Green Tech Buyer

Occupy Wall Street is largely a reaction to the injustice of banks not paying interest on their own loans. When they were on the verge of sinking, we dug out of our pockets to keep them afloat. Enormous government spending was sold to the American public amidst a tumultuous Presidential handoff as an injection of trickle-down lending for financially buried Americans to work their way out from under upside down mortgages, student loans and layoffs. The banks were to serve as intermediaries, and we could begrudgingly stomach that. But debt-riddled American consumers and businesses weren’t exactly primo loan candidates. Instead - logically – banks looked out for their own survival, and the money was used to stabilize their paychecks instead of creating new ones. Even more infuriating, the most significant loans actually made were giving the government back its free cash in return for interest-yielding treasury bonds.  The jobless stayed jobless. Washington became a mockery of gridlock. 'Too big to fail' bred resentment from the majority who never got their handout.

What’s this got to do with Solyndra? Well, since banks were going to play defense instead of takings risks through lending, the federal government became obligated to fund innovation in the private sector. Bureaucrats cobbled together a short-list of industries ripe for job growth. Renewable energy was a unanimous candidate, and lobbyists took advantage of the government's role as modern-day venture capitalist. Solyndra came along as a well-connected boon to the high growth solar manufacturing sector. The choice seems uncomfortably convenient and lacking in due diligence as we linger over the corpse with the benefit of hindsight. However, through the lens of a newly funded investor under pressure to make bets quickly on a slim deal pile, Solyndra was certainly a plausible horse to rally behind in the emerging global green tech marketplace.

Keep in mind the co-investing so-called experts at Argonaut Private Equity, Artis Capital Management, CMEA Ventures, Madrone Capital Partners, Masdar Clean Tech Fund, Redpoint Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, and the Virgin Green Fund weren’t backing the company to lose money. Sure, they may have sought the government loan guarantee to grease the wheels of an impending IPO, but they also bet real dollars on Solyndra being a success. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue either, as both the Obama and Bush administrations were in on the deal at different points. Given that nobody asserts the government can spur innovation better than free market venture capitalists, we were in pretty good company.

Nobody bats 1,000 investing in any industry. When banks and private investors tighten their purse strings, it’s unreasonable to expect Uncle Sam to out-perform the roughly 20% success rate of institutional funds. It’s normal to be upset about failure, but the true crime would have been not to try. Occupy Wall Street is justifiably criticized for lacking a cohesive plan of action to build upon what we’ve learned through tough times. In a global economy built on debt, all debt simply can’t be forgiven. Failure though, must be forgiven to move on. Let’s do that, for the good of our planet and country.  

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For better or worse, my social circle does not include too many people in the green industry. But, being that ‘green’ is such a popular buzzword, nobody wants to be a total novice about the latest clean technologies and environmental policies. This leads to many conversations where I am put to the task of dispelling common assumptions about the green industry. In no particular order, here are the top five I most commonly encounter:

1. Renewable energy receives more government subsidies than the fossil fuel industry.

Amidst the ugly gridlock in Congress about federal budget cuts and the hoopla surrounding whether proposed TALF and TARP spending on green technology is a wise reaction to the financial crisis, a disturbing fact flies under the radar of the general public: Insanely profitable oil companies continue to receive billions of tax dollars. Energy industry lobbying groups argue that these funds go towards securing the jobs of millions or workers, but that defies the simple logic that mature, profitable companies do not need government handouts to survive. According to ‘Americans for Energy Leadership’, an advocacy group for federal energy policy innovation:

“In September 2009, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) published a report titled “Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources: 2002-2008”, which to date represents the most comprehensive compilation and analysis of federal energy subsidies. ELI measured both tax expenditures and direct expenditures for fossil fuels and renewable energy from 2002-2008, and their results are represented in the accompanying graphic. Fossil fuels (i.e. petroleum, natural gas, and coal) subsidies totaled roughly $72 billion over the six-year window, compared to $29 billion for renewable energy (i.e. wind, solar, biofuels, biomass, hydro, and geothermal.). And worldwide, “A recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance report calculated global fossil fuel subsidies at $557 billion, compared to $46 billion for renewable energy.” (LeadEnergy.org)

Numbers for 2010 and 2011 are unclear at best, but the overwhelming consensus remains that fossil fuel companies have continued to enjoy the lion’s share of handouts. Support for President Obama’s proposed $4B federal budget cut to fossil fuel industry subsidies has stalled, and the WTO has been largely unsuccessful in its quest for tighter controls on international energy subsidies. The green industry is still growing, and just like the railroads, water and any other maturing infrastructure industry (including fossil fuels 50-100 years ago), it requires tax dollars to speed up the pace of innovation and serve the greater good. It’s hard to see how anybody can object to renewable energy subsidies when tax dollars are still lining the pockets of oil executives.

