Perspective: The fatal flaw for green-tech companies

Clear your mind. Now, create a mental picture around the words "energy executive."

Then do the same around "Internet employee."

In the first example, a paunchy and nondescript image probably came to mind: something like Dick Cheney before he became famous, an author of management books, or that guy with the "Group 4" boarding pass who hovers around the gate a half hour before the plane is ready to start boarding.

The second example was probably hipness personified: the kind of people who pay $125 to a stylist to make them look more confused and disheveled than a finalist on Project Runway.

That quick test underscores a serious, but often unmentioned, problem with the green-tech market. And that problem is this: it's often not going to be as cool or lucrative as one might predict.

Why? Look at what they sell. Solar and wind companies sell equipment that generate electricity--not exactly the sexy products that make good cocktail conversation. And the electricity they produce functions in the same way as electricity that comes from coal-burning power plants. The same goes for new types of water filters or green cleaning products, which also perform tasks that are old news. Biomass home heating systems? They're a dung fire in disguise.

The majority of green companies, in short, sell commodities you need, but don't desire. Your neighbors will come over to see your solar panels, but they may only clamber up on the roof once to see them. And unless your kids lodge a Frisbee atop the roof, you probably won't go up there either.

By contrast, the technology industry--or at least the fast-growing segments that produce loyal customers and mint millionaire employees--has a knack for exploiting the fetishistic tendencies of its customers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs starts waving around a cell phone that can be operated with the swipe of a finger, and legions of otherwise normal people camp out to get it. Gamers hole up in empty conference rooms to play shoot-'em-up games for 48 hours straight with overclocked PCs cooled with closed chambers of circulated mineral oil.

Four years ago, media executives and large segments of the public scoffed at the notion that people wanted to watch home videos. YouTube now influences the presidential race.

The more you drill down, the more you see that the acceptance and churn of these products are divorced from any absolute need. If instant messaging were eliminated tomorrow, civilization would be forced to revert to...to...e-mail. You wouldn't exactly be spitting pigments around the outline of your hand on a cave wall or sending messages by courier. People upgrade to new electronics for many reasons, including aesthetics and "cool" factor. PCs, game consoles, and cell phones typically go to the grinder way before they stop functioning.

Forget planned obsolescence: this is junior high school with a credit card. (This, in part, explains some of the wacky personalities you see in the industry.)

Even biotech plays off this. Note how they switched from earnest speeches from Bob Dole to sell erectile dysfunction drugs to pitching them as the latest party drug.

Green technology does generate fervor among some individuals, but far fewer. And to be honest, many aren't the kind of people you'd like to hang out with anyway. Exhibit A: wearing hemp clothing or sustainable wearables as a status symbol. Good luck trying to instill feelings of inadequacy in someone else while wearing them.

But the picture isn't all bad. Hybrid cars are close to silent and have inspired an army of home-grown tinkerers, similar to PC modders. All-electric sports cars and luxury hybrids like the Fisker Karma seem to have already excited status seekers in the U.S. and Europe. Modular, green homes tend to be far more interesting than the average house.

There's also an undeniable chic right now around a lot of green conferences. If you are single and can be overtly sensitive on command, you will probably be able to successfully hit on a lot of people.

Still, for most consumers, the rewards will be abstract. I am doing my part to reduce greenhouse gases (which will work as long as someone in China doesn't offset it by buying a Hummer). So I can expect to enjoy lower power bills.

But who talks about a 20 percent decline in their utility bills? The guy with the Group 4 boarding pass. And not many people are rushing to sit next to him on a six-hour flight.

Biography
Michael Kanellos is editor at large at CNET News.com, where he covers hardware, research and development, start-ups and the tech industry overseas. He has worked as an attorney, travel writer and sidewalk hawker for a time share resort, among other occupations.

More Perspectives

[Andronicus]

I would disagree

I think that he has it backwords.

Internet employee to me is a run of the mill geek that hovers around the gate 1/2 hour before the plane even arives.

The Green-Tech guy is the swave with the glamours job of selling the latest 'cool' environmentaly friendly item.

[rnieves1977]

I concur

I'm a complete computer geek but I think the new energy trend is just beginning to pick up steam and there is some cool factor. That cheap renewable energy will eventually power everything including my mobile devices. It would be cool to have an iPhone that I don't have to charge but picks up enough radiant energy to charge as I go.

Michael, if I was any more of an energy fanatic it would sound to me like big oil and those coal ppl got into your pocket. lol Anyways, your comparing two completely different industry's with only "cutting edge" being the common denominator and your argument seems weak.

[digitanomad]

I Agree with Disagree

You could be correct. A talented wordsmith can spin a skewed story on about most anything. Look at how the opposing views of Net Neutrality are spun.

The misinformation campaigns by the duopoly and the lobbyists are good examples. Watch any Comcast commercial, or AT&T tripe.

The same thing happens in political campaigns. Can you say, Bill Clinton.

There is a place for Green...and it will seem very "sexy" when some folks build fortunes around the concept, and become the darlings of Wall Street.

[signpointer]

Lucrative?

Yeah, you can't hardly make any money in energy. Guess that's why Exxon made a paltry $40 billion record for a corporation last year. We know how chic it is to sell gas. How many things that you buy in the course of a week are cool anyway. Johnson & Johnson, Purina Mills, GE, K-Mart.....laughing all the way to the bank selling perfectly ordinary things. But is is somehow a flaw for green energy? Spend that time waiting for your plane coming up with better ideas for columns instead of making fun of your fellow passengers, this one is pretty lame.

[davinci8x8]

cheap swipe

"I am doing my part to reduce greenhouse gases (which will work as long as someone in China doesn't offset it by buying a Hummer)..."

Cheap swipe aside, it's exactly such attitudes that get us no where.

[ynotbecreative]

Partly due to the media

Media spends more time talking about the evils of global
warming than the solutions and the ways that we can forge
ahead. Now, I grant you that c|net does some of its part, but as
a whole, media in general would far rather spend its time
whining and moaning, than solving ANYTHING. The media needs
to do their part, as it has more exposure than anything else.
They need to stop whining and start doing - put up some
solutions or shut up. Talking about something does not do
something.

[summershoe]

The fatal flaw with hubris

Wow, someone is a little too in awe of their own industry. When I think "internet employee" I think "geek", especially internet executive (Bill Gates,Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs (yes, Steve Jobs)). 15 years ago you could have summed it up with that but now geek has become cool. Green-tech is a baby. Give it some time and it may become cool too.

[Kimsh]

Oh dear

Are most Americans really fixated on causing feelign of inadequacy with their clothing and "hitting on" others? Wow, maybe drowing the US in a sea of polution IS the best thing that could happen. Thanks for making me feel better about the suffering millions.

[Matt501]

I had to chuckle at "(which will work as long as someone in China doesn't offset it by buying a Hummer)." - since publication the Chinese have bought HUMMER. So much for that...