ultimately may not do enough. And by the time it gets through the Senate, if it gets through the Senate, further changes are likely.Getting 60 votes for a bill like this is still no cakewalk by any means.I’m afraid it’s probably about as good as a climate bill as we’re going to get for now, and I’d really like to see us do something rather than wait for a perfect bill that might not arrive any time soon.Let’s take this bill and push as hard as we can for it to pass, and then start working on the next round to do even more.
Glenn Croston is the author of “75 Green Businesses”, the founder of Starting Up Green (www.startingupgreen.com), and the creator of the Green BizBlast, helping green businesses to connect with each other and the world.His new book “Starting Green” coming out in September 2009 provides the definitive guide to start and grow green businesses.
Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and our back is hurting.The down economy has strained a great number of small businesses, which while viewed as essential for the economy are not too big to fail. Byron Kennard and Jennifer Kaplan at the Center for Small Business and the Environment have a report called "Small Wonders" coming out next week talking about this point. What’s a small business to do to get by?You know what I always say - When the going gets tough, the tough go green.
The keys these days for small businesses (and everyone else) are business fundamentals: saving money, wasting less, increasing productivity, and developing new opportunities.Whatever small businesses do must translate into making money or it just won’t fly, for the most part.Nobody hates the earth (not many people anyway), but making a sacrifice for the planet's sake is a hard message to swallow right now for businesses that already feel stretched.They want to know what it means for them and their bottom line, whether it’s a triple line or not.
If I show people a compact fluorescent light bulb (or other energy efficient lighting) and tell them it’s more expensive, but they should buy it anyway to save the polar bears, they are not generally going to be excited about the idea.If I tell them though that one bulb will save them $30 over its life and that the more bulbs they switch, the more they’ll save, then a lot more people are listening.
Luckily there are plenty of ways that small businesses can save money and make money that also happen to be green, including steps like:
1.Changing your light bulbs
2.Fixing water leaks
3.Turning up the thermostat in summer (or down in winter)
4.Turning off the lights at night
5.Turning off computers at night
6.Traveling less
7.Telecommuting
8.Use carsharing (or ridesharing)
9.Weatherstripping a building
10.Fixing air ducts
The list goes on and on.Some green steps increase productivity as well, as has been shown for green buildings by the US Green Building Council.While there are many opportunities that require little or no money up front, some more significant projects such as insulating buildings or installing cool roofing can take a little money to get started.Luckily there are also a variety of rebates, loans, and grants from utilities and governments to support energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy, reducing or eliminating the cost barrier (see a great summary of this at GreenBiz - here).
There are also many resources to help out, either on paper or in person.Gil Friend’s new book “The Truth About Green Business” looks like a great one."Green to Gold" of course is a great one, by Esty and Winston.And as it just so happens, I have my own entry that came out in May “Greening Your Business on a Budget”.
So really there are no excuses.Do you want to save money and be more profitable?Then stop wasting so much.And if you just happen to help the planet along the way, I promise not to tell if you don’t.
Glenn Croston is the author of “75 Green Businesses", the author of the e-book “Greening Your Business On a Budget”, and the founder of Starting Up Green (www.StartingUpGreen.com), helping entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to start and grow successful green businesses. He can be reached at glenn(dot)croston(at)75greenbusinesses(dot)com.
The global chemical industry, worth trillions of dollars a year, has relied heavily on oil and natural gas.While we often associate the green business world with solar panels and electric cars, change is brewing in industries like chemicals as well with the adoption of greener, cleaner, and leaner production methods.
The environmental benefits of green chemistry are significant, avoiding the use of oil, saving energy, reducing pollution, and reducing the use of potentially toxic materials.The success of these approaches though ultimately depends on their commercial viability, not just on their environmental benefits.Genomatica, in San Diego, CA, is working to do just this, to prove not just that not only they can develop greener ways to produce chemicals, that they can do this in a profitable way.
When I spoke with the recently announced CEO of Genomatica, Christophe Schilling, he described their technology using microbes to produce chemicals.Arising from research Schilling did at UC San Diego while working on his PhD, Genomatica uses computer models to harness the power of microbes as living chemical factories.
To prove their technology, Genomatica is designing microbes and processes for making chemicals like 1,4-butanediol (BDO), and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK).These chemicals may not be household names, but millions of pounds are produced from fossil fuels each year, much of which goes on to produce plastics, solvents, and polymers.“The history of the chemical industry is tied to oil,” said Schilling, describing how their methods to produce chemicals are distinct, feeding their microbes sugars from plants rather than feeding petrochemical plants with oil.