2. ‘Going green’ requires buying more expensive goods.

Conservation and sustainability (i.e. buying less and keeping it longer) are the core tenets of the green movement’s mission to preserve the health of our planet. This means making smart purchasing decisions, not just shopping for expensive goods with green labels. Sure, organic products cost more than their toxic counterparts, but focusing on the incremental cost increase of choosing higher quality goods is missing the point of promoting a lifestyle where quality trumps quantity and substance is valued over style. Also, upfront capital intensive renewable energy projects are exercises in saving money long-term by decreasing reliance on the increasing costs of oil, gas and coal. The same goes for spending on improved insulation and more energy efficient light bulbs and appliances. It’s all about savings, not spending!

Ignore the attention-grabbing flashiness of solar panels, wind turbines and new-fangled lighting contraptions. The most ‘green’ thing you can do is consume less crap by re-using more goods and exercising your legs instead of riding in a motorized carriage. Heck, just start with eliminating as much plastic packaging as possible for drinking, eating and carrying things around, and see how much it costs you to make this significant change. In the end, an old adage rings true for a new-age phenomenon, thinking of green as expensive is simply “penny wise and pound foolish”.

3. You need to be a scientist or policy wonk to get a job in the green industry.

Getting a PhD in Thermodynamics or Masters in Sustainability is a fantastic route to landing a job in the office or lab of a clean tech company. Whether the company is working towards creating more efficient solar panels, re-tubing the energy infrastructure for the smart grid or glazing skyscrapers with double-pane windows, these companies need educated minds that have shown a long-term career commitment to their field. However, like all companies, they also need capable staff for sales, customer service, skilled labor, accounting, marketing and operations. Customer service, marketing and (sometimes) operations positions entail skill sets that are transferrable between industries, which make them highly competitive in such a hot industry, and consequently awarded to the best connected or brightest. If you can compete in that crowd, skip the higher education and get your resume to HR. Otherwise, grab your sales hat or construction helmet, because no business survives unless deals are made and product is moved.  

On the sales side, the green industry is not much different than any other. Learn your product and market, then stay positive fighting through objections getting to a Yes. Just show the decision maker a realistic ROI along with a charismatic smile and some pat-on-the-back assurance that they’re doing the right thing. Not fit for sales? Don’t have the corporate chops or desire for an office job? No problem. Specialized green technology installers are some of the best paid contractors out there.

You may already be more qualified than you think. If you have quality experience installing insulation, windows and other energy efficiency improvements, contact a local energy audit firm letting them know you’ll show up tomorrow ready to work. If swinging a hammer professionally is new to you, look into RESNET or BPI training programs. Many are inexpensive and have job placement programs for graduates.

Another option to make your resume more attractive for just about any job in the green building industry is to get your LEED credentials. Plenty more info available HERE.

4. Solar and wind are the only promising forms of renewable energy.

Ground or roof-mounted solar (or, industry pros prefer ‘photovoltaics’ or ‘PV’) are usually top of mind when the subject of renewable energy arises, followed closely by wind turbines. Both technologies are simple to understand, already have a high volume of installations and look slick on marketing collateral due to their instantly recognizable imagery. It alsoi helps that the sun and wind are accessible resources that nearly anybody on the planet can harness if properly equipped. We are huge believers in both solar and wind here at GreenTechBuyer, as our financial and physical livelihoods rely on their success, but it is worth noting that they are not the only options helping civilizations worldwide to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels.

Many countries, such as Iceland, already heat the majority of their homes by harnessing the heat of the Earth as geothermal energy. Geothermal is gaining popularity in the US as well, especially in homes previously reliant on propane for heating, where geothermal has the most attractive ROI.

