Five New Jobs in the Growing Green Economy
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin 
on 08.13.08
How to be a Green Entrepreneur
While the traditional economy slows down, green is booming. Riding the wave of the green trend, people are finding or creating unusual new jobs. Earn money and save the planet -- all in a day's work! To further inspire this trend, TreeHugger has collected a list of curious green entrepreneur opportunities we can find in the booming green economy.
1) Green Tour Guide
Spend your days out in nature, helping bring other people closer to Gaia. Or lead tourists through a learning experience visiting sustainable attractions. If you need inspiration, consider some examples:
2) Drive a Velotaxi, or start a Velotaxi Company
The velotaxi pedal cab trend started in Berlin with motor-assist pedal-power taxis with a twist: the taxi company makes its money from advertising on the sleek, sheltering bodies of the pedal cabs. The taxi drivers pay a minimal rent for a pedal-power taxi and earn their daily bread with the fares. The trend has since spread around the world, including Japan, where Velotaxi reintroduced the rickshaw to the place of its invention, and to New York, under the name BicyTaxi. Maybe it is time for a pedal cab stand in your town.
3) Garden Guru
A lot of people want to join the trend towards raising their own organic veggies, or to enjoy the beauty of blossoms from their own garden. But they have neither talent nor experience. They are begging for a garden guru. You can get things growing, and pass on skills that will bring a lifetime of pleasure.
4) Create a Green Search Engine
Make your own niche in the Green Search Engine Market. Already dozens of so-called "Green Search Engines" have sprouted up. The sites tap into ad dollars by leveraging standard search engines such as Google or Yahoo, which take a cut of the ad money for each click on the derivative site. Some are barely masked money machines, which promise to plant a few trees or front a black screen. Others are really trying to make a difference, like EcoSearch.org, which donates 100% of profits to environmental charities, or goodsearch, which contributes 50% of revenue to a cause of your choice.
5) iPod Doctor
Set yourself up in the small electronics repair business. A number such service providers have sprung up in New York, reports CNN Money. One such entrepreneur, self-taught Demetrios Leontaris, makes house calls to put the iPods of busy New Yorkers back in order. If the unit cannot be repaired, Leontaris adds it to his collection of "spare parts" for future repairs. One more iPod which is not landing in a landfill. You could extend the concept: especially in a down economy, people will look to repair rather than replace. Old concept, new generation.
That is just a start. We are sure you can think of others, or have seen friends and acquaintances prosper in environmental nut jobs. Share with us in the comments!
Greenpreneurs in Action:
Best Green Search Engines
Eco-tourism in Japan
Green Roof Safari
Pedal-powered Businesses in Portland
Velotaxi Pedal Cabs
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Glossary: Planet Bike
- The Happiest, Greenest Place on Earth—Seriously!
- Meet Green Business Consultant Tyler Moorehead, of GreenUnlimited
- Forget Going Green Because It's the Right Thing to Do—Go Green to Make Your Neighbors Jealous
- Green Glossary: Nature Deficit Disorder
- Make Your Own Gourmet Cheese with Cheese Kits
Seriously? This is the best you could come up with?
You guys seriously aren't entrepreneurs. Not that there's anything really wrong with these companies, except for the search engine, and they're a lot greener than most. But what about companies that actually make money on the transition to a post-oil economy? Something that might actually pay the mortgage on a house close enough to downtown to be convenient without a car.
I mean, green tour guide? Really? Or the Green Search Engine? Terrible. Why do we need another green search engine if there are already so many?
But hey, don't think I'm just another complainer, short on real solutions. Here's three good ones that can be started for under $100k:
1) Start a company that makes efficiency upgrades to residential homes. Recycled insulation blown into the exterior walls and attics, high efficiency heating and a/c equipment, solar panels, lighting, windows, solar water heaters, rain catchment systems, graywater systems, wind turbines, composting toilets. Half the trouble of these projects is finding a contractor to do the work who knows what they're doing and doesn't think all this efficiency stuff is crap! Give bids with estimated pay-off periods at current utility rates, advertise free home energy efficiency evaluations. If you lack the expertise or the financial wherewithal to do this all at once, you can start it by focusing on just a few of the simpler installations that tend to have generally short pay-off periods. And remember, subcontracting is your friend.