The 1-4 butanediol they are engineering microbes to produce is used to make Spandex, drugs (pharmaceuticals), and plastics, among other things.Schilling estimates that their bio-production of BDO will be 25% cheaper to produce than the petrochemical process, assuming that the cost of sugar used to feed the microbes is 12 to 14 cents a pound, and the price of oil is $50 to $60 per barrel, or higher.They already have many of the steps for BDO production worked out, making more rapid progress than was originally expected.“There are 5 steps in the production of pure BDO,” said Schilling, adding that all of these steps had already been worked out in their lab to produce BDO that is 99% pure, or higher, a milestone recently announced.They are ready to scale up the process in a pilot plant, and working on securing funding for construction of the plant, hoping to start production in 2010.
The environmental benefits of their bio-production methods based on renewable resources provide value but they know they must compete with established methods based primarily on economic benefits. “The uptake of our technology is driven primarily by cost,” said Schilling, making the accomplishment of not just the technology milestones important, but the practical engineering milestones of working out the whole process just as important.
While the economic crisis has affected everyone to some extent, Schilling views the crisis not just as a problem but an opportunity.“Companies that have great technology, great people, and good plans can still get funding,” he said.“The crisis is a weeding out process, another form of evolution.”With some businesses having difficulty and laying off workers, Schilling views this as an opportunity to find talented workers.Some competitors like chemical companies have stalled their efforts to develop sustainable chemistry, leaving the opportunity to Genomatica.“Over the next two years if we can continue to advance, they’ll be looking for ways to expand with technology like ours,” said Schilling.
When I asked what he views as the most important factors for entrepreneurial success, Schilling responded: “Focus, Focus, Focus,” and being passionate about what they do.
Schilling seems to have the “Focus, Focus, Focus” part as well as the passion.Just as Genomatica evolves their microbes to find the successful ones, the market appears likely to select Genomatica as one of the winners if they continue their record of innovation and practical commercial application.With 35 employees today, Genomatica is taking things one step at a time while keeping their eye on future.“We will be the catalysts of change in this industry,” said Schilling.It’s not about putting the chemical industry out of business, but winning them over to change how they do business.
(image courtesy of Genomatica)
Glenn Croston is the author of “75 Green Businesses” (www.75GreenBusinesses.com), the e-book “Greening Your Business On a Budget”, and Starting Green (to be released September 2009). He is also the founder of Starting Up Green (www.StartingUpGreen.com), helping entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to start and grow successful green businesses. He can be reached at glenn(dot)croston(at)75greenbusinesses(dot)com.
There is no saying what the business world will do the in short term, but these long term trends are a good bet to keep growing the green business world in the years ahead:
1. Oil will cost more
There’s only so much oil in the ground, and we're burning it up faster than we find new supplies. The slump in oil prices caused by the Great Recession won’t last forever, and is already showing signs of upward movement. As the economy starts to grow again and China and India put millions of new cars on the road, the price of oil will rise. When gas costs more like it did in the summer of 2008, people respond by driving less and buying smaller cars. More expensive oil will mean more rapid uptake of alternatives like all electric cars and plug-in hybrids.
2. Emitting greenhouse gases gets expensive
For most of history pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning coal or other fuels has been free, but this is changing.The carbon party is coming to an end.The US and the world are getting serious about climate change, and doing something about it, striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.Whether or not the final climate change solution in the US is cap and trade or some variation of this is still not clear, but the US government seems likely to put a price on carbon in the not too distant future.The long term impact will be to generate economic pressure that creates a low carbon economy.Getting from where we stand today to this new economy of the future is a huge undertaking, but also a big opportunity to provide innovative low carbon solutions in many industries.
3. Water is increasingly valuable
We usually think about water and use it as if it’s free and endless, but in many parts of the world this is clearly not the case.The US Southwest, Australia, and parts of China are experiencing long term water shortages that will be even worse as populations keep growing and climate change continues in the decades ahead.When water supplies are limited, water will either be rationed, or the price will rise to reflect the true value of this resource.Either way, the impact will be to encourage water conservation in our homes, businesses, and industries, and to encourage the growth of businesses that provide water efficiency.
