The Green Buck Stops Here

Namaste Solar Electric and owner Blake Jones are superb examples of how to make money and grow the local economy by going green. This employee-owned solar electric company in Boulder, CO has grown from three owner-employees to 45 since it’s beginning four years ago. The company is generous to its’ employees and business is booming.

Here’s a great article on the company which includes an interview with owner, Blake Jones:

The Daily Green

You can also check out the company’s web site:

Namaste Solar Electric

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he’s been hugely successful in using his superstar power to educate the public about the environment. As Stephen Colbert says, global warming is real. The market has spoken. His movie made money. I don’t know the man so I don’t know if the rumors of his non-green habits are true or not. I really don’t care. What I care about are the results. Besides, I’m not perfect so I can’t judge.

Mr. Gore has issued a challenge to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and other clean sources within 10 years. This goal is totally achievable with the backing and financial support of the American people and our government. If the clean energy industry had the tax breaks and government subsidies the oil, natural gas and coal industries get, it would be a breeze. We already have the technology and some of the infrastructure is already in place.

Kudos to Mr. Gore for his 10 year challenge, An Inconvenient Truth and all the years of hard work and commitment.

See his entire speech here:

We Can Solve It
http://wecansolveit.org

Oil tycoon, T. Boone Pickens, Jr., is investing $10 billion in wind power. When his project is finished in about four years, he will have the world’s largest wind farm that will produce enough electricity to power 1 million homes.

He hasn’t converted for the sake of the environment, he’s doing it to make money and that’s o.k. He knows that oil is a finite resource and trying to get enough oil to meet our demands is putting our national security at risk.

My kudos go to him, not only for his project but because he is showing by example that it just makes good business sense to use clean, renewable energy. When someone as accomplished as T. Boone Pickens talks, people listen.

Here are a couple of links that you might find interesting.

PickensPlan: The Plan

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/14/windpower.energy

I know WalMart has had it’s problems and many people have refused to shop there. There is one big thing they have done right. They have made great strides in going green. Among other things they have installed solar panels on many of their stores, are providing more organic produce and have notified their suppliers that they will not accept products that are “over packaged.” I’m not going to guess or judge their motives but kudos to them. The world’s largest retailer has proven that going green can save money.