What exactly does “green business” mean?

On Tuesday, Dan, Aaron and I had an interesting and spirited conversation about “green business” and what exactly it means. We are really interested in working on projects that have a real measurable impact, and with so much happening these days in the realm of “green business” or “clean tech”, there seem to be alot of “good” projects out there, but how do we really know which ones are authentic? Dan asked a question that is on alot of people’s minds these days, “What makes something green, and how do I know?”

The New York Times ran an article about Home Depot’s efforts and “greening” which points out many of the conundrums. I have blogged before about the issues surrounding carbon offsetting. Aaron pointed out that the focus of truly authentic greenies is once again shifting to conservation above all else. Conserving energy and resources is far better than offsetting, for example.