The “green” movement currently sweeping the globe – with governments, companies and consumers taking steps to reduce their energy usage and to adopt environmentally-friendly practices – presents significant new business opportunities in most sectors.
But as is often the case with emerging markets, many of these green business opportunities will develop first in cities, states and countries that enact regulations and provide subsidies to support their growth, according to experts who will participate in a panel discussion during Bryant University’s 23rd Annual World Trade Day on May 25.
“If we have money flow through sustainable pathways, then it will also result in sustainable businesses,” said Gaytha Langlois, a professor of environmental policy at Bryant University. “And I think that’s the phase where we’re at right now. Lots and lots of different kinds of business entities – both large corporations and small entrepreneurs – are beginning to see, ‘Aha! I could make a lot of money if I could figure out how to solve this or that problem.”
The growing, worldwide movement aimed at reducing carbon emissions and becoming more energy efficient represents a boon to numerous sectors, including building and design, technology, manufacturing, land use and consulting, Langlois said.
In particular, she said that business growth in the renewable energy market will be broad and will range from very small business applications to very large corporate commitments.
Langlois also predicts strong growth of the environmental-cleanup industry, driven by increased efforts to reduce industrial, pharmaceutical and other toxins in the air, water and ground.
Energy consultancies and firms focused on building, engineering and design will cash in helping corporate clients avoid the potential costs of future regulation of carbon emissions linked to global warming, she said.
“There’s going to be a lot of need to inform people of how [and] where they should start, so I picture things like energy auditing, and toxics-reduction programs,” Langlois said. “I think that will be another set of business activities, because businesses want to be aligned with the law, so if the EPA suddenly starts cracking down on their toxic requirements, then the companies will be at a loss … because they don’t want to be fined and they don’t want to lose their green image, because right now having a green image definitely sells products.”
Many states have already passed laws and regulations that pave the way for a burgeoning market for large-scale renewable energy projects, such as the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound – a proposal to build the largest offshore wind farm in the nation, which is in the final stages of an eight-year permitting process.
Cape Wind’s developer, Boston-based Energy Management Inc., worked for three decades building traditional power plants throughout New England – including the natural gas-fired power station in Tiverton and the Pawtucket power plant, the first major co-generation project in Rhode Island.
But in 2001, Energy Management sold its five remaining fossil-fuel facilities and turned its attention to developing new sources of clean energy, after lawmakers in Massachusetts enacted the region’s first renewable-portfolio standard, which set goals for statewide greenhouse gas reductions, said Dennis Duffy, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs.
Since that time, several other Northeast states have enacted their own renewable-portfolio standards and have pledged to work together on carbon-reduction goals established under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
“Massachusetts was the first to put an aggressive RPS in place, and no one had really responded with a utility-scale project needed to meet those goals,” Duffy said. “Five of the six New England states now have renewable requirements, and it’s going to take a lot of projects to get built to meet those targets.”
But opportunities to make money in renewable energy won’t be limited to large-scale, offshore wind operations, Langlois said. The market will also include residential and small-scale commercial solar installations and even individual, “designer” wind turbines mounted on rooftops and in gardens, she predicts.
Regardless of which renewable energy technology becomes dominant, the market will create wealth and new jobs in a range of industries, Langlois said.
“Whatever type of technology that’s about to be developed, there will be the design of it, there will be the marketing of it, there will be the sizing it for different target markets, there will be the installation, the repair,” she said.
Companies looking to gain a foothold in new clean energy markets will seek to do business in states and nations that create incentives to stimulate growth of the industry, said Robert Chew, founder and president of SolarWrights Inc., a solar- and wind-energy installation company headquartered in Bristol.
SolarWrights was among the fastest growing firms in Rhode Island for a few years after the state enacted its Renewable Tax Credit legislation, which made renewable energy equipment exempt from tax.
But two years ago, when state lawmakers rescinded the tax credit for residential solar installation projects, the company moved strongly into Connecticut and New York, which had had enacted their own incentive programs for the solar industry, Chew said.
SolarWrights was one of six solar-installation companies doing business in Connecticut two years ago; today, there are 25 such businesses competing there as a result of the state’s incentive program, he said.
SolarWrights is currently eyeing an acquisition that would enable the company to set up an office and start doing business in New Jersey, where lawmakers are expected to enact incentives for the solar industry this year, Chew said.
“These incentives – yes they do cost money, but they also attract industry,” he said. “Solar companies like ours, we can go to any state in the country, and we’re going to pick those states that have the best climate for selling our products.” •
