Last week the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) published its latest report on the efforts of federal agencies to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices. The report comes out every two years and covers a wide range of environmental impact areas. Among the findings: by the end of fiscal year 2006, “most of the largest [federal] purchasing agencies, as well as many of the other executive agencies, had developed or were developing comprehensive integrated green purchasing programs.” That’s great news because it means governmental organizations should drive growth in green manufacturing. Earlier this year I referenced the Department of Defense’s green procurement policy and the associated financial incentive for the DOD’s suppliers to offer green products. Clearly financial incentives to go green have expanded significantly across the government sector.

The OFEE also went beyond tracking the purchasing plans of federal agencies in its report and attempted to measure where implementations of new green purchasing policies have been successful. For example, federal agencies are now actively seeking computer products that reduce standby power. It is estimated that bringing power consumption down on standby mode could save taxpayers more than $400 million in annual energy costs over the next six years, and should save enough equivalent energy to power 630,000 homes for one year.

Other examples of success include an increase in the number of biobased products (cleaning products, solvents, etc.) being used and tested by federal agencies, and the fact that the IRS prints all annual income tax forms on recycled content paper.

All in all, there is more green purchasing going on. And more green purchasing means more money in the green supply chain.

On the day we celebrate the Earth, it only seems appropriate to recognize a few companies doing their part to keep our planet healthy. Below are the latest green activities from companies participating in the EcoLogo program. Diamant, Cascades and Hewlett Packard have all made long-term commitments to environmentalism. Here is what they’re doing on one particular day of the year. Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Diamant: Diamant Corporation makes recyclable plastic food wrap that contains no plasticizer and no chlorine. The company’s been busy making a lot of news of late, and today has an announcement out stating it has completed initial trials for new bio-degrading plastic bottles. That’s right, bio-degradable plastic bottles. If you’ve had a hard time giving up the plastic water bottle habit, take heart. There may be an eco-friendly solution in the near future.

Cascades: Cascades is known for its green paper products and packaging materials, and has published its own annual sustainable development report since 2004. Today the company announced that its Rockland line of colored paper will contain up to 100% recycled fiber. Pretty colors and eco-friendly - comes in green and many other shades.

Hewlett Packard: HP has a long, long history of environmentalism, not only creating products, but also acting as a resource and inspiration for many green initiatives. In honor of Earth Day, HP published this month a guide to energy efficiency in the workplace. Did you know duplex printing can reduce paper consumption by 25%? The full guide is available on the HP website.

Just in time for Earth Day, GreenYour Media LLC has announced the beta launch of its new GreenYour.com site. Better than Googling, GreenYour.com lets consumers search for green product and lifestyle alternatives by category or keyword. Type in Green Your “Hair”, for example, and up pops facts on shampoo and hair dye as well as tips and product recommendations.

The new green search site is noteworthy for its comprehensive criteria in determining whether or not a product is eco-friendly. Green attributes are considered as well as green yield, which is defined as the ability of a product to help consumers reduce waste and environmental impact. Products are also considered green when they have been certified and labeled by a credible environmental organization. In other words, the folks behind GreenYour.com are looking to help clear up consumer confusion around ecolabeling and combat greenwashing by clearly identifying products that meet reliable environmental standards. In its list of credible standards, GreenYour.com includes EcoLogo, Green Seal, the EPA’s Energy Star program, USDA Organic, Greenguard and the Forest Stewardship Council.

GreenYour.com apparently has great plans for the future. Since it is built on an open-source content development platform, the creators of the site are clearly intending to make it accessible to outside sources for content contribution. According to the press release, “Next, we will introduce a range of interactive tools and partnerships.”

Oh, and GreenYour.com has a blog too. Welcome to the blogosphere.

First there was green marketing, and then there was greenwashing. Now the pendulum is swinging back again. According to a new study by Burst Media (via Green Daily), consumers are growing wise to green advertising claims. More than 20% of survey respondents said they seldom or never believe environmental claims in product ads, and two-thirds said they only “sometimes” believe.

So is consumer skepticism good or bad? Probably both.