4. Saving Energy Pays
The most cost effective and greenest energy resource is usually not solar or wind, but weatherstripping and insulation.Most buildings waste a great deal of energy, including our homes and businesses, and this waste can be readily reduced with easy steps like fixing air ducts and putting in better insulation.Making these changes in buildings can pay for itself with reduced energy bills, and incentives from utilities and governments such as tax credits, rebates, and loans are designed to further encourage energy efficiency.The more energy we save, the more money we save, and the closer we are to addressing climate change.
5. Long-term incentives for renewable energy
To encourage the shift away from fossil fuels, another measure governments are using is to provide incentives for renewable energy.The US government greatly expanded tax credits, grants, and loan guarantees for renewable energy as part of the February 2009 stimulus package and the October 2008 bailout bill.While the tax credit for residential solar in the US frequently expired in the past and was capped at $2000, the credit has now been extended for 8 years, and the cap lifted, allowing for 30% of the value of the system to be taken as a tax credit.As the measures from the stimulus package are implemented, massive growth is expected for renewable energy.
6. Green certification will spread and grow
To avoid concerns about greenwashing, the term for overstated environmental claims by businesses, people on all sides are looking for a standard to measure the greenness of products and businesses.The greenness of buildings is certified by the LEED system from the US Green Building Council, for example, and the organic certification of food helped to bring solid meaning to the organic food industry.Look for the continued spread of green certification to allow for more easily understood green standards elsewhere in the same way it has helped these industries.
7. Better food means better health
Our national health continues to suffer from the obesity and diabetes epidemic, but there is hope.We know to a large extent what the problem is, stemming from low quality food, and lots of it, and from a lack of physical activity.The solutions have not always been as clear, but government and industry are increasingly interested in promoting preventative medicine in part to save their own budgetary hides.Something has to give, and finding ways to encourage healthy behavior and healthier food is a win-win solution for all involved.
8. The world is still flat
Economic crisis or not, Thomas Friedman is still correct - the world is still flat, and will continue to be.For US businesses to compete they must be anchored to the local, and constantly innovate in important fields like renewable energy and energy efficiency.Green collar jobs and green businesses are one effective response to this trend – you can’t send rooftops to China, as Friedman and Van Jones describe.
9. The green bar keeps getting higher
What is green today may be considered pretty grey tomorrow.Green businesses cannot rest on their green laurels.They need to keep moving and improving if they want to continue distinguishing themselves and reaping the rewards for their efforts.
10. The rise of the conserver economy
The economic crisis is not over yet.With trillions of dollars of debt, credit still tight, and housing values way down, consumers are cutting way back on spending and may keep their spending low for a long time to come.While this spells trouble for those who rely on the consumer economy, it also creates opportunities tied to the rise of the conserver economy in which people and businesses are saving more, wasting less, and thinking of the long term. By using resources more wisely and rethinking our priorities, the conserver economy is green in many ways, helping people as well as the planet.
Glenn Croston is the Fast Company expert blogger on green business, the author of “75 Green Businesses” (www.75GreenBusinesses.com), the author of the e-book “Greening Your Business On a Budget”, and the founder of Starting Up Green (www.StartingUpGreen.com), helping entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to start and grow successful green businesses. He can be reached at glenn(dot)croston(at)75greenbusinesses(dot)com.
When people talk to me about the green business they're working on, it will sometimes become apparent as we talk that at least part of the problem they are encountering may not be what they think it is.Rather than being an issue related to planning, marketing, product development, or greening their operations, the issue is sometimes more fundamental, reflecting an inner struggle they have about making money.
This can reveal itself in discussions of larger businesses that have undertaken efforts to save money by wasting less energy, water, and other resources.“Sure, but they’re just doing it to save money,” the person will say.Another variation of this often comes out in discussion of using market mechanisms to address climate change, in which case some people say “Businesses got us into this problem – how can they get us out?”
Their thinking reveals a fundamental assumption many people have, that making money and doing the right thing for the environment cannot coexist.Curiously this assumption reveals itself in people at opposite poles of environmental issues.For some people this assumption is used to support their belief that we cannot solve environmental problems without extracting a ruinous economic toll (more on this one another day).For others though the conflict is the mirror image of this, that if you are making money you must not be doing the right thing for the planet.
Statements like these reveal an internal conflict that shapes their efforts to create a business.Deep in their mind some of these people are thinking that if they make money, then they’re part of the problem.Which leads me to make a simple statement.It’s okay for a green business to make money.In fact, it’s more than okay – it’s essential.Commitment to helping the environment is important, but if your business does not make money will disappear.
