Like many of us, when the notice from our utility company came offering wind energy to us at a slightly higher cost, we signed up right away. We figured it was a clean and sustainable way to get electricity and help the environment at the same time.  According to an article in The New York Times, to date over 1,000,000 customers have volunteered to pay more for this type of power, but it seems a lot of that has been hype, not hope. 

Florida Power and Light had a program called “Sunshine Energy”  with more than 38,000 customers which was terminated by the Florida Public Service Commission after an audit found that 76.4% of the money taken in by this program went to administration and marketing costs instead of to building more solar facilities and generating more clean, renewable energy. 

A California based advocacy group called the Utility Reform Network reported, “There is little evidence to suggest that customer subscriptions have resulted in any new additions of renewable power.”  And that is the shock, not only to energy customers but to all of us in the green marketing space. 

These blatant green claims, all wrapped up in slick marketing campaigns, do more than turn off energy customers, they have the potential to turn off the greater population to many green claims and products. And this hurts us all. 

We speak a lot about green marketing and one of our primary rules is transparency and walking the talk.That means if you say something about green or sustainability, you need to back it up with action. If you claim something, it had better be supported by facts.  

As green grows, so does the danger to the entire movement. Couple that with green fatigue, greenwashing and empty meaningless claims, and green can go the way that low-carbs went. What happens is that once someone is duped by a green marketer, they don’t just turn off that message, but potentially get turned off to the green movement and we all suffer the consequences. 

Everyday the airways are filled with messages that confuse us all. Look at the  current healthcare debate and all the special interest groups pouring millions into bending your opinion one way or the other. No wonder the average person no longer believes what they read and hear.

If you want the green movement to succeed, and your product or service along with it, all of us need to be the green police and be sure that what green says, green does. It would be a tragedy if companies like Florida Power and Light are instrumental in pulling the plug on what all of us have worked so hard to accomplish. Take my word for it, it is much harder to bring someone back in once they have been disappointed than it is to bring them in from the start.

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Back in the early 60′s, Marshall McLuhan declared that the medium was the message. Today’s it’s spun around. The message is the medium. How else can we explain the polarization of America to the extent that it is taking place today? Whatever happened to the hope that renewable energy offered all of us in terms of saving our economy, new jobs, improved infrastructure, energy independence and clean air and water?  

In a recent survey by Kelton Research, when asked if it’s important for the U.S. to develop and use solar energy, 92 percent of Americans responded “Yes.”  It’s not like we don’t want it. So what’s the problem?

As green marketers, it seems sadly simple to us. We are all suffering from message deprivation. The loudest voices we hear are the ones against whatever is put in front of them. When in reality, the loudest voices should be the ones calling out for something else. We need to help get those messages out. 

So here’s one for the solar industry. A gift from MOM (that is, Mind Over Markets) to you. Use it well.  Pass it on. But most of all, get it out there. 

 We Bring Solar Down to Earth

 For more than six billion years,

solar has been the most reliable heating source on earth. 

In fact, when you think about it, solar isn’t alternative energy,

it’s the original energy.

Totally practical, totally reliable and totally free.

With oil, gas and electric prices rising every day,

it’s good to know that the sun also rises every day,

and once you harness it, it’s free energy from then on.

With current, generous tax incentives and rapid payback,

the solar advantage keeps getting brighter and brighter.

Imagine the thrill of getting a check from the power company

instead of a bill.

Think of the rush you’ll feel producing your own clean,

non-polluting, endless, renewable energy.

 Think of it this way, energy prices rise every day.

So does the sun.

One costs you. One saves you. 

Haven’t you been in the dark about solar long enough?

 (Your Company logo here)

We Bring Solar Down to Earth

Now it’s your turn. We invite all of you to come up with messages that move people toward something the way recent messages have moved people away from things that ultimately do not serve  our best interests.

After 9/11, America came together from all backgrounds, no matter what color your state was. We need that rallying cry again or the American dream will become an America tragedy.

So send out your messages. Trust us, we need you.

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photo credit: rengel134                       

What a difference a word makes. With news out of Washington on the waffling on the Alternative Energy front, it occurred to me how much further this effort might be moving along if we weren’t dealing with the term “alternative” as in just another possible way instead of the most intelligent way to create new and reliable sources to power our future.

 Maybe the new term, which I offer up gratis to all of you, should be Absolutely Necessary Energy, or even Can’t Live Without It Energy. Then maybe a sound energy policy would already be in place and people would understand that we can’t live without it.

 As a marketer, I know how we label something has a profound effect on its acceptance. I find it incredible that with all our brilliant sunshine shining down every day and all our abundant wind blowing freely, instead of being captured and harnessed, we’re still dragging our feet on getting out and demanding a sane, inexhaustible and clean supply to power our nation. The jobs it would create and the national security this would engender, not to mention the cleaning of our air and water supply, would be the greatest gift this or any Administration could give our country and the world. 

 So let’s change the name and change our direction on this or someday the future generations will look back on us and shake their heads in disbelief.  

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