Green Options

Perhaps appearing counterintuitive, one business stategy for green businesses during a recession that your business might consider is to invest in expansion.

Expansion can take many forms, of course. There is a great deal of interest in people starting green businesses these days. My personal blog has several pages, and by far and away the most popular is the “Green Business Opportunities” page where people can learn about green franchises, partnerships, consulting or outright purchases.

This may perhaps seem the most counterintuitive of all strategies, however, when taken to its basics, there are sound fundamentals that emerge. Why not make your business an opportunity for other aspiring eco-entrepreneurs? It’s part consulting,

You gotta spend money to save money. For energy efficiency upgrades, that saying couldn’t be more timely or accurate.

Energy efficiency programs and rebates are getting a real shot in the arm from, among other things, the stimulus package, plus many other federal, state, and local programs. As a result of the stimulus package, energy efficiency tax credits have been raised from 10% of cost to 30%. The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1500, and more expensive upgrades, such as solar panels, solar water heaters, and geothermal pumps are not limited to the $1,500 maximum. The $200 tax credit cap on efficient windows has been removed, however

May 1: May Day.

For the average American working for a paycheck, May Day — a pagan spring ritual where you dance around a Maypole — marks yet another, less festive occasion.

From the first of January until around the first of May, all the money many of us will earn goes to pay our share of income tax to the US government.

Kiss those months — that money — goodbye (the present tax stimulus package is really just a refund).

We followed the advice of our parents, as most children do: get a good education, go to college and get a job — a nice, secure, well-paying one, with great fringe benefits, stock options or profit-sharing. But the bimonthly paychecks — after the government gets its share for income, Social Security and Medicare taxes — aren’t enough to keep up with the bills. Even with raises and promotions, many of us feel that we keep getting further in the hole, since the more we earn in earned income, the more it’s taxed. The reality is that the system is largely devised this way, not to tax the very rich but to exact a fee on the middle class and poor to keep these wage earners on the treadmaster of a job — or “promising career.”