If this seems overly obvious to you and you’re wondering why you are reading this, then read no more.If this strikes a chord one way or another though, then you should explore this further.
I call the answer to this thinking “ISABS”, which stands for “It’s Still a Business, Silly.”Green or otherwise, a business needs to make money.Some green entrepreneurs do a great job at building a rationale for how they can help the environment, but lack a clear plan for how their efforts will make money.Being green does not relieve a business from the need to have a sound plan, develop great products, figure out how to sell them, and bring in more money than they spend.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating unrestrained, unregulated business.Making money needs to be balanced with doing the right thing for us all.It’s not that “Greed is Good”.But properly regulated, morally and environmentally sound capitalism is not just okay – it could be the thing that saves both the economy and the environment.Capitalism funnels capital to fuel innovation, and we need innovative and cost effective solutions for clean energy, buildings, water, food, transportation, and just about every other aspect of life.Do the right thing, and make money while you’re doing it - that’s all I’m saying.
If any of this resonates with you, take some time to examine your feelings about making money and how this might be impacting the green ideas you are working on.Working through some of these questions early on will avoid heartache and headaches later on, and help you get where you really want to go, helping the environment while building a strong profitable business at the same time.
Glenn Croston is the Fast Company expert blogger on green business, the author of “75 Green Businesses” (www.75GreenBusinesses.com), the author of the e-book “Greening Your Business On a Budget”, and the founder of Starting Up Green (www.StartingUpGreen.com), helping entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to start and grow successful green businesses. He can be reached at glenn(dot)croston(at)75greenbusinesses(dot)com.
The latest economic numbers are in, and it looks like the economy may be bottoming out but has a long way to go before reaching anything like normal.It may be years before we see a return to where the economy was, if ever, driving the shift from the consumer economy to the conserver economy in which people are saving more, wasting less, and thinking of the long term.
What do the numbers say?Fewer new unemployment claims were made recently, but unemployment has risen to 8.9%, and could still rise as high as 10%.An AP report from May 8, 2009 states “The Fed says unemployment will remain elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market may not get back to normal -- meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate -- until 2013.”Underlying economic issues are likely to drag down spending for years to come.Home values and other assets are still 40% below where they used to be in many cases, and will not recover their value in just weeks or months.Government spending to get the economy going today will need to be paid tomorrow.The stress test on banks helped to remove some uncertainty, but the results also suggest that some banks are far from healthy.Overall there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is a long one if we try to tunnel through on the same track as before.
Getting on a new track is where the real opportunities are at.Even in the midst of our economic crisis, there are opportunities for individuals and businesses to do well by doing more with less in the conserver economy.The shift is driven by economic necessity, and by reevaluation of priorities people are engaged in as they search for the best way forward.
Where are the opportunities today?The shift toward conserving and away from consuming is creating new opportunities, and reviving some old ones.In a recent visit to a watch repair store I asked how business was and the response was that business is actually good of late, better than usual.Rather than buying new watches, people are fixing the old watches they already have, the ones that have been sitting in their dresser drawer unused.This is just one example.Overall, these trends may not emphasize the environment directly, and may not consider it at all but the end result is often green nonetheless.Most people fixing watches are probably doing it to save money, not out of concern for the environment, but that’s okay.In the end it doesn’t really matter why people take actions that help the environment, as long as it happens.
The six trends to lead in the conserver economy include the following:
1.Sharing
We waste resources and money buying seldom-used goods that sit in closets, garages, and boxes taking up space.In the conserver economy, people are thinking again if they need to buy one of everything.This includes our cars.Many cars sit parked most of the time, using money even when they are not moving through insurance costs, maintenance, and depreciating value.By ridesharing and carsharing with businesses like Zipcar and PickupPal, we get more value out of cars, and save parking spaces and resources.
2.Renting
If we need to use a product for a short time, why not rent it?To own it means you have to store it, you have to maintain it, and you absorb its declining value as it ages.This can apply to appliances, tools, and even books.The renting trend can be expanded to include fields where once you would buy goods, and these can be replaced instead with a service.For example, instead of selling an air conditioner, you lease the air conditioner and sell cool air.Instead of buying solar panels, you buy the power they produce from a business like SolarCity.At Bag Borrow or Steal you can rent the latest in designer handbags, which can make a great deal of sense for seldom used fashion accessories.
