Revealed 10 Insider Trends of How Green Energy Will Affect Your Bottom Line

Author : gary PattersonHow prepared are you to operate under a cleaner energy world immediately? Clean energy is already here in a limited version The full scale version is close behind

Ten strategic green energy trends are already having an impact on American business operations and bottom line, some for the good and others for the bad They are:

1 Sustainable pioneers are beginning to realize bottom line improvements from going green with examples starting to appear in the Wall Street Journal, other major business publications, and possibly your local newspaper

2 A proliferation of website and software tools are available to calculate a company carbon footprint (for example cdproject), as one of the first steps to understand the various aspects of instituting green

3 The capability now exists for a company to research, define and then estimate the carbon footprint of a company, including its entire worldwide supply chain to better plan for the transition to a greener carbon footprint Basically this provides a quantity of targeted emission that remains after reducing a given business existing carbon footprint to some government mandated level for the industry or country

4 With the ability to estimate the quantity of carbon emission in the carbon footprint that will be required to be reduced, it is not difficult to estimate how much carbon tax will apply at a range of carbon tax rates per ton This provides the momentum for a probable follow-on requirement for companies to record the liabilities for the carbon footprint of their entire supply chain, which will be massive for some companies I e the higher the carbon footprint quantity and the higher the tax rate, massive liabilities occur for targeted industries

5 The carbon footprint of digital and internet companies, when energy consumption is included, is beginning to look much larger than formerly estimated or understood One key little understood factor is the carbon footprint of electricity to operate server farms, Internet sites and even the total number of computer networks worldwide in companies

6 American companies need to better understand the passion, even fervor, of green energy advocates who demand that U S businesses formulate and implement green initiatives Think of people in prior generations protesting the Vietnam War or chaining themselves to trees to prevent logging operations

7 When they think corporate green claims are overstated, clean energy advocates are reacting negatively, creating what is now called a green washing backlash And they define how green your activities must be, not you

8 Blue-chip companies who created goals of greener operations as part of their strategic planning are beginning to demand that their suppliers produce greener products if they want to continue doing business with them It is easier for corporate level executives and strategists to make a decision than for their employees to actually make those strategies work

9 Major investors are establishing requirements that the companies they invest in demonstrate that they are adopting green energy strategies Think of this as another substantial reporting requirement which includes a number of items you have not tabulated in the past(for example GlobalReporting)

10 As more details of the magnitude and cost of proposed carbon tax legislation and the extent of its use of proceeds for non job creation purposes are apparent, a backlash against the Congressional leadership plan is building This will accelerate to the extent that the carbon tax which has been justified as a job creation vehicle actually is used as a welfare system tax

As always happens when such a landscape changing issue as the carbon tax is enacted, whatever tax is enacted will be amended as the extent of cost and adverse business impacts on a number of American businesses become more evident

Advocates are pleased with the direction underway Opposing experts already feel the current version of the carbon tax being discussed will destroy more jobs than are created in the green sector Because some tax will be enacted and undoubtedly revised, how will you prepare for both good upsides and the possibility for some companies of substantial, even massive, associated rising costs that such a tax will produce?Bottom line? What is the cost of what you do not know? Apply this information to improve profitability, reengineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Free Fiscal Test at http://fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html.
From Gary W Patterson Copyright 2009

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