The latest Harris Poll on green behavior in America is a good news/bad news story.

The good news: Most people have done something that’s green, by recycling a computer or cell phone; switching to tap water from bottled; made their home more energy efficient in some way.

The bad news: Only a tiny fraction of US residents (2 percent) own hybrid cars and vast numbers of people have not  “engaged” in most of the green activities the survey asked about, like for example composting (only 17 percent do), walking or biking to work (15 percent), or even getting a low flow shower head (17 percent).

And now for the good news: We’ve got incredible potential for energy and water savings, because we’re doing so little!

Here were the most popular green changes that emerged when 3,110 adults were asked what environmental activities they have done in the last year:

• Installed more energy-efficient light bulbs (63%)
• Purchased energy-efficient appliances (36%)
• Started paying bills online (46%)
• Switched to paperless financial statements (40%)
• Donated an electronic device for recycling (41%)
• Switched from bottled to tap water (29%)
• Installed a low-flow showerhead (17%) or a low-flow toilet (16%)
• Made home improvements (e.g., windows, solar panels or insulation) that provided government tax credits (14%)
• Bought a more fuel efficient car (13%)

In other encouraging findings, people reported that they:

• Always or often turn lights off when leaving a room (83%)
• Recycle (68%)
• Reuse things they have instead of replacing them (65%)
• Make an effort to use less water (60%).

But Harris Polls also found that many people are doing little or nothing to protect the environment and reduce their carbon footprint.  Only small minorities of adults reported that they always or often:

• Walk or ride a bicycle instead of driving or using public transport (15%)
• Carpool or use public transport (16%)
• Make compost (17%)
• Purchase organic products (17%)
• Purchase all natural products (18%)
• Purchase used as opposed to new products (25%)
• Purchase locally manufactured products (26%)

In other findings, which could be viewed as positive or negative, depending on the standards, the poll found that less than half, but at least one-third of Americans queried:

• Buy food in bulk (33%)
• Purchase locally grown produce (39%)
• Unplug electrical appliances when they are not using them (40%).

The poll further found that most of these green actions were taken by people who identified themselves as somewhat green or most green. In other words, when those polled were broken into  groups of “least green,” “not very green,” “somewhat green” and “most green” (based on their statements about protecting the environment) – a pattern emerged that showed the green groups were the ones installing energy efficient appliances, switching to tap water and buying organic products at much higher rates.

This seems like a tautology, but actually reveals philosophical split among Americans on green issues and suggests that there are those who do and those who don’t — as opposed to say, a vast middle where a mix of people take various green actions.

The skew between the two groups was fairly large. For example, 44 percent of those in the “most green” group “always or often” buy organic products, but only a minuscule 3 percent of the “least green” do.

Similarly, 65 percent of the “most green” adults “always or often” buy local produce, whereas only 20 percent of the least green do.

And only 15 percent of the least green segment have switched away from plastic bottled water.

Furthermore, the poll takers caution that some of the numbers may overestimate green behaviors because “there is a tendency for people to give ‘socially desirable’ answers…”

The Harris Poll was conducted online within the US between July 7 and September 8, 2009, using responses from adults (18 and up) with weighting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income, when  necessary, to bring the sample into line with actual proportions in the population. See charts on the responses at the Harris website.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Before the recession put a stranglehold on most every investment, clean technology was hot. Nearly 80 percent of all the venture capital spent in 2008 went to clean, green investments. The industries slumped for much of 2009, but now investors are returning to clean industries.

Regular Americans are curious about these clean tech companies, too, and they’re asking their financial advisers about them, according to one survey.

What is clean tech? It refers to technologies made without generating significant pollution, which produce products that can replace non-renewable energy sources, like oil, and make us more energy-efficient. Think solar cells and wind-generated power, hybrid or electric cars, green buildings, desalinated water and a “smart grid” that will help businesses and home owners to connect with new sources of power, like wind farms and giant desert photovoltaic installations

To give it an extra push, the government’s stimulus package has set aside about  $100 billion for clean, green products and industries. With that boost, venture capital is starting to flow again.

Considering clean-tech investing? We asked some of the best minds in the business to offer tips, advice and bits of wisdom:

Dallas Kachan Cleantech Group

What parts of clean tech are rebounding?

“The earliest sectors to rebound are tied to energy-efficiency and smart grids. The technologies are well understood and simple, quick and easy to deploy. Energy efficiency technologies are the low-hanging fruit,” said Dallas Kachan, managing director of Cleantech Group.  “By becoming more efficient we negate the need for more (energy) generation. . . there is a broad realization that over the last year you get high returns to pursue energy efficiency.”

Kachan’s company is among the most widely read sources of trade news, daily business and developments in the clean technology arena.

So far, solar deals and biofuels have gotten the lion’s share of clean tech investments. Some predict now that energy-efficient technologies will be the next hot commodities.

Are these industries solid?

