A reasonable approach?

As most of you know, I have worked in the Lawn & Garden industry for a long time now. I've also been working for a rental company for the past eight years. Consequently, I get a lot of industry magazines related to engines, emissions, etc...

I finally got around to reading the June issue of Rental Management the other day. It features a number of articles about "going green" in the construction and rental industry. The feature story is listed second on this page; it's called Being Green.

The article raises an interesting concept that is being played out as we speak, and I think it just might work...

As you might have guessed from my posts in the past, I am a big fan of free-market economics. I am also an environmentalist (of the 'steward God's creation' stripe). Very often these two positions are contradictory. Most environmentalist advocate sweeping federal regulations to require this or that level of emissions. And while I think a certain amount of legislation is necessary on this front, I don't think it's the ultimate answer to the problem.

Enter the rental business.

It seems that many state governments (and an ever-increasing portion of the federal government) are now requiring that contractors demonstrate a specific level of "green building" proficiency before they'll be awarded government bid jobs. Consequently, rental yards that offer green engines, chemicals, etc... can be an asset to the general contractor who isn't quite ready to plunk down the kind of money needed to buy a whole new fleet of equipment.

But the point is that this concept utilizes legislation to a limited extent (for government bid jobs only, not the general public) but leans mostly on free-market economics. I'm inclined to believe that eventually these government bid contractors will find it more profitable to buy their own green equipment, and they'll begin using it on other (non-bid) job sites. This equipment will thereby find its way increasingly into the general market. The demand for the product, fueled by economics, will prompt more research and development and provide and impetus to make these green changes as inexpensively as possible, allowing developments to build upon one another.

It's not the complete answer, but I think this sort of thinking just might be a major part of the answer.

Hatushili