3.Repairing
I mentioned repairing watches earlier.The repairing trend applies to many objects.When times are flush with money, money tends to get flushed.Where before people might buy a new appliance when the old one broke, they are more likely to fix the old one today with the help of businesses like repairclinic.com.Rather than going to the mall to buy new clothes, people are also turning to tailors to fix their clothes, and cobblers to fix their shoes, both professions that are suddenly seeing double-digit surges in business.
4.Reusing
Think of all of the goods we have sitting in our closets and packed in our garages gathering dust.Think of the millions of tons of material getting sent to the landfill.Now think of them differently, not as a nuisance, but a resource as businesses and consumers work harder to get more value out of things they already have.Reselling used clothes has seen a big surge at thrift stores like Plato’s Closet, for example.Terracycle is building its whole business around reusing materials that would otherwise be garbage to make and sell new goods, making lunch boxes out of juice pouches, for example.Buildings are deconstructed rather than demolished by companies like The ReUse People, a field with huge opportunity ahead still to reuse building materials of equal quality but much lower cost than new building materials.
5.Rebuilding
We are in the process of rebuilding our infrastructure, including our buildings.Our buildings waste $ billions on energy, money that can be saved with retrofits to increase energy efficiency.The US Government is providing billions to change this through measures like those in the 2009 stimulus package in the process of being implemented.With over 100 million homes in the US, and millions more commercial and industrial buildings in need of attention, this opportunity to save money and help the environment could not be larger.
We are also rebuilding our energy infrastructure, changing from fossil fuels to renewable energy and rebuilding and improving our electrical grid for the needs of the 21st century.We need to rebuild schools and training centers to prepare people for the lean and green economies emerging from the crisis.We need to rebuild the US to get the economy back on track for the long run.
6.Rethinking
How big of a car do we want or need?How big of a house do we want?People are rethinking these questions, often out of necessity.In a time of crisis Hummers are out, a symbol of excess.Home sizes have steadily risen in recent decades, but there is a move away from McMansions now, as people rethink their homes as part of their changing life priorities.The Not So Big House is part of their Not So Big Life, as described by author and architect Sarah Susanka.
I’ll expand on each of these in the days and weeks ahead.Many of these trends are connected closely to the green economy – by using resources more wisely, getting more out of what we already have, we help the environment as well as our own bottom line.All of these trends make sense for consumers and businesses as they address their everyday priorities like paying the bills.
Glenn Croston is the author of “75 Green Businesses” (www.75GreenBusinesses.com) and the founder of Starting Up Green (www.StartingUpGreen.com), helping entrepreneurs from all backgrounds start and grow green businesses.
The green wave is rapidly spreading out in many ways, including new geographical locations.Although green has grown greatly it is still not spread evenly around the globe.Cities like San Francisco, Portland, and New York are known for their green efforts, but green is also growing in many other towns and states, and in other parts of the world like Latin America.
I just got back from going to the Hudson Valley last week and I’ll be speaking at the MiaGreen 2009 conference being held in Miami Beach on June 11 and 12, talking about opportunities and strategies for businesses to make money and help the environment (yes, you can do both).Bringing together governments, non-profits, educators, and businesses, meetings like this serve as focal points for making valuable connections and generating innovation, propelling businesses rapidly forward as they ride the green wave to new regions and new opportunities.
Another way the green wave is spreading is by growing deeper, with more people getting involved from many different backgrounds.The list of participants at meetings like MiaGreen includes many of the groups you associate with green, including the US Green Building Council, and the Florida Green Building Council, working to make our buildings more efficient and healthier for their occupants.The green wave includes businesses delivering innovative green technologies like Green Eco Sys, and those selling services for green businesses to get started and grow, including marketing companies like Creative Mindworks and environmental consultants like Eco Advisors.Environmental non-profits like the Environmental Coalition of Miami play an important role in advancing the eco-agenda, but the green wave is also growing through the businesses and business groups like the Chamber of Commerce who are not traditionally focused on the environment, but are realizing the opportunity that green provides for their members to save money and grow their business.
As the wave grows, valuable information is provided at meetings like MiaGreen, not just about the environmental problems we face, but the practical solutions that are available for businesses and those seeking jobs.Greening buildings requires practical information about LEED certification, government incentives, opportunities for water conservation, and how to save money through energy efficiency.Getting all of this information in one place is like hitting the fast forward button to advance more rapidly than would otherwise be possible.