“These technologies are ready for prime time. They weren’t ready 30 years ago. The timing wasn’t right in the ‘70s. They are no longer considered “alternative” technologies,” said Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge, a major market research and publishing firm focused on clean technologies since 2000. Clean Edge guides companies, investors and even governments with information about “trends, opportunities and challenges.”

“Globally, biofuels, wind and solar were a $116 billion industry last year,” Pernick said. The predictions for those three sectors? “They will be more than $300 billion in a decade.”

Now, big businesses are stepping into the clean-tech arena, Pernick said. Reports say that General Electric has sunk billions of dollars into wind power, and Applied Materials has put money into solar power.  Xerox, Kimberly-Clark and Walmart  are all putting substantial money into clean tech.

How quickly will these clean tech businesses grow?

Michael Kanellos Greentech Media

“Don’t expect a quick payoff,” said Michael Kanellos, editor-in-chief of Greentech Media, a leading online-media company. He suggested lowering your sky-high expectations. “Software companies can take off like a rocket because consumers can download applications for free and good ones travel by word of mouth. Twitter went from a few users to millions.

“But most green-tech applications – like energy-efficient appliances or solar panels – have to be manufactured. That costs money, which slows adoption,” he said.

In other words, “If Google had to go on your roof, install a bunch of glass plates and charge you $20,000 before you even started searching, you’d switch to Yahoo,” Kanellos said.

What about green mutual funds?

There may be safety in numbers, and clean/green mutual funds could provide extra comfort for mom-and-pop investors. Morningstar provides its members with research and analysis of the market, including tracking of 23 actively managed (and 15 exchange-traded) funds that are considered “green.”

“Somebody who wants to invest in green mutual funds should be aware of the various types of funds out there that are marketed as ‘green,’ said David Kathman, a Chicago-based analyst of mutual funds for Morningstar. A fund that consists of many start-ups is a riskier bet than one with a broader mix.

“Another group is ‘best of breed’ green funds, he said. “These look much more like regular core mutual funds in that they typically own well-known stocks, but within each sector they look for stocks with the best green profiles and environmental records,” Kathman said.

If you’re thinking about a mutual fund, study the prospectus for their “green” criteria or sustainability goals and the areas of green industry where they focus.

Like any other investment, looking for solid cash flows, stimulus money and diversified portfolios are important. A solid track record is as important with “clean” mutual funds as it is with any other fund.

Don’t just think American. Think globally

“Clean tech is not just an American phenomenon. There are very important deals and commercialization in . . . China and the Middle East,” said Clean Tech’s Kachan.

The clean-tech field also is making strong headway in South Korea, Japan, the European Union and India. “Governments around the world . . . are looking to create jobs, be energy-independent, meet stringent requirements for carbon and other emissions, said Clean Edge’s Pernick. “Governments are taking this seriously.”

In the third quarter of this year, Europe received much more clean-tech financing than America.

China is the world’s third largest economy, and they are aggressively looking for cleaner, more efficient energy. One report points out that China has doubled its ability to use wind-generated power over the past four years.

Whatever you drive (or don’t) at home, traveling to a city with poor public transport can put you at the mercy of either taxis whose efficiency may not have been state-of-the-art since the ’80s or rental cars chosen for popularity and price instead of their MPG rating.

The rental firm Enterprise, mindful of current trends, has just announced it is adding about 5,000 hybrid autos to its rental fleet — cars customers can have set aside for them in advance either online or over the phone.

According to an official statement, the company “already was home to the world’s largest fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles” and had hybrids already available, though not as many as 5,000. But it’s clearly making those cars more visible, by establishing around 80 of its locations as “hybrid branches” that are particularly well stocked. See a list of participating locations here. (Many branches are clustered within a single city, so don’t expect to see 80 cities listed.)

Prices will vary around the country, just as they do for regular autos, but checking the one-day rate for a Prius in Austin yielded a quote just under $50. (Versus about $28 for the cheapest offering, a Chevy Aveo.)

Four makes of gas/electric hybrid are listed in Enterprise’s materials: the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, Ford Escape and Toyota Camry. Enterprise also has eight branches with high concentrations of E85 FlexFuel vehicles, and offers customers the option of paying $1.25 per rental for carbon offsets provided by TerraPass.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

If you’re saving your pennies for a new hybrid car, it just may be worth asking: What type of hybrid should I hope for?

Not as in “Prius or Civic?,” but as in “electric or pneumatic?”

Lino Guzzella, Professor of Thermotronics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, believes he has a better idea for hybrid auto engines. Noting the drawbacks of gas/electric hybrids — not just their complexity and reliance on advances in battery tech, but the fact that they’re too expensive for those in developing countries that could benefit most from them — he started pursuing a different path: a pneumatic hybrid drive.

In Guzzella’s design, a tank of compressed air would be grafted onto a car engine instead of an electric unit. That air would be released into the engine by an electronically controlled valve to produce motion; gasoline can be injected at the same time for quicker response.

