Is There Really Such a Thing As a Green Business?

The first book that helped me understand this was Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way they Make Things, by Michael Braungart. You cannot read his book without thinking seriously about both business & sustainability, & the fact becomes clear that getting people to be serious about being green, means helping them understand the benefit to them. Entrepreneurs are fascinated with generating value & benefiting financially from that value, they need more entrepreneurs to engage in the green conversation, & think me, they will find the worth. That is what entrepreneurs do!

Sustainability is an unclean word to some business owners. Business is an unclean word to some serious sustainability advocates. So whether you say green, sustainable, socially responsible, or environmentally conscious the idea of adding the word in a positive sentence regarding business or industry can appear counter-intuitive, but like any important conversation engaging in the conversation brings benefit to all of the participants.

Is this a business conversation or is it an environmental conversation? Of work, I am advocating that it can be both, & it can be nice for both, & it can raise awareness of social issues. What is your motive for being green? Is it the welfare of your grandchildren? Is it a love for the world they live in? Is it a desire to leave behind something better than they way you found it? If it were, profit, would that be a bad thing? Indeed entrepreneurs are motivated by profit, but if the profit motive creates more engagement in the pressing issues of social responsibility, I think, & hope that will be a nice thing. Engage in green, sustainable, & socially responsible.

Anything that forces entrepreneurs to the fringe of the conversation, reduces the chances of those win/win moments when incremental progress becomes exponential. Interest in green oriented businesses & franchises has skyrocketed. idea that has seriously caught the attention of those interested in business is that of retrofitting LED lighting in to existing spaces. Incandescent light is dear & energy-consuming. (Notice how I put a business word in & a sustainability word?) Compact florescent bulbs are more energy efficient, & cheaper to operate, but contain mercury. LED lighting has not been a viable option for years, but beginning sometime around 2009 that began to change.

 franchise opportunity that has taken this to the masses is LED Source. LED Source is a franchise that provides the expertise, exceptional purchasing power & special application to help building owners, business people, to see the worth of doing retrofits. LED Source franchisees focus on the serious business idea of ROI - Return on Investment to help clients see the long term benefits, both financial & environmental, to switching to LED lighting.