As several recent natural catastrophes have reminded us, water can be quite a powerful force. In theory, there’s enough energy locked in the motion of the oceans to provide virtually unlimited energy. Methods for effectively collecting and distributing hydropower on a mass scale are developing, but using water to power our lives dates back to some of the earliest civilizations known to man.

Another more fringe option picking up momentum is biomass, whereby organic matter such as corn, waste or algae is converted to usable energy. The science for getting this technology to where it is cost effective on a mass scale is slow to progress, but venture capital, private equity and government money has been betting on it big in recent years.

For more info, check out our extensive Green Glossary.

5. The fate of the green industry hinges on winning the ‘ Global Warming’ / ‘ Climate Change’ debate.

It defies faith in the humanity that anybody could deny the negative impact of pollution on our planet. Regardless, the success of the green industry is assured by financial prudence, not whether we choose to bury our heads in the sand.  All elements of the ‘ triple bottom line’ of ‘going green’ - saving money, making a property more comfortable and healing the planet at the same time - aren’t necessary to drive people towards living a more sustainable lifestyle. Saving money through consuming less energy, cheaper energy or both will do the trick just fine on its own. In the end, homes and businesses will operate in a more environmentally friendly manner because it is a simple matter of operational efficiency, not environmental consciousness.

Denying an ‘inconvenient truth’ about the destruction of our planet is despicable, but still to be expected of those who are most gullible or benefit most when the message of denial is so doggedly manipulated by interest groups. Spending more when a reasonable, less expensive option is available is sadly less human.

Need help figuring our your green technology options. Get quotes from top pros.

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The silver lining of this ongoing recession is tinged with green. While the general perception of living a green lifestyle unfortunately persists to be associated with buying expensive organic food and natural chemical alternatives, the reality of sustainability has always hinged upon doing more with less. Essentially, the core of ‘going green’ is about frugality, not buying stuff.

Whether it’s a business, government or individual, making less money, no money or even just the threat of a reduced income has a tendency to trigger a re-evaluation of consumption habits. The result is…

Buying more efficient products: From cars to appliances, less fuel burned to operate equates to savings. When times are good, we buy what’s shiny. When times are tight, we shop for value.

Traveling less for work and play: A compelling argument can be made for tele-presence as the greenest of all technologies. After all, the less we travel by air, land or sea, the less our transportation vessels can negatively impact the environment. Maybe Microsoft knew something E-Bay didn’t when they bought Skype.

Re-using more: Necessity, being the mother of invention and all, breeds an ability to make do with what you’ve got and find new uses for what may have been discarded in more plentiful times.

Focusing on what matters, like health: When you have less physically, the intangibles of relationships and well-being are thrust into the spotlight. Besides, getting fat costs money, going for a run is free.

Fixing instead of replacing: Retrofitting homes, cars and wardrobes has never been more fashionable. Despite the failure of Homestar, consumers who are staying in their homes longer than anticipated and vacationing less have decided to make their homes more comfortable and energy efficient.

On the business side, one impact of the financial crisis has been venture capital and private equity firms increasing their attention on (and investments in) energy efficiency and smart grid companies. Although renewable energy companies are still receiving record-breaking capital injections in 2011, capital-intensive projects, like wind and solar farms, require spending power that neither the private or public sector can sufficiently support in the current economic climate. As long-time advocates of addressing energy efficiency before renewables, the team at GreenTechBuyer is glad the focus on saving money has provided a short-term boon for energy efficiency and the smart grid companies to steal some time in the spotlight.

The question is whether the legacy of the financial meltdown will be green, or whether it will return to black when we come out of the red. Time will tell if the lessons of a recession hold true, but it is hard to imagine a return to the free-spending (and high polluting) days of yesteryear, and it seems like both personal and economic values have shifted towards a greener agenda. Time will tell, but we feel positive about a healthier future, personally and environmentally.

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Hello there! I'm Ethan Heppner- GreenTechBuyer's new resident cartoonist and tech support guy. I just graduated from college last month with a B.A. in “Something Theoretically Useful”, and am looking forward to making some cool new graphics for the site as I continue to catch and correct typos.

Topics of the day: Why go “green”? And what does “going green” mean anyway? I'll answer the first question by sharing a bit of my story about how I made the switch to being a more environmentally conscientious citizen.

