The green wave breaks

When you look up from the individual grains of sand -- LEED certification, carbon offsets, Energy Star, recycling -- and you really see the wide beach, you can't help but notice the tide of changing attitudes coming in at last.

I remember when the only environmental issues in retail were those forced on business by activist groups such as PETA and the Rainforest Action Network. Ten years ago, the most controversial environmental issue in home improvement was sustainable forestry, and when Home Depot decided to source products made from certified wood, it was big news -- but retailers had to be harangued into it.

What a difference a recession makes. Businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, and suddenly everyone wants to save the planet, one utility bill at a time. Consumers are looking for ways to save, too, and when a green product offers that, it sells.

But deep in our hindbrains, a couple generations brought up in this post-Silent-Spring culture are not unwilling to look for other reasons to embrace eco-friendly products, now that they cost as much as traditional equivalents. The Lorax has made us more receptive to the idea of being more planet-friendly, and we feel good about our newfound acceptance of green practices and products. A number of research reports say consumers prefer green window cleaners, recycled carpet, and green bug spray -- products that don't save money on electric bills -- so long as they don't cost more at check-out.

And that evolving acceptance has wider ramifications. Take a look at a random sample of news out last week:

• Information Management Online analyzed the agreement between the U.S. government and Wal-mart to both "start tracking the sustainability profile of their suppliers as well as their products and services." That's $800 billion in products that will now be scrutinized for environmental impact.
• The Financial Times takes a look at ethical investing in retail and concludes, "What started out in 1984 as a quixotic experiment has now turned into a big business, as investors not only intensify their scrutiny of corporate practice, but step forward to exercise their voice and shape corporate behaviour."
• Crain's Detroit Business reports on research revealing "80 percent of businesses have taken steps toward sustainability" in southeast Michigan. And if I may be so bold, as goes southeast Michigan, so goes the nation.
• A commercial real estate company is bragging that its sustainability efforts are equivalent to planting 9 million trees or taking 4,500 cars off the road. For 108 properties, "the estimated total investment to optimize sustainability performance in these properties is about $59 million. Resulting annual savings from the investment will be about $19 million."

The sea change here is that alternative has become mainstream, that yesterday's Greenpeace activists are today's corporate sustainability officers and LEED accredited professionals. Tomorrow, the world.

Photo: green tide by Adamwithoutanyhands, used under a Creative Commons license.

Stimulus smart grid money heads into home channel

Last year the power companies were predicting new smart grid technology and hyper-efficient appliances. GE, for example, is pushing this tech, no surprise, seeing as the company stands to sell a lot of new smart meters. Well, the Obama administration is using $3.4 billion in stimulus money to help that trend along.

While most of the cash is going to a wide range of power companies, $19.3 million of that is going to the home channel's own Whirlpool Corp. to help spur the creation of smart appliances such as dryers. These machines will be able to read the electric grid in order to regulate power use and save money, for example, by turning on when electricity is cheaper.

Here's what Whirlpool exec VP Bracken Darrell said at the Energy Efficiency Global Forum & Exhibition in Paris last April:

By 2015 we are prepared to make ALL the electronically controlled appliances we produce, ANYWHERE in the world, capable of receiving and responding to a signal requesting curtailment of the appliance’s energy consumption. These products will also be capable of providing the consumer with contemporaneous information about their energy consumption. Whirlpool would also require any manufacturer that is licensed to use the Whirlpool brand to add similar capability to products bearing the Whirlpool brand.

I have to count myself unconvinced, though, so far. Are consumers going to be happy leaving their wet laundry in the drier until 3 am, when the electric rates go down? What if they have another two loads to dry after that? And will consumers want their clothes to sit in a ball in the drier getting wrinkled from 4:30 am until the consumer gets around to taking them out two or four hours later? I look forward to seeing how the engineers at Whirlpool tackle these problems. $19.3 million says they'll think of something.

Editorial: Ho! Ho! Ho! This Green Giant is laughing all the way to the bank

Here's an editorial I wrote for a supplement to Home Channel News this week.

Home Depot is emerging as a leader in the environmental movement -- not as a crusader, but as a money-maker. And with the right strategy, vendors can make money selling green products to Home Depot customers, too.

