Green Doesn't Have To Be More Expensive

A stereotype has become associated with "green" that, while it is probably better quality, it's also more expensive.  I'm not sure how that stereotype got started, but like all stereotypes it paints with a broad brush and is ineffective at explaining reality.  And certainly as times change this myth has not kept up with reality.

Let me give you just two examples at the consumer level to illustrate the point:

• Water.  In 2004 (the latest year I could readily find figures), every man, woman and child in the US spent, on average, $217 on bottled water.  The vast majority of the US water supply is perfectly healthy to drink and in those areas where it is not, a simple water filter would suffice.  The "green" thing to do is to drink tap water from reusable plastic containers and it would save the average family more than they can expect to get from the recently passed stimulus bill.
  
  
• Heating.  As I recently heard someone elequently explain on the radio, "every house needs a sweater and a wind breaker."  The sweater is insulation to keep the heat in / cold out and the wind breaker is an air-tight seal.  Most houses are not very well sealed.  But small changes can make a big impact.  For example, installing $10 weather strips on the bottoms of exterior doors will have a payback of less than a month during a New England winter, for example.
  
  

The same thing is true for businesses as for consumers, probably even more so since companies have the ability to enforce self discipline that individuals need to struggle for.  The absolute lowest hanging fruit are changes to processes that are more efficient.  At almost no cost, some process changes can have a big impact.  For example, when UPS made a process change to reduce (or almost eliminate) left hand turns, they saved over 3 million gallons of fuel per year and reduced the need for 1,000 delivery trucks. Or, one of my favorites, is when a green builder made a process change which she enforced on all her contractors which was that, "if you make a whole in the building, you are responsible for sealing it."  Anyone who's been around construction knows that there are many subcontractors working (plumbers, electricians, masons, etc.) each doing "their job."  This small change to process results in dramatically better sealed buildings.