Steve Kokette is convinced that more people would buy products made, stored or distributed using renewable energy if they only knew what to look for. To make the choices a bit clearer, the Madison, Wis., man has had the website buyrenewablesnow.com registered to his name and now hopes to begin using it in August to list companies that can boast about being “green” in one or more ways. As far as Kokette can tell, it’s a service that differs from everything else on offer, especially when it comes to providing the names of local companies.
At a large energy fair held in June in Custer, Wis., Kokette asked around about similar endeavors. Nobody he talked to seemed to be aware of anything exactly like he was proposing, he said. And the general consensus seemed to be that his idea was a good one. “Somebody would have said, ‘Hey, somebody’s doing that already,’” Kokette says. “It was an original idea to everyone I spoke with.”
To Kokette, the premise is simple. People who are concerned about the environment and climate change will use his website to learn about products that are made with renewable energy and then go out and begin buying those things with no further prompting. Companies that don’t use renewables will the see the sales advantage going to others and think a bit harder about getting into the renewable game themselves.
“I much prefer to use the term ‘consumers rewarding,’” Kokette says. “I don’t want to be saying that people should not be spending their money at places that don’t use renewables. For one, there are so few places that do use renewables. So it would be foolish to take the negative tack.”
Powering the Warehouse
At least one Milwaukee business owner who uses solar energy to make his products agrees such a service is needed. Russ Klisch, president of Lakefront Brewery, recently had solar panels installed on his company’s warehouse in Riverwest.
The array—which produces nearly 40% of the power needed to keep the brewery’s beer cold while in storage—earned Lakefront a Travel Green certification from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. State officials use this designation to inform tourists how they can support renewable energy and other green endeavors on their travels through the state. Still, it’s not quite the same thing as telling them which products are best to buy. “It would be good to have an independent source,” Klisch says.
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One pitfall Kokette, or anyone trying something similar, will have to avoid often goes by the name of “greenwashing.” This refers to the unscrupulous practice of presenting products as being more benign than they really are. “They are just touting themselves as being environmentally friendly,” Klisch says.
Kokette acknowledges that he still has a lot to mull over before he gets his idea up and running. Meanwhile, he’s thinking bigger than just Wisconsin. Eventually, he said, he could see his site presenting names of companies found not only throughout the United States but also in Canada.
His ambitions also extend beyond having a website. As Kokette says, he can see himself working on a campaign to get grocery stores to identify which of the products on their shelves were made with renewable energy—much as some shops now state how far food items had to be shipped to bring them to market.
Consumers Making Wise Decisions
Amy Heart, a spokesperson for the renewable advocacy group Alliance for Solar Choice, said she is aware of no other service quite like what Kokette is proposing. Whether it’s ultimately Kokette or someone else who provides a repository of information about products made with renewable energy, such a list will be useful, she says. “There are more companies that are doing these sorts of things than ever before,” Heart explains. “But more importantly, it’s on the minds of consumers, so giving people a way to make decisions with their dollars could be valuable.”
The obstacles before Kokette include not just a need to find a way to avoid “greenwashing.” Since he has little in the way of a budget, his plans will also depend to a great extent on volunteers. “But it shouldn’t be expensive to do this,” he says. “Most businesses would love the attention.” His latest idea is in many ways a continuation of something he started more than 40 years ago. In 1978, he published a book listing more than 300 businesses that made household products designed to conserve energy. In the end, he sold about 5,000 copies.
Not all of his pursuits have been so successful. When, about 10 years ago, he had bumper stickers printed exhorting the public to “Buy Products Made With Renewable Energy,” he found few takers. The trouble, he explains, was most likely that very few people then knew of products meeting that description. But when he tried to distribute the same stickers at the energy fair in Custer in June, he met with a similar lack of interest. The trouble this time, he speculates, was different: Fewer and fewer modern cars are being built with bumpers.
Whatever the cause, Kokette is far from discouraged. His experience with bumper stickers is merely a sign that his time and energy would be better spent promoting renewable energy in other ways. “I am flying by the seat of my pants,” he says. “But also, everywhere I go now and in everything that I’m doing, I’m looking for businesses that are making use of renewable energy.”