On the operations side, Home Depot is using green initiatives to cut costs. Installing LEDs and new HVAC systems, Home Depot has cut energy consumption in its stores by 12 percent. The company has joined the Coalition for Responsible Transportation, pledging ito implement clean truck technologies. Measures such as these are putting more dollars on the bottom line.

And the company's Eco Options program, in which environmentally friendly products get singled out for promotion and labelling, is putting more on the top line. In its first year, sales of Eco Options products totalled more than $2 billion. As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of Home Depot's few sales bright spots has been in basic maintenance supplies, especially environmentally friendly products. With more than 3,000 Eco Options products -- and with vendors doing their best to get their own products into the program -- Home Depot is positioning itself to last out the downturn.

But how do you sell your green product into Home Depot?

Jim Weaver, operations manager for BioLet USA, told me that getting his product -- composting toilets -- into the biggest box was "such a long process." But his persistence has paid off, and his story offers some insights for others trying to sell green products to Big Orange.

Biolet first approached Home Depot in the late ’90s, but the company wasn't ready for the product. Composting toilets were then too unknown. The eco-friendly system uses no water and needs to be emptied every two months under normal daily usage.

"It's an unusual product. Most people had not heard about it," said Weaver.

But by 2002, Home Depot called back -- the company was interested. Even then, it took five years -- including a successful test in Alaska -- to really roll out the product. Eventually Depot set up a drop-ship program, added the toilets to catalogs and the Web site, and now is adding them to charts of products in the plumbing aisles in stores.

Weaver said that getting into the Eco Options program was tough too -- because the toilets did not fit into any existing categories. Not energy efficient, not low-flush but no-flush, yet among the greenest products in the catalog.

"They did not know what to do with us, so eventually they created a category for us," said Weaver.
He has a few suggestions for vendors trying to sell green into Home Depot. "Be persistant. Remember they change buyers frequently. A buyer down the road may say yes. Get a track record on your product. Show you can sell through other venues. It is real hard to come in with a brand new product."

MaxLite's new "Faux Can" is another green product that's selling in Home Depot. The product is a fixture that looks like a recessed light but which uses a 25-watt CFL bulb to mimic a 75-watt traditional fixture, according to inventor and MaxLite vp David Shiller.

Getting into Home Depot took a contact and the right pitch, according to Shiller. "Our vp for consumer sales had previously worked for Cooper Lighting. He and I had a meeting with the recessed lighting buyer at Home Depot and showed him the product and reviewed the value proposition. In short, we convinced the buyer it was new, different and worth a test."

Home Depot put the lights into the Eco Options program, but the vendors didn't push that in the sell. "Eco-Options was not discussed," said Shiller, "but Energy Star, utility rebate programs and California Title 24 (the California building energy code) were discussed as drivers and target markets."

But with so many vendors seeing the green light, how do you stand out? I do suggest that greenwashing your product will not work. Being able to recycle the box your product came in is not enough. Reports say that some paint brush makers are touting their plastic handle brushes -- because they don’t use wood. But the wood-handle brush makers are proud that their handles are not made from plastic, a petrochemical. Those "approaches" are not going to work. But bring a true green product to Home Depot, one that stands out in the market and really offers environmental value, and with persistance, you might get somewhere.

Results of adopting green tech are uncertain, but we should still do it

in my recent editorial, I made a big deal about how new technologies in energy production and conservation represent an economic opportunity for someone -- maybe for the LBM trades and those who supply them. Lately, both presidential campaigns have been making similar points, especially that green tech means new jobs.

McCain says: "A rough estimate is that 45 new nuclear power plants will create roughly 700,000 jobs - jobs in construction, engineering, operation and maintenance."

Obama says: "Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future."

But I read an interesting post by Brian Beutler that threw some cold water on that whole idea:

Are liberals and environmentalists being honest when they say green jobs will offset the jobs lost when the fossil fuel industry is forced to downsize, and, if so, why are labor leaders so reluctant to support climate change policies? My own view on this is that it's an extremely narrow, hazy, and unanswerable question. Nobody really knows what sorts of advancements investment in alternative energy projects will yield in the coming years, or how labor intensive the production of a kilowatt-hour will prove to be a decade or five from now.

