Green (Resource Efficient) products are more competitive with rising energy prices

WSJ has a few interesting articles on Green efforts winning vs. other industries due to the fact that Green strategies uses less resources. In this article they make the point that energy intensive products are increasing in prices faster than Greener products.

Green Products Gain
From New Price Equation

They Find New Buyers
As High Energy Costs
Hurt Regular Brands

By ARDEN DALE

Does it finally pay to go green?

Consumers typically have paid a premium for environmentally friendly products. But with soaring energy prices pushing up the price of mainstream goods, green products are becoming just as -- or even more -- affordable these days.

The reason is that environmentally friendly products usually have less fossil-fuel content than competing nongreen brands. Their manufacture also tends to consume less oil, since green entrepreneurs favor renewable-energy and energy-saving practices.

TerraCycle Inc.

A TerraCycle bag made from juice pouches

The new price parity -- and, in some cases, advantage -- is allowing businesses to draw in the growing ranks of consumers who want to go green, but have so far resisted because of the higher cost. It also is giving some companies incentive to branch out into other eco-friendly products and even adopt more energy-saving manufacturing techniques.

"We try to leverage situations like this to grow into new markets," says Jeff Mendelsohn, founder and chief executive officer of New Leaf Paper LLC, a maker of recycled paper. "Where there's instability in prices, buyers tend to be more open to new sourcing, and that's a general market strategy, not just green."

This same phenomenon will occur in data center operators.  The Greenest data centers are going to be more competitive as energy costs increase.