Now is the time of greatest opportunity, as the wave continues to grow and build.Green is at a critical juncture, where it has grown greatly, but still has huge growth ahead.Businesses that make the right connections now can catch the wave early and ride it farther as green continues to grow.Those who hesitate might just lose out.Hope to see you in Miami.
I spoke at a couple of events on April 29 in the HudsonValley, talking about green business opportunities.One was a workshop I did sponsored by SUNY Ulster in KingstonNew York, and the other was a luncheon with GET (Gateways to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows).Both provided insight into the powerful response of people getting into action to move their lives and the economy forward.
Attendees at the SUNY Ulster workshop all shared a common interest in the opportunities of the green economy, although they are pursuing a variety of paths to get there.Some are looking for a job, others want to green their existing business, and some are searching for new opportunities for green businesses.
I focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency in buildings in the workshop, talking about trends supporting the growth of these areas, as well as markets and strategies for finding jobs or creating businesses.I’m often asked “What is the big opportunity you see for green businesses right now?”There is not a one size fits all answer to this question.The opportunities are as varied as the people who provide solutions.These fields both have huge growth ahead, for people with specific technical skills (electricians, contractors), as well as those who have more general business skills (sales, marketing, finance, business management).Whether they are looking for a job, or want to start a business, part of the solution I tell people is to do a self evaluation of the resources they have, and match this up with the opportunities that excite them, putting together a path to move forward.
At the GET Luncheon, I gave an overview of green opportunities, including some from my book, along with the trends that will keep green growing for many years to come.I find increasingly that while not everyone has been green all their life, that the entrepreneurs, politicians, and activists are increasingly on the same page, moving forward together to help the economy and the environment.
The luncheon was followed by the kickoff for the Hudson Valley Entrepreneurial Conference hosted by GET, a free event to help entrepreneurs get started with advice, training, and practical information to help them start their own business.Many of those starting businesses today are doing so out of necessity, and greatly need help to get started.Important resources like GET are seeding the creation of small businesses which revitalize lives and communities in a difficult time.
One final note - Melissa Everett, Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley deserves credit for getting in contact with me to make the trip, and giving me the opportunity to see first hand the great work going on the HudsonValley to go green from the ground up.
In recent weeks I’ve been watching tadpoles in a small pool in a drying creekbed.The tadpoles are small but they tell a big story.The pool they’re in lies in a canyon surrounded by trees and grasses.It has been another dry year in San Diego, and the surrounding hills are already turning from green to brown.As the small creek stopped flowing, the pool started to shrink, slowly at first and then more rapidly.The tadpoles swimming among the algae may not have realized it, but they were in a race against time.
The tadpoles had to mature and grow legs quickly, before the pool went dry. Or else.Recently I saw that the pool had dwindled to a few inches deep, although the tadpoles were still quite young.I thought they might have time still, but when I came back a few days later the pool was dry already, reduced to a muddy depression.Based on the young state of the tadpoles when last I saw them I’m afraid they didn’t make it.
I felt a little for the tadpoles, and then found myself comparing them to our own situation.As the economy changes, old pools of opportunity have shrunken, leaving many businesses and workers high and dry, unable to move on it seems to find the new pools.
And yet, I realized there is an important difference.The tadpoles cannot do much about their situation.The water level is beyond their control, and they cannot will themselves to grow legs and hop out of there.We can.If our pool is drying up, we have the power to leap out and find the next pool, the next big opportunity.If we don’t have the legs to get up and go, then we can grow them, fast.
I’m not talking about real legs, of course, but metaphorical legs.The legs we need are the direction, innovation, drive and the power to make the decision to get moving in a new direction, to make the leap up out of our current situation with the faith that something better lies just ahead.
And the opportunities are out there.Despite our economic woes, there are plenty of opportunities still – they have just moved to new places.We have immense problems, but these problems in the midst of our crisis are also creating vast opportunities.
Green business opportunities are one example I’ve written a lot about, and the opportunities in the conserver economy to help people save more, waste less, and think of the long term.
If you see that your pool is drying up, don’t wait for the water to be completely gone before you get moving.It’s better to leap on your own terms before the water is all gone.If you’re not sure where or how to leap, then its time to grow some legs.Read up, talk to people, and lay out a plan to make a change.Evaluate what you have to offer and get out and sell it.Look at things differently, seeing the problems as opportunities, and take control.Then make the leap.
