Green lining to recession’s dark clouds
Governments are spending to stimulate economies — and business should take advantage of incentives to go green…
…It even includes $5 billion for household weatherization. This means a boost for companies providing this - the U.S. Department of Energy has a goal to retrofit 10 million homes in the next 20 years.
But, this doesn’t just go for smart businesses — it goes for smart individuals. In order to weatherize those 10 million homes, the Department of Energy estimates they will need 1.25 million workers.
The job potential is comparable to that of Silicon Valley. Today, a specialized green degree will put new graduates in demand. Green stimulus is already addressing this — the U.S. Department of Commerce recently gave Hocking College a $1.6 million grant to build a learning facility for their sustainable energy programs.
It’s an interesting turn - green used to be focused on saving. Companies like Xerox already capitalized on this by switching to energy-saving bulbs and recycled paper. In doing so they saved 1.5 billions tons of waste and $2 billion dollars.
But saving isn’t enough anymore.
“The smarter companies will capitalize while the slower ones may not make it,” says Willard. “That’s life in the jungle of the corporations.”
That’s where the green light at the end of the tunnel becomes clear. Making this happen will be no easy feat - but it’s something your business will thank you for. Otherwise, you could get left in the dark.