Green Opportunities Ripe for the Picking

“Green business” opportunities are growing in the home-building sector, as well.

When Hammond built his house four years ago, for example, he used trusses with flying ends “so we could get an extra foot on our overhangs to take the heat load off the walls. We put cupolas up in the attic so we get air circulation up in the attic without having to put a vent ridge in, which is more susceptible to hurricane damage.”

Florida Power & Light “has known it for years. If they can get you to conserve electricity in your house, they’re willing to subsidize you putting new insulation in or more efficient appliances or a more efficient air conditioner,” he says. “They’re doing it because it’s good green business. For every kilowatt hour saved, that’s a capital investment in a plant they don’t have to build.” As with the low-flow fixtures in California, he says, “We can create water resources by saving water resources as fast or faster than drilling wells. The same thing with electricity. For every bit of electricity that I can save, it means there’s a power place I don’t have to build and operate,” Hammond says.

“I think that’s the magic of the green philosophy is that every person can take an action in their personal life and home that can make a difference, because that aggregate is what saves those kilowatt hours or saves those gallons of water. And every time someone individually does that, it collectively means we don’t need as many ASR [aquifer storage and recovery] wells and these big-capital reservoirs and all those things.”

Environmental management practices and philosophies have an impact on industries “across the board,” Hammond says. “I don’t know of an industry that’s not looking at those things.”

And it is bound to continue growing as more businesses recognize the benefits, he says. “You have to help educate people and then it has to be part of the cultural practice. When I do this in my home, my grandkids see it and then they do it. If corporate leaders are doing it and not just talking about it, people become believers in it,” he says. “Most people who aren’t doing these things aren’t because they never thought about it. It’s not that hard to do.”

Jill Tyrer is a freelance writer and editor based in Cape Coral.