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Green is the color of growth

Fashion designers are hyping corals, yellows and purples as the "new" colors of 2007. But one color's trumping all. Green.

By Robert Trigaux
Published February 5, 2007

Fashion designers are hyping corals, yellows and purples as the "new" colors of 2007. But one color's trumping all.

Green. As in business and government suddenly going ga-ga over green buildings, green technology and green sustainability.

The green movement in business for years has run on the fringes as little more than a low-grade fever to mainstream corporate America. Now - BadaBoom! - players from top global corporations to Tampa Bay area influentials are aligning with the green theme. Whether it's a fad or an enduring shift in the business force remains to be seen.

What is clear is the rapid rise of green issues in business big and small. Consider the range and momentum:

- Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott last week called on the retail giant's suppliers and employees to aid its green campaign. Suppliers eventually must eliminate nonrenewable energy from their processes and products. Wal-Mart will track their progress.

- In a speech titled "Thinking Green: An Economic Strategy for the 21st Century," former Vice President Al Gore appeared Friday before a standing ovation of 1,400 Silicon Valley business and civic leaders to tell them that "clean tech, green tech ventures will be a new pathway that attracts a lot more energy and time and investment. I'm here today in part to encourage those ongoing phenomena."

- At last month's North American International Auto Show, a panel discussed new environmentally conscious business models in a session called "Going Green - Detroit's Growth Engine for the 21st Century."

- Last month in Orlando, a conference organized by the Council for Sustainable Florida and dubbed "Climate Change: Opportunities in Florida" included the remarks of prominent Tampa Bay developer Grady Pridgen on the merits of green development.

- This week at the International Builders Show in Orlando, the Green Building Initiative will announce an interactive set of green building guidelines, an apparent first for residential builders.

- On Friday in Clearwater, 160 business and government managers will gather for the 2nd annual "Smart Sustainable Tampa Bay" conference put on by the area chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Check out details at www.sustainabletampabay.org.

- The largest green office building in Florida will be built on Miami's Brickell Avenue by developer Foram Group, which is seeking "LEED" certification, a designation from the U.S. Green Building Council. Only 10 buildings have such a certification.

- In midtown Manhattan, Bank of America is building the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, which the bank claims will be the "world's most environmentally-sound skyscraper."

Sure feels like a major trend in the making. But should we care?

Big time.

"When you consider Florida's population growth and the water and energy it would take to meet that growth if nothing changes, you can see that it's just not going to be possible in many parts of the state," says Pierce Jones, director of the University of Florida's program for resource efficient communities in the February cover story of Florida Trend magazine, a Times' sister publication. "That's what makes this a serious business issue."

Better catch the wave.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8405.

[Last modified February 5, 2007, 14:39:33]