Given the level of greenwashing in the market, it’s a good thing that consumers aren’t falling for every green marketing trick. However, the entire purpose of environmental labeling is to make environmentally-friendly choices available and apparent to the public. If consumers disregard all green advertising, it means many of them are foregoing potentially eco-friendly product alternatives. It’s important to bring clarity and transparency to ecolabelling… before consumers turn away altogether.

Fortunately, there are resources for consumers seeking a little truth in marketing. In addition to looking for accredited environmental labels like EcoLogo, consumers can visit (and contribute to) sites like the new Greenwashing Index. The Greenwashing Index aims to collect and publish examples of greenwashing in product ads. The site’s criteria for greenwashing covers a lot of the same ground as the TerraChoice “Six Sins of Greenwashing” report. For example, the site talks about ads that make green claims that are “vague or seemingly unprovable.” This matches up well with the Sin of Vagueness and the Sin of No Proof.

The more it’s possible to separate the green from the greenwash, the more consumers will buy green products when they hit the stores. Healthy skepticism is good. Giving up on green is not.

With Earth Day right around the corner, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll see plenty of green deals in stores and online in the coming weeks. I found a good one recently over at The Daily Green. Hewlett Packard is offering coupons throughout April any time you take back equipment through HP’s computer recycling program. Turn in any personal/office computer equipment or peripherals, and HP will hand out coupons for HP computers and printers.This is a great deal to circulate around any small office, especially because quite a large number of HP printers you can buy with the coupons are EcoLogo-certified. Just another example of HP’s demonstrated commitment to the environment.

Check out other deals this month over at The Daily Green.

I found out recently that not only is Habitat for Humanity starting to build green, but Home Depot is helping them do it. Apparently the Home Depot Foundation is donating $30 million so Habitat for Humanity can “improve the efficiency and sustainability of its affordable homes.” Of course, eco-friendly building has multiple benefits. Quite apart from the environmental impact, green building products tend to be better for your health and better at keeping monthly energy costs down. The Habitat for Humanity/Home Depot announcement is fantastic news all around.

From the EcoLogo files, here are a few green building products for your own DIY projects.

Insulation
Nothing offers an easier route to energy savings than effective insulation. Check out the wide range of EcoLogo-certified insulation products from the Johns Manville company, including basic fiber glass insulation batts.

Sealant
Visit the Dutab website for sealants and construction adhesives that meet EcoLogo criteria. Both categories include requirements that products be manufactured with no toxic metals and contain no more than 5% volatile organic compounds (VOC) by weight.

Paint
The EcoLogo paint category includes a number of well-known paint brands including Benjamin Moore and Glidden. Planning to shop Home Depot? The store stocks a range of low-VOC Glidden paint products.

There are a lot of ways to green a business, and a recent study by Brockmann and Co. (via Green Daily) gives some new incentives for putting greener practices in place at work – namely happier customers, happier employees and more money. The study found that, compared to their non-green counterparts, eco-companies had:

• 3x customer satisfaction
• 4.7x employee satisfaction
• 1.7x more revenue per employee

I’m not sure how Brockmann and Co. made such specific measurements, but certainly in the revenue category there are lots of ways to account for the income increase, including greater efficiency and greater competitiveness in a market that increasingly demands green products and services.

More and more companies are coming out with their own green product lines: JCPenny’s Simply Green products, Home Depot’s Eco Options category and Clorox’s Green Works line, just to name a few. The idea is to offer a range of eco-friendly items across product categories while scoring corporate branding points at the same time. Brilliant. But how do consumers determine how green a product line is overall? Maybe a store’s green jeans are certifiably eco-friendly, but its furniture is questionable. How do shoppers know what standard a company is imposing when it labels a product green?

There is nothing wrong with combining green marketing and corporate branding, but corporate labels can’t take the place of certified ecolabels. Retailers are in the business of selling products, not setting environmental standards. Ideally companies should be creating their new green product lines with products that meet the criteria of independent certifiers like EcoLogo. The corporate branding can stay, but it should be accompanied by third-party verification. Then consumers will know when they’re really buying green.