It started in 2005- I was a junior in high school and noticed a link a site called “Life After the Oil Crash” on my history teacher's webpage. I clicked it and was soon overwhelmed by information about “peak oil”- how production would soon drop and fail to meet demand. The authors of this website were of the opinion that most Americans, being mindless consumers, would be left with little hope. If we would soon be losing even just one to two percent of our oil production each year, how could we adapt?

I did more research, and saw a bleak picture. It was mildly terrifying at the time. Here I was, well through high school and looking at going away for college for four years. Would I be graduating to a world falling apart from resource shortages in 2011? But I realized that rather than prepare for an ultimate episode of “Survivor” (as some believed was the best strategy), I ought to work towards making our, or at least my own lifestyle more sustainable.

Looking back six years later, I know that I made the right choice. "Life After the Oil Crash" went the way of the dinosaurs, and I have found a great way to help other people find out how to be sustainable in a way that is right for them- right here at GreenTechBuyer. Which leads to the question... what exactly is “going green”?

My own background biases me to think that “going green” equates to “being conscientious of energy use and trying to minimize it”, but that's only one part of a larger picture. It's really about doing what we can to reduce our overall impact on the environment. Reducing energy use is just a big part of it because of the increasingly devastating effects of climate change and the potential dangers we face from not shifting off the fossil fuel economy (think unbearably high gas prices, trucker strikes, rationing, and shortages in stores). But there are other components as well- reducing unnatural chemical use (by purchasing organic when possible and avoiding plastics) and deforestation (by purchasing only sustainably harvested wood) come to mind as just a few of the other important aspects of sustainable living.

In a general sense, I think there are two big ways in which we can reduce our environmental impact.

First, we can change our behavior. Over the past six years, I've found some aspects about this easy and others more difficult. I already biked or took public transit most everywhere, I rarely flew (a huge contributor to our CO₂ emissions, by the way), and I brought my own bags with to the grocery store. But it was sometimes tough to switch to waking up to 53 degrees (inside) on winter mornings when my college housemates and I decided to keep the heat down. It was a risk and a little challenging on my budget to buy an organic CSA share (a small percentage of a crop from a local farm). But these tough changes were some of the most rewarding ones. By keeping our heat down in the 50s in the winter, we cut our gas bill by over 50%! The CSA share ended up being a wonderful source of healthy veggies, and we felt good knowing that a large percentage of our diets were being grown just about a mile away- not over one thousand. Doing some regular volunteer work on the farm later on gave me an appreciation for how much better the practices are at small organic farms.

We also ought to work towards improving our technology. Sometimes, it's not all that futuristic. People have designed great green buildings using straw bales as insulation and solar hot water technology from the 1890s. But it is often most convenient and efficient to go with the more conventional recent technology. Adapting to the surroundings is key to minimizing the environmental impact of your living space. Just as you adopt more sustainable living habits based on your own circumstances (you can easily bike to work if you live only a few miles away and can dress casual, not so much if you live in a suburb 30 miles away and rock Armani and Brooks Brothers on a regular basis), every house is different and there will be different “green” technology to match.

Over the past few years (during breaks from school), I have had the good fortune of having the opportunity to learn from and work with my uncle on his green building on the south side of Chicago. The key tenets in the design of the building related to both sides of sustainability: after gutting the house and keeping the original frame, we reused as much of the old material that we pulled from the original building as possible (a behavioral choice). The technological modifications took advantage of all of the resources that we had available to help minimize unsustainable consumption: the same potential for geothermal that most any building has, an excellent southern roof and wall exposure, and the patience to gut the house so that the proper insulation, heating, and cooling systems could be installed. This translated into a radiant floor system which was integrated with a ground-source heat pump that keeps the house cool in the summer and integrated with a solar hot water and backup electric system that heats the house in the winter. Six to eight inches of insulation and quality air-sealing enveloping the house ensures that the 68 degree air does not escape easily. The lights and appliances are as efficient as any reasonable amount of money can buy. The overall effect? An 60-80% drop in energy consumption of the house. When we combine this with our lifestyle choices, we can claim that we've managed to cut our fossil fuel consumption by at least two-thirds. That's without some of the most well-known changes: solar photovoltaic panels or an electric car.

