…or will the financial crisis be the end of green?

The following is a note from Thomas Friedman’s LinkedIn page.  As you probably know, he is a foreign affairs columnist at the New York Times and author of “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” Why We Need a Green Revolution – And How it Can Renew America.

Now he’s inviting you to be in chapter 18 of his reprint, and he’d like to know your thoughts to the above question. Here is his note.

“Many people have asked me what effect the economic turmoil will have on all the green initiatives I call for in Hot, Flat, and Crowded. My friend David Rothkopf, the energy expert at the Carnegie Endowment, put it this way: “Is the economic crisis going to be the end of green? Or, could green be the way to end the economic crisis?”

The economic crisis could be the end of green, because without investment capital for research and development, it will be impossible for us to develop a new Clean Energy System or bring alternative energy solutions to market and get them to scale.

But green may be how we end this financial crisis, because in lean economic times everyone wants to be more cost-efficient in how they live and do business. Demand for the most cost-saving energy efficient buildings, cars and heating and air conditioning systems will increase, and all that demand will enable us to build a Clean Energy System that strengthens America and helps the planet.”

What do you think?”