The state of renewable energy and energy efficient products in America

The biggest issue that renewable energy products and energy efficient products face today is not what you might expect. Most people think that the green-tech market is kicking on all cylinders but I would strongly disagree. Yes we have come a long way from the 1960’s when the only people that truly cared about the earth and the environment was the extreme left. The evolving technology and economies of scale have made it so that every person could afford to have renewable energy and make their home energy efficient. The truth is though that up until the last several years there has been little to no support from the mainstream, businesses, corporations and the government. It wasn’t until Al Gore and his campaign to create awareness about global warming, that people and corporations started to be more environmentally conscious. Now it seems that if a corporation is not “green” they are commuting the ultimate sin in the eyes of the consumers.

The other main contributor was the high gas prices of 2009, which helped bridged the divide for the eco worriers and the nonbelievers. Our dependence on foreign oil caused everyone to scream for energy independence and sustainability. The Government was listening and we finally started to get the support that we needed from our policy makers.

As great as all of these advances in technology and awareness are, the green-tech market is still in its infancy stages of growth and has barley even begun to scrape the surface of possibilities. We hear about the government incentives, we see all of the commercials on TV for green products, we see these products every day in the grocery stores or at Home Depot and we think we have finally made it and all is well. The truth is that every home has the potential to become net zero (completely energy efficient) or at least cut their energy bills and carbon emissions in half.

See, here is the kicker, why doesn’t everyone use these products in their homes? This is truly the billion-dollar question. Let me pose another question that might help answer this for you: If you walked into a grocery store and there two kinds of pasta on the shelve, lets call then green box and brown box. If green box costs $5 and brown box costs $4, which one would you buy? Now take into consideration the fact that green box with actually produce 4 times as much pasta once it is cooked AND will provide 100 times the nutrients that the brown box will produce. In other words, the green box SEEMS to be more expensive because of the price but in reality it cost much less because it yields so much more. You would have to buy 4 boxes of brown pasta costing you $16 to equal one box of green pasta at $5. Couple this with the health benefits and it’s a no brainer. This is the renewable energy and energy efficient problem. Imagine if the two boxes of pasta didn’t explain the benefits and all you saw was the price. You would definitely pick the brown box every time.

Written by: Todd Fox

EcoCompass