I think that's a good point -- we really don't know what the effect of switching away from dirty energy will be. But that is still no reason to shirk from embracing it, since we can be sure that the costs of inaction will be too high. Beutler goes on to say much the same thing -- that there may also be secondary benefits to the economy at large in a switchover, as evidenced by the smaller scale transitions already underway:

But by the same token it's also hard to imagine, in a national sense, that the beneficial primary and secondary economic effects of, say, a comprehensive climate change policy, won't be on the same order as (and largely opposite to) the negative consequences.

Editorial: The way we do business now

Here's an editorial I wrote for a supplement to Home Channel News last month.

There can really be no doubt any longer. "Energy efficiency" is not a buzzword or a fad. It's the way we do business.

Take appliances. According to NPD Group energy efficient dishwasher sales are up 3 percent, while non-efficient washers are down 12 percent. For refrigerators, efficient ones are up 15 percent; non-efficient, down 11 percent.

A study from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers recently said that major appliances are getting more and more water and energy efficient. Refrigerators, dishwashers and clothes washers account for a 43 percent combined decrease in energy consumption since 2000.

And according to a survey by the Research Institute for Cooking & Kitchen Intelligence, 10 percent of homeowners refused to remodel their kitchens with products that harm the environment, and another 36 percent felt strongly about the eco-impact of their purchases.

Consumer attitudes are changing, and homeowners are adding new factors to their buying decisions, factors like carbon footprint, harm to the environment and, most of all, the money they can save by conserving energy. As consumers change the way they look at purchasing decisions, it may pay retailers and suppliers to be open to new options.

One of those options is solar. According to Energy Business Reports, from 1999 to 2007, solar power capacity grew by 962 percent; just from 2006 to 2007, 45 percent. Granted, the total contribution from solar is still very low, but the growth potential is huge. Don't take my word for it ...

• IKEA is researching solar panels for homeowner purchase, and expects to have products in store in three to four years. The Swedish home decor giant is putting $77 million into research and development for solar products.

• Utah-based Woodside Homes, a Utah-based home builder, will be building 1,487 new solar-powered homes in Sacramento, Calif. And that's just one of ten similar deals the municipality has put together.

• Another home builder, Cambridge, Mass.-based S+H Construction, has opened a Renewable Energy Division to sell and install solar and geothermal systems. They also handle all the paperwork needed to get the customer rebates Massachusetts is offering those who install the systems.

It's not a sure thing, but if energy prices stay high, if Congress keeps giving tax breaks to green home improvements, and if the technology keeps improving, then solar will be for tomorrow what low VOC paint and certified lumber is for today. That new business offers an opportunity: Someone is going to be selling solar energy systems to builder customers.

Now, I'm not saying that energy efficiency only applies to big-ticket items, like major appliances and solar panels. There are other profitable ways to piggy-back on the trend, one small-ticket item at a time.

For examples, check out any number of energy saving tips online. These lists aimed at consumers, but many of the tips lead shoppers right into their local hardware store or home center. Here are a few tips that I found on both the DOE's Energy Savers site and on the Sierra Club's Smart Energy Solutions Web page: Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. Replace old appliances with more efficient models. Buy solar-powered and motion-detection outdoor lights. Each of these tips — and many others — is a selling opportunity.

But energy efficiency can help home channel dealers closer to home, or closer to store, anyway. Bottom-line boosts can come from the operations side as well as from the sales side. Paint company Dunn-Edwards is building a LEED-certified coatings technology center in Los Angeles. Ace Hardware is limiting the top speed on its trucks to 67 miles per hour -- and has saved about $1 million just so far this year. Installing LEDs and new HVAC systems, Home Depot has cut energy consumption in its stores by 12 percent. Lowe's has cut its energy costs by 40 percent with upgraded lighting and skylights.

The debates over the energy crisis and the environment are playing out in the voting booth and the courts of law, science, and public opinion. But some facts are beyond debate: Big and small players in the home channel are not going green because they want to save the whales or the polar bears or the planet. They see greenbacks in the green market, and cost efficiencies in energy efficiency.