2) Peak-Oil Transition Consulting. We're entering a period of great changes, and how your business handles this transition will determine if your company still exists twenty years from now. You go through your client's business step by step, both eliminating corporate waste and assessing different possible energy efficiency projects that can save your client money. There's also good money to be made providing this service to government agencies.
3) Start your own windfarm. Sell shares of your company as a sort of decentralized collaborative wind energy investment group and build a wind farm. You can sell carbon offset credits, get loans and possibly grants, certainly tax incentives. Invest a portion of your available funds in companies that make wind turbines. Why not?
Look, I know these are big things, big projects that require real skill and knowledge, not to mention a lot of work and business acumen. But what the hell, you only live once. Why not do something grand? You can hire people as necessary, there's nothing wrong with spreading the wealth. If you're not comfortable making a lot of money, nothing says you have to keep it all for yourself, and any of these could also be started as a non-profit company that could simply pay you a nice comfortable salary. Think big, think expandable, think future growth, and don't limit yourself.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid." -Goethe
I'd definitely hire a green gardener. When I tried to a few years back, the only ones I could find were either a) confused by my goal of getting rid of my lawn, or b) booked solid serving millionaires.
Fyi - your link for #3 was a bit broken, but not so much that I couldn't figure out where it was intended to go.
That being said, the British message board you linked to has nothing to do with people growing vegetables at home. In the UK, "garden" means yard and that woman is looking for a landscape laborer, not a "garden guru"...
Eco-Education is another great and needed profession.
Most schools do not even recycling let alone teach kids about the value of doing your part by recycling.
www.goriseup.com
Not to mention the growing demand for green building consultants (LEED or anything sustainable at that), and the need for retro fitting old energy consuming monster houses is huge. Draft proofing, blowing cellulose in the walls and attic makes a huge difference and it doesn't take a large capital cost to start
I live in Greensburg, Kansas, and have been looking for a "green" business... but I really don't think the one for me is on this list.
I currently work for a "green" non-profit, http://greensburggreentown.org, but would love something I could do for myself!
I can only tell you about #1 and # 3 on the list.
#1. Eco-tourism is huge right now. Yet, it's still at a stage where entrepreneurs can get in and form a highly-successful business. I am getting my masters in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration, and I can tell you that every guest speaker and professor attests to the public demand for eco-tourism. (I'm at CSU, Sacramento, but I'm sure you can find this major in other universities.)
#3. Garden Gurus are in high demand, but few in quantity. I majored in Environmental Horticulture at UC Davis, which is basically how to grow plants. Of course my internships and field trips were the most significant in my education, as hands-on is the way to go in that field. Only 6 people graduate per year with a horticulture degree from UC Davis. And yet, our adviser sent us weekly job postings for people with our expertise. These jobs often started at $70K to well over $100K.
Also, anyone who knows my degree immediately asks me to do consulting work for them along with general chores such as pruning fruit trees. People pay me top dollar to do simple gardening and consulting for them. I answer simple questions such as how to grow oranges organically or how to reduce water usage in a new organic garden. I think people are willing to pay more to know that I'm educated and going to do the best possible job. Most everyone prefers to hire a person who is passionate about their work. [Remember this: FOLLOW YOUR PASSION & YOU WILL MAKE GOOD $]
I hope that many people agree with Scott's comments that eco-education is the way to go. I saw that this was my passion and have been working steadily towards eco-education since early 2000. I am just now purchasing the land to start a sustainable agriculture demonstration farm that will bring out the community, especially local schools to learn about food, science, etc. and how that relates to global issues. At least half of this farm will be devoted to restoration ecology, where the "students" will learn how to restore the planet, one plot at a time. I think that kids who understand ecosystems and connect with nature grow up to make great strides in sustainability.
Thanks again tree hugger for making me feel good about my decisions, while motivating me to do more!
I must have missed this article when it came out.
Thanks for the endorsement.
We strive to be when it comes to our repairs which means NONE of of waste has ever been put into a landfill.