In a news release about the invention, the professor explains (for those who follow the mechanics of it) how this could also allow for more efficiently sized car engines.

In early testing, the new engine produced a fuel savings of one-third over the gas engine alone, but Guzzella’s team says savings could reach 50% in cities because of the nature of the design, which would recharge the compressed air tank during braking.

“Several major motor companies and automotive suppliers” are said to be interested.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The question keeps coming up on newscasts and blogs: Now that gas prices are abating will Americans revert to their guzzling ways. Or put another way: Are we stupid?

Seriously, this is a legitimate question. Look at our history. Our memory of tough energy times in the 1970s was short. The next decade brought a celebration of consumption, and stagnation on the green energy front.

The current economic freeze may temporarily cloud any clear verdict on our behavior this go-round. Consider the person with the gas-guzzling vehicle that they’d like to unload. They may be unable to buy a new gas-sipper and take on debt. Even someone who can afford to make a change may be holding out for a better built hybrid, those clean diesels coming our way or the all-electric cars we keep hearing will be here in 2010. (Here’s betting GM dearly wishes it was a year closer on its Volt.)

But should $2.50 a gallon gasoline cause us to waver in kicking our oil addiction, we may have a less co-dependent government this time.  Politicians of both parties support clean energy initiatives, and both presidential contenders have proposed tax incentives for people buying fuel efficient cars. These incentives mimic those already in place for hybrid cars, but also go beyond to include other types of eco-friendly vehicles.

A $5,000 to $7,000 tax credit for hybrids should cause many potential buyers to fall in love, or at least like, with new eco-cars, especially now that the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrids have proven the technology works.

To find out more, check out The Pew Center on Global Climate Change website which has posted a thorough and nonpartisan voter’s guide. It details Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s energy proposals pertaining to transportation.

This guide comes late for some of us who’ve already voted. But it has value even past the election for people who want to learn how government hopes to nudge both car buyers and automakers down the green highway.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Just as the iPod has become synonymous with digital music players, Toyota’s Prius is the primary car people tend to think of when it comes to hybrid electric vehicles. The Prius alone accounts for 75 percent of the hybrid cars sold in the United States, according to Toyota.

With Honda taking aim at the same market with its redesigned, very Prius-looking Insight, it appears Toyota may try to extend its lead by turning Prius into a line of cars much like its Scion and Lexus brands. The New York Times reports that James E. Lentz III, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., is lobbying Toyota executives in Japan to make the move.

Lentz may well have the clout to pull this off: Americans buy 65 to 70 percent of all Toyota hybrids sold worldwide. The Times says Lentz doesn’t know when Toyota might approve the project but talks will continue next month in Japan.

The separate Prius brand would be sold only in the United States.

Meanwhile, Toyota is continuing to develop other alternative fuel programs for the future. At a recent Toyota Sustainable Mobility Seminar in Portland, Ore., company officials announced that four RAV4 electric vehicles will be used by the City of Portland and the state of Oregon to develop an electric-charging infrastructure in preparation for the arrival of future zero- and low-emission vehicles. Portland State University will use the vehicles to shuttle people from mass-transit terminals to downtown and suburban locations.

The company also is planning to unveil a natural gas–powered Camry hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show next month.

And in September, Toyota began testing a plug-in Prius hybrid on public roads in the United Kingdom. The prototype is similar to the current Prius, with the exception of a second nickel-metal hydride hybrid battery pack that provides greater electric power. With more electric power in reserve, the vehicle is capable of operating in pure-electric mode longer and faster than the current Prius.

Toyota also says it is accelerating development of plug-in hybrid vehicles equipped with lithium-ion batteries. The company will begin sales to fleet customers at the end of 2009.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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Honda is shifting gears in its strategy for hybrid cars. Judging from announcements at last week’s Paris Motor Show, the automaker has decided that the hybrids most likely to succeed in the marketplace are models with a standalone hybrid identity — like Toyota’s Prius, which is not available with a conventional gas engine — rather than those, like Honda’s Civic, that are already familiar in all-gasoline incarnations.

So while Chrysler’s new plan will speed up electric vehicle roll-out by building on existing cars, Honda will now focus on “dedicated” hybrid models like the new Insight Hybrid, which it expects to have in showrooms early next year. (Perhaps confusingly, this new car recycles the name of a previous Honda vehicle, a gas/electric hybrid that was discontinued a couple of years ago due to poor sales.)

The five-passenger car will be followed by two other dedicated hybrids — within the next four years, Honda intends to introduce both a compact similar to its Fit and a sports car resembling the CR-Z. The Insight’s fuel efficiency figures are not yet public, pending full EPA review, but company spokespeople have said its performance should be comparable to the existing Civic Hybrid, which gets a combined 42 mpg.

Though no price has yet been mentioned, in a press release the company boasts it will offer the Insight at “a price significantly below hybrids available today” and therefore expects to sell 200,000 cars a year, with half that in North America.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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