Home: Authors: Brian Koles

Green Technology companies need to take marketing lessons from big pharma’s playbook if they want to survive the next few years of limp economic recovery and legislative foot dragging.

GreenTechBuyer recently launched an online affiliate program helping web services informing homeowners about green technology options to monetize on their traffic while enabling meaningful change.

Selling to wants is fantastic when a surging economy leaves people flush with discretionary income, but the spend-happiness of 2003-2008 isn't coming back soon, so any business looking to penetrate new markets better learn to position their product or service as a need. This is a serious dilemma for the green technology industry.

As much as those of us cheering for government assistance in the home energy efficiency industry don’t want to admit it, the Home Star program (aka ‘Cash for Caulkers’) looks like it will not make it through the legislature in 2011. In case you get asked “Why did Home Star fail?” or “Will Home Star pass in 2011?” here’s the talking points so you can sound like an expert.

No two properties are exactly alike, and the same applies to the budgets of the owner or manager. ‘Going green’ takes planning, and there are experts to help you devise and execute this plan in a logical and meaningful order. But first, they’ve got to run some test.

Due to their largely internal and invisible nature, energy efficiency projects don't get the attention of flashier renewable energy projects. This is despite their lower startup costs and more attainable ROI. We think intelligent property managers will make 2011 the Year of Energy Efficiency.

When taking on a green building, water retrofit, renewable energy or energy efficiency project, it's important to hold your architect accountable for doing their research and due diligence selecting companies and materials to be used on your property.

Whether to pay for an energy audit - and if so, how much - is not a simple question. The answer largely depends on your goals for the audit, the age of your home and your reason for considering the audit in the first place. Let’s take a look at the available options along with some situational recommendations to hopefully make sense of it all.

The green industry is graduating from its rambunctious infancy to its more goal-oriented toddler years, casting sales and marketing teams suddenly under the microscope of sobered investors searching for a scalable business model. If baby ‘Green’ is going to grow up to be just like its parents - Social Media and Cloud Computing - and match their “next big thing” realized status, some very different business backgrounds better learn to play together fast.