Where's the Recovery Act funding for implementing green business practices?
President Obama has consistently advocated for the implementation of technology in the federal government and health care industry to reduce paper and energy usage and improve efficiency. Several of his recent speeches have addressed the importance of improving efficiency and reducing waste so that resources can be spent more wisely, and costs can be cut.
We completely agree, and we’ve been saying this for years! All of the projects our company works on are to further our mission of helping people work smarter and greener so clients can do more with less, and concentrate on the things that people do best. Our clients “get it” — especially after they calculate their return on investment and realize they’ve saved $70,000 on paper or 400 hours a year that they can now invest in things that will grow and sustain their organization.
So here’s the problem…
The recovery act largely ignores this sector of the green economy. Aside from a couple of programs to encourage the adoption of electronic medical records, all of the “green” focus is on battery and wind technology, weatherization, and green building.
- None of the current programs encourage the funding of these types of efficiency and technology initiatives in support of these emerging industries.
- There is no program or tax incentive for improving efficiency of workplace practices, or reducing paper usage, or upgrading/installing energy efficient computer equipment in business, state, or local government.
- Companies that focus on improving workplace efficiency and the implementation of green business practices are not considered to provide “green jobs” so they can’t get access to training money to educate a workforce for this emerging economic sector.
Greening a building is important. Converting an auto plant to a manufacturing facility for wind turbines is great project. But if the new wind turbine business has no motivation or funding to design efficient workflows, or build custom software to run their manufacturing process efficiently (and without paper), we’ll be right back where we started — creating industries with inherently inefficient and wasteful business systems that have no brainpower to innovate.
A real world example
For three years, we have had a software product in use at several Veterans Administration hospitals that saves hundreds of reams of paper and hours of staff time. Our product makes a complicated and paper-intense process infinitely more efficient, which enables staff to focus on more important things like patient advocacy, research, and compliance. When other VA hospitals approach us about using our product, they consistently cite lack of funding as an obstacle to purchase. They are incredibly frustrated because they know they could be spending their brainpower on more important things, while also reducing the environmental impact of this process. Yet all of their (and our) efforts to get the entire VA system to adopt our product have been hampered by lack of funding and buy-in about the importance of working efficiently.
If one of the recovery programs provided funding to the VA for these types of activities, and President Obama made it clear that this is the type of initiative he wants to support, the VA would be more efficient, could improve patient care for veterans, and we could create some jobs for Michigan.
Fund efficiency, improve innovation, and create jobs
Funding the development, purchase, and implementation of technology is fundamental to the support of any new business or government initiative, and the recovery programs should be including these activities in ALL of the programs they are funding.
We are thrilled that the Obama administration has initiated a more public discussion about using technology to improve efficiency in all sectors of our economy. Now we need them to put their money where their mouth is by specifically funding technology and efficiency initiatives in their recovery programs so people are motivated to make the changes we need to move the economy forward again.
Motivating businesses, non-profits and government to make these changes will also stimulate the economy by creating opportunities for companies who are poised to grow, create jobs, and develop a new arm of the Innovation Economy.