OPEI, PLANET Outline Issues at GIE+EXPO

Climate change, water usage and ethanol are three major areas of concern, opportunity and risk for the green industry in the coming years.

Kris Kiser, vice president of public affairs, and PLANET President Jason Cupp, addressed the media in a joint session last week at GIE+EXPO in Louisville, Ky., that outlined issues and strategy to tackle these challenges in the coming year.

With regard to the push for alternative fuel use in the green industry, especially the adoption of ethanol and flex-fuel mixes, Kiser says the industry needs more and better information to ensure contractors and commercial equipment dealers are protected from product failure and performance issues resulting from the misguided use of higher fuel blends. For example, in October tests were preformed on equipment using flex fuels higher than E10.

“All the test equipment either failed or had performance irregularities,” Kiser says. “This will destroy equipment and these are serious implications for the engine marketplace.”

With regard to water, Kiser was critical of the EPA’s Water Sense program, saying that a blanket program doesn’t address the needs or issues unique to different region’s of the country. “Water Sense may make sense in Las Vegas, but it doesn’t in Seattle,” he says.

In fact, Kiser labeled water as an “investment” in landscaping and turfgrass that pays back in environmental and health benefits. “Educating people about the benefits of turfgrass while improving our record on water management is our next great challenge,” he says.

Additionally, Kiser says the industry is well positioned to be a major player in a number of environmental and climate change issues, in particular promoting turfgrass growth and solid management habits as ways of reducing the carbon footprint.

“Cap and trade could soon include a carbon credit for removing asphalt and planting turf,” he says. “This industry is in play to do this.”

For PLANET, Cupp says the green industry group continues to seek out strategic partnerships to strengthen the industry and that the association has some successes over the last year.

One is the success of educational events such as Student Career Days, which help to infuse new blood into the industry by bringing business owners and students together. “Our members need bigger and better opportunities to find students to hire into their companies,” he says.

Cupp also added that PLANET has witnessed the addition 1,000 new certified professionals over the last 12 months, raising the total number to around 6,500. “We’re seeing CLP and CLT programs gaining momentum,” he says. “We said we wanted critical mass and now it’s happening.”

The ripple affect of the collapse of the housing and financial markets are two additional areas that both OPEI and PLANET will monitor closely in the coming year. Both Kiser and Cupp believe it’s still too early to tell the overall impact of each crisis on the green industry, but they expect to see signs sometime in 2009.

Custom Media Editor Nicole Wisniewski (nwisniewski@gie.net) and Commercial Dealer Editor Mike Zawacki (mzawacki@gie.net) contributed to this article.