Going Green Without ED?

The greening of America is gaining lots of visibility. Over the past few months a number of corporations have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint, NBC spent significant money last week with original programming to gain awareness, and Monday’s Wall Street Journal devoted a section, The Journal Report, to a “Consumer’s Guide to Going Green“.

With oil almost at $100/barrel, increased energy awareness, continued discussion and evidence of global warming (or something that is affecting the weather and the Arctic), and nations talking about the next version of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases (especially CO2), “green” is not going away.

The Journal section highlighted a number of alternative energies as well as a number of steps that consumers can take. From an electrical industry standpoint, it was a little disconcerning.

The only mention of the electrical industry, which is where much savings can be generated, is that consumers should consider purchasing CFLs (a 25W CFL was mentioned) and there was brief mention of a 40W medium-base LED lamp from PolyBrite that Sylvania will be bringing to market next year (at a price of $10-14/lamp).

For an industry that has so much going for it, and so much to offer (how about dimming systems, dimmers, programmable thermostats, the benefits that lighting could accrue in retail and commercial venues, etc…), it seemed that an opportunity is being missed to “grow the market” – which we know manufacturers continuously discuss.

It almost seems like the industry (all channels – NEMA and NAED) could benefit from a concerted public relations strategy as well as possibly an advertising strategy (but PR costs less, so perhaps we can start here).

As we look towards a slow growth market in the next couple of years, marketing to grow the size of the industry makes sense … and most manufacturers would benefit as retrofits require more than lamps, ballasts and fixtures.

Just some food for thought. What do you think?

For the remainder of the week we’ll be attending the NAED Eastern Region Conference. Our hope is to periodically post conference updates. Have a great week.