The Plot to Save the Planet

April 28, 2008
Separating the hype from the hope, Dumaine surveys the growing “green economy” born out of the unlikely partnership between investors, entrepreneurs and environmentalists and assesses the fruits of this collaboration. According to the author, “green technology” will be the largest, most lucrative industry of the future—a fact uniting the usually antagonistic forces of economic growth and ecological preservation as big business has entered the search for “tomorrow's oil substitute, the lifeblood of prosperity—but without the carbon.” Well-reasoned discussions of how corporations are becoming part of the solution yield surprising news about Wal-Mart's ties with the Environmental Defense Fund, Duke Energy's Save A Watt program and General Electric's Ecomagination campaign, which requires all division heads to find ways to “green” the technologies they develop and sell. From technological innovations to the growing investments in eco-friendly startups, Dumaine sorts through the fact and fiction, bringing an informed and optimistic perspective to the revolution underway.