A Conclusion

Of course, the physical and technological changes that you need to have a truly “green” building (and lifestyle) are usually the tougher part of the bargain. They cost money, which we can all be hard pressed to find in a tough economy. This is where GreenTechBuyer comes in. We know that the greentech projects you're considering are a huge upfront investment, but one that will pay off in the end. To help get you there, we help you find two to three great local contractors who can help you assess your needs and give you fair quotes. You can compare prices, consider different projects, and use our expanding base of resources to help you. We will, as always, provide opinions, hear your suggestions on how we can improve our site, do just that, and have a damn good time while we're at it!

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Taking the plunge-- installing a renewable energy system, such as a solar panel array or wind turbine, is one of the most environmentally and financially responsible actions you can take as a property manager. And it’s as simple as finding a top contractor, getting the permits and cutting a check to do the work, right? Well…not so fast. You’ve also got to determine the best strategy utilizing all that clean energy you’re producing.

Most people assume that the energy harvested from photovoltaic (PV) or other renewable energy projects simply supplements or replaces the presumably ‘dirty’ energy used by the building it is mounted on or near. While this is often the case, sometimes this is not practical, as there may not even be a structure accompanying the project, and there is a potentially enormous financial upside to actually selling this energy on the open market as a power producer. Essentially, you can become a mini-power plant, letting others utilize the energy you produce through what’s known as a ‘Power Purchase Agreement’ (PPA).

What a PPA does is help utility companies fulfill obligations to a state-mandated ‘Renewable Portfolio Standard’ (RPS), which require that a certain percentage of energy they sell comes from renewable energy sources, be it solar, wind, or hydroelectric. Since many of these portfolio standards increase the required percentage every year, utilities can fall short on producing an adequate amount of renewable energy themselves, making them eager to pay a premium to anyone willing and able to provide them renewable energy credits through a PPA. Some states even specify that a portion of the energy distributed by an entity selling electricity come from solar projects specifically, creating demand for solar energy as an even more valuable commodity. If this all sounds complicated to manage, that’s because it is.

In steps GP Renewables and Trading, which is one of the most accomplished renewable energy service companies in the burgeoning wholesale renewable energy marketplace. They help clients throughout North America enhance their returns on renewable energy projects through consulting, project development and risk management services that guide them through participating in the profitable Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) markets. As your partner, they do the dirty work of registering your system as a renewable resource with the state so that every 1000 kilowatt-hours of electricity your system generates per year will also generate 1 REC or 1 SREC once the system is operational.

Every state is different, and some states (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts) are better than others, but GP Renewables and Trading is the best company we have come across for maximizing your renewable energy investment. Almost as important as how they can help you, they will also quickly let you know if they do not have the right resources in your market, or if your market is not a proper fit for any PPA program at all. Go ahead, contact GP Renewables and Trading about your planned or existing renewable energy project, and tell them GreenTechBuyer sent you. They’ll help you reap the financial rewards for doing your part to reduce carbon emissions.

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Introducing GreenTechBuyer's first featured comic, by Ethan Heppner.

Enjoy, and stay posted for more!

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Thinking about greening your home this summer? Some projects are simple enough to do yourself-- no technical expertise required. Here's a short list of what you can do.

Need green project financing? We've got it!

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Heads up investors, job seekers and business journalists! Despite the dizzying political posturing and media coverage, not all sectors of the green tech industry will be major growth stories in the next five years. To help guide your allocation of resources, the GreenTechBuyer team has assembled our list of the three market segments most likely to sprout from their 2011 roots to a flourishing eco-system in 2015. We’ll tell you why too.

Solar, wind and bio-fuel companies are already kicked into high gear with best and brightest spending gobs of government and VC money racing to achieve ‘ grid parity’. What’s often overlooked is the fundamental shift in energy distribution models that will accompany this renewable energy revolution, and that utility companies are desperately avoiding the expense of creating new power plants using coal or nuclear power to meet increased energy demand. The immediate need is to reduce load and build out infrastructure for when renewable energy is the rule, not the exception.

So, in no particular order:

1. Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging: Continuing the mainstream use of vehicles that burn fossil fuels to power their engines is a smoggy and increasingly expensive global proposition.   Natural gas powered vehicles are a viable stop-gap that burn a cleaner, cheaper and more readily available resource while utilizing our existing infrastructure of pumps, pipes and distribution centers, and incremental fuel efficiency improvements will keep existing fleets on the road a bit longer. However, the ultimate solution will be electric vehicles (EVs) fueled by charging stations linked to a network of utility-controlled renewable energy plants.

