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Out With The Old, In With The Green! Comments Off 2011 should be a good year for going Green, and for several reasons. On the technology side, we are seeing a steady increase of products that reduce our use of energy.  Perhaps chief among these is LED lighting technology, where retrofit replacements for more and more fluorescent, incandescent, metal halide and other bulbs are becoming available.

Along with an increase in selection we are also seeing an increase in awareness of how beneficial LED lighting is for businesses, schools and other users with long lighting  run-times and large numbers of fixtures. We are also seeing a move towards standards for evaluating and rating LED bulbs, which is a good thing because that will weed out inferior products. These are significant developments because lighting accounts for more than half of the energy use for businesses, schools and other institutions.

Large amounts of energy are also wasted through inefficient heating and cooling systems and the absence of controls and proper building energy management. Because it is more cost effective to reduce energy use than it is to make energy, efficiency and conservation measures are always the first step to reducing operating costs related to energy. This is why we recommend looking at efficiency and conservation before considering PV, solar thermal of geothermal systems. Once the poor use of energy has been corrected, then it makes sense and cents to implement solar and other conversion technologies.


The other green related to “going green” is money, because saving energy means saving dollars. Because oil prices are rising again, every form of  energy will rise as well due to supply and demand. Whenever energy costs go up everything that is made  or transported also sees an increase in cost.

The good news is that energy conservation and renewable energy technologies can counter those higher costs  for end users, and also reduce demand for energy derived from fossil fuels. Various tax and utility incentives are an essential part of getting us to the point where green energy technologies can competitively stand on their own. All of these incentives are still in place for 2011, so the economics continue to be very attractive.

Let’s make 2011 another great year for bringing in the Green!