did you know? part III

A couple of days ago, I read an essay in which the writer said that he “hates green” and will stop patronizing stores if he finds out that their products are green. He said that green products are too expensive, “too “trendy,” and “not as good as the usual stuff.” In this day and age, when clean tech and green economy are the new buzzwords that seem to be invading the entrepreneurial sector (not to mention policy), how common is this writer’s sentiment, investigative minds (at least mine) wanted to know. This is what I found out.

According to a recent survey of 1000 American adults, conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, 82 percent of consumers prefer to buy “green” (even in the current economic climate). Another survey, of 9000 adult consumers in 9 countries, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, suggests that not only are consumers concerned about environmental protection (two-thirds of respondents believed that the environment was in trouble, only 12 percent were skeptical about environmental concerns and in the U.S., consumers ranked their concern over the environment just below concern over the recent economic decline). Furthermore, people’s concern for environmental quality directly affected their purchasing decisions. Eighty-two percent of U.S. consumers said that they were willing to pay at least a 5 percent premium on green goods, and 42 percent believed that green products were of higher quality than conventional alternatives (compared with 5 percent who believed that green products were of lower quality).

The writer who inspired this is clearly in a minor league.

- Mina