One major hurdle to overcome with EVs is that a tank of gasoline fills quicker and lasts longer than the storage capacity of EV batteries. Commuters, shippers and everyone in between will have to adjust their refueling habits accordingly. This means two segments of the EV Charging industry will thrive in coming years:

a)      EV Charging Stations: You know that gas pump you’re accustomed to pulling up next to? Soon it will have a little buddy next to it pushing high doses of electricity into your ride. And they won’t just be in roadside fill-up stations either. They’ll be in your garage, the parking facilities where you work and shop, and just about anywhere else you leave your car for an extended period when not in use. EVs are useless if there’s nowhere to charge their batteries, so dotting the automotive landscape with charging stations will be big business in coming years.

b)      EV Battery Swap Stations: An alternative to charging the battery already in your EV is swapping it with a pre-charged battery at a conveniently located swapping facility. Think of it like the propane tank swaps that are now standard outside most mega home improvement stores. You bring in your empty battery, pap a small fee for a filled one and drive off while the vendor re-fills it for the next customer. A level of standardization and mechanical convenience is required first so that the right battery for your vehicle can be easily located and installed, but this will eventually come to fruition as car companies, battery manufacturers and energy companies learn to play together nicely. Then it will be a land-grab for the best distribution centers.

2. Lighting Retrofits: Around 20% of total US electricity consumption comes from lighting, with about 10% of residential use and 35% of commercial use dedicated to brightening the spaces where we work and play. By just about all accounts, switching from incandescent bulbs to CFLs and LEDs is the easiest way to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and lower energy expenses. Not only do these new lighting mechanisms use about 30% as much energy to produce the same amount of light, but they also emit less heat, which means less energy to be used on cooling. It’s a slam dunk first-move to embracing green technology that can be appreciated by homeowners, CFOs and sustainability professionals alike. There’s even the clean energy double-play of solar powered LED lights popping up on driveways, parking lots and walking trails all over the country, and we’ve seen some wind-powered prototypes about to hit the market too!

Old lights = New opportunities. With so few new building projects on the horizon, lighting retrofits are a major bright spot.

3. Smart Metering: The concept of the smart grid eludes most consumers, because they’re accustomed to a simple one-way process of purchasing energy on-demand from utility and oil companies. The necessity and opportunity of becoming renewable energy producers - supplementing their own consumption with alternative energy farmed at home and feeding the excess back into the grid at a profit or storing it for later use - means a two-way model will emerge. Every property participating in the renewable energy revolution will need a ‘ smart meter’ capable of tracking not only how much energy was purchased, but also how much was supplied for others to consume, and at what cost. You know that gray meter discretely encased on the side of your building? It’s about to be upgraded.

Implementing smart meters opens to door to myriad other intelligent energy management tools, such as a complete ‘ home area network’ linked to all the appliances in a home or energy efficient IT mechanisms. Smart meters are the gateway to future of energy management.

Honorable Mention:

•         Water Efficiency: Slow your flow.
•         Green IT Management: Monitor your monitors.
•         Windows: Glazed and double-paned.

There you have it. That’s where we see the big money in the next few years. Was this helpful shaping your vision of green technology trends? Think we missed the mark? Let us know!

Here’s to a greener future.

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A gaze into our sustainably sourced crystal ball reveals a somber reality about the future of the green movement: Eventually, we’ll all work for big oil, utility companies and mega-corporations.

After centuries of consistently raking in more profits than any other industry by providing fuel for society while pillaging the planet, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and the like are actually spending more on clean technology development than anyone else. You can question their ethics all day, but companies don’t get this powerful by being stupid. While the greenwashed public relations machine steers clear of long-term business objectives, resources are being strategically positioned for a smooth transition to dominating the renewable energy market once their fossil-fueled existing model is no longer viable. And they have the cash to do it too. Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations are the most obvious entries into the smart grid, followed by utility-scale solar, wind and hydro power production to vertically integrate the supply chain from harvesting to distribution, just like they do now with taking oil from the ground to the gas pump.

