Joel Makower

[Editor's note: GreenBiz.com has also published the first of several adapted excerpts from Strategies for the Green Economy, online here: http://greenbiz.com/feature/2008/09/29/makower-from-movement-to-market.]

I'm delighted to announce that my new book -- my first in 14 years -- is just hitting the bookstores. Strategies for the Green Economy is the product of the past few years of speaking, writing, publishing, and working with a handful of both large and small companies.

Though the subject was near and dear, it was by far the hardest book I've written.

The reason? The greening of business -- more specifically, how companies are integrating environmental thinking into...

   (1)

General Motors turns 100 years old today, a milestone for any company. And while like any centurion, the moment offers a chance to look back, GM is hellbent on looking at the road ahead -- where it's going, how it will get there, and whether it will idle and sputter to a halt before it regains the cruising speed it once enjoyed.

I've been chronicling GM's environmental opportunities and challenges for the past few years (and previously disclosed that GM is both a client of GreenOrder, with which I am affiliated, and a sponsor of GreenBiz.com, of which I am executive editor.) Along the way, there's been the company's push for flex-fuel vehicles, the move to revive the electric...

   (0)

In recent weeks, former vice president Al Gore challenged Americans to commit to producing 100 percent of electricity from "renewable energy and clean carbon-free sources" within 10 years. And former senator John Edwards launched a Half in Ten campaign "to reduce poverty in the United States by 50 percent within 10 years." Two bold, audacious goals. Same starting dates. Same decade-long trajectory.

So, is there any chance that Messrs. Gore and Edwards might possibly join forces?

Not likely, based on what I've seen and heard to date. That their respective laudable and ambitious goals could possibly be synergistic seems beyond the grasp of...

   (1)

As fuel and electricity prices have ratcheted up, so, too, have the queries about what to do: where can companies, especially smaller ones, go for help?

On the one hand, that's a big, vague question. Where you go depends on what business you are in, where you're located, what you need, and how much, if anything, you're able to spend. On the other hand, there's a lot of help out there, much of it low-cost or free, if only you know where to look.

Below are just a few of the resources aimed at small and midsize companies. They will be of help largely to U.S.-based companies — apologies to those elsewhere, though there likely are analogs to these...

   (0)

The spring rains have yielded a bumper crop of new reports on the business of green. I've been a bit behind in fielding them, given my travels and last week's highly successful Greener by Design conference. Here are five of the latest:

• My colleagues at Clean Edge have just released the Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, making the case that solar power has the potential to reach cost parity with retail-electricity rates in most regions of the U.S. in less than a decade — but only if electric utilities step up to the plate. The free report (Download — PDF), published in partnership with Co-op America, provides a robust...

   (0)

The latest annual edition of Clean Energy Trends has just been published. My colleagues and I at Clean Edge have identified five key trends affecting clean-energy markets and produced our annual forecast of markets for four clean-energy technologies. And, working with our partners at New Energy Finance, we've analyzed the investment trends of the past year.

As we point out in the free, downloadable report, 2007 was a very strong year for clean energy technologies, with no signs of a slowdown in 2008. That said, with all of the uncertainties facing the economy, there are some potential speed bumps. One of the biggest is whether and how U.S. policies will extend the production tax...

   (0)

Can a major consumer packaged goods company with a name indelibly associated with household bleach become a leading light in the green marketplace? That's the hope of Clorox, the Oakland-based company, which this week is launching its first new brand in twenty years: Green Works, a line of cleaning products that are, in the company's words, "at least 99 percent natural" -- made from coconuts and lemon oil, formulated to be biodegradable and non-allergenic, packaged in recyclable bottles, and not tested on animals. The initial launch includes five products: an all-purpose cleaner, a glass cleaner, a toilet bowl cleaner, a dilutable cleaner, and a bathroom cleaner.

It's an...

   (0)

This just in: pretty much every consumer is concerned about the environment and is thinking conscientiously about what they buy - how it's made, under what conditions, and by whom. All you have to do is make good, green stuff and they'll buy it! We've reached the tipping point!

Sound too good to be true? It is, of course. But you wouldn't know it from the marketing studies I've been seeing - and the breathless headlines that result. As they continue to invade my in-box, I find myself getting increasingly irritated. Can market researchers be accused of greenwash? I'm beginning to wonder.

Two examples: