Study Shows Consumers want to cough up Green Dollars
IBM Study Shows Consumers want to cough up Green Dollars
December 14, 2007: IBM have released the findings of a study showing the majority of consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly energy options.
In the same vein as the findings by Forrester, the survey has shown that consumers are eager and ready to snap up eco-friendly energy options.
The global survey found that 62% of consumers who do not yet have renewable power options would like to move onto the green-friendly option. The problem here though, is most consumers are keen to move onto green power but aren’t aware of the options.
"The emergence of climate change as broad public concern has galvanized people to an extent seldom seen for issues involving their energy providers," said Michael Valocchi, Global Energy and Utilities Industry Leader, IBM Global Business Services. "Historically, consumers didn't care about energy. This survey suggests that they want to engage and make a more personal connection to it."
Green power is becoming an increasingly important issue, particularly in the data centre where power use is astronomically high and organisations are increasingly looking to carbon offsets and renewable energy sources to provide a green face to the world.
Not all the results emerging out of the study are promising though, with more then 75% of consumers worldwide they haven’t analysed the carbon footprint they produce in the home. While it’s expected that not everyone is being that active about climate change, it’s raising the daunting idea that there’s less action being taken then needed.