Utility companies have a more dynamic challenge ahead re-vamping their business. They are so focused on maintaining their control of the retail energy supply that they’ll actually help customers reduce consumption to avoid the costs of increasing short-term production on soon-to-be-outdated technology. Once the underpinnings of a more intelligent grid have been vetted on a smaller scale, they’ll pare down the metering, software and storage vendors to a select few in the name of standardization. At this point, mega-corporations like GE and Lockheed Martin will swoop in to acquire the best of breed green technology suppliers. Utilities, accompanied by a handful of new entrants to the deregulated energy supply market, will complete the takeover by rolling up the energy efficiency contractors to control consumption at the end-points.

If you don’t think clean tech and energy efficiency companies will sell out to ‘the man’, consider the viewpoint of Private Equity and Venture Capital firms looking for the pot at the gold at the end of their green investment rainbow.  They invest in green companies to make money, not to save the planet. Any illusions to the contrary simply preserve the naiveté of an industry not yet accustomed to dealing with the big boys. The same people frothing at the opportunity to fund our innovation will be the ones applying pressure to sell the company when the offer is right in coming years.

Some may view this vision for the future as a failure of the green movement, but in reality it is the ultimate success. It means that ‘going green’ becomes a standard operating procedure for cultures worldwide. It means the tree hugging fringe has penetrated the mainstream to will their beliefs into common practice. It means keeping your enemies closer, for they may soon become allies.

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Things that blink, buzz and whir – basically everything that touches the internet - tend to require a great deal of energy to accomplish whatever it is they’re groaning on about. After lighting retrofits, IT represents the largest operational energy savings opportunity, and it’s starting to get increased attention from cash-strapped and environmentally conscious finance, technology and facilities managers. Like most energy saving technology initiatives, reducing the amount of energy consumed by computers, monitors, switches and servers doesn’t have the public relations appeal of flashy solar panels or wind turbines, but it does come with easily tracked steps to lowering utility bills and trimming the corporate carbon footprint down a few sizes.

Here’s an overview of Green IT Solutions:

End Points: The ENERGY STAR program has made it fairly simple to select energy efficient devices, whether it be refrigerators or the jumbo monitors now required by engineering departments who insist their programmers be outfitted with enough gaudy screen space to rival trading desk turrets. Just about every name-brand computer and networking equipment manufacturer has made the effort to produce ENERGY STAR approved products that perform at the same level as traditional options requiring more energy to operate. Scrapping all existing resources that don’t have an ENERGY STAR label probably isn’t prudent, but as the plumbing of your network infrastructure gradually becomes outdated, it only makes sense to purchase appliances produced with energy efficiency in mind. It’s one of the few situations where greener purchasing is almost unavoidable.

Control Systems: The rules of automating controls for electronics of all varieties are pretty simple; If it’s not being used, turn down the juice. This applies to lighting, HVAC and IT operations, but inserting intelligent energy management into an IT network is less immediately intuitive than motion sensors and thermostats. There are more moving parts that each serve as particular end-user in a different capacity. Coordinating efforts to ensure computers, monitors, routers, switches, printers, scanners and copiers all play together in a way that minimizes their energy use without sacrificing availability is an emerging niche in the green industry, and GreenTechBuyer is working with several of the leading organizations specializing in on-demand green IT solutions.

Data Centers: Hosting facilities are dotting the countryside worldwide wherever massive warehouses can be constructed with sufficiently hearty access to the utility grid, public switched telephone network (PSTN), fiber optics and staff capable of making sure everything stays cool and operational.  Facility operators are feeling the social and economic squeeze as the march towards a ‘cloud based’ IT architecture continues to eliminate in-house server warehousing, and data centers proportionally increase as a percentage of total IT energy expenditure. Making these energy-sucking monsters more efficient through lighting controls, cooling system upgrades and intelligent equipment selection is one of the most clear examples of the hallowed ‘triple bottom line’ benefits of ‘going green’. Any data center worth its rack space should be well on its way to maximum energy efficiency, because reducing costs will be necessary to compete as options expand for increasingly savvy potential customers.

Corporate CTOs, CIOs, Facility Directors and Sustainability Officers should be addressing energy efficiency with the same operational imperative as bandwidth requirements and data storage capacity. Green IT solutions are a crucial aspect of running an efficient and socially responsible organization, and technologists who are early in their career would be wise to add a measure of energy auditing expertise to the resume as a marketable skill they bring to the table.

If your organization needs help greening your IT operations, GreenTechBuyer is here to help by matching you with the top companies in the business.

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