Aiding in the recovery is the drop in oil prices, with oil falling below $110 a barrel the first week of September. Being more in tune with the development industry than the commodities market, you won?EUR??,,????'???t find me predicting the future on this one, but a 30 percent drop from the peak a few months ago can?EUR??,,????'???t be a bad thing . . .

With the presidential elections coming, it is hard to say whether we will be faced with more taxes or whether it will be ?EUR??,,????'??Drill Baby, Drill,?EUR??,,????'?? but it will be exciting over the next several years to see the country work to generate alternative fuel sources. This could be an opportunity for the landscape construction industry, because whatever happens, the development will be surrounded by green. I saw at a recent trade show a company offering wind power to the individual homeowner. These vertical windmills would fit great into a landscape. Tree patterns can form natural wind tunnels and it only takes a breeze to move the rotors.

Could wind and solar be the next must-haves for the landscape? It is not outside your expertise to install smaller solar panels to lend electricity to pool pumps, even if you don?EUR??,,????'???t go as far as heating the entire pool. Solar, low-voltage lighting products are becoming more and more popular and they have become more and more reliable.

Irrigation controllers have long been powered by the ?EUR??,,????'??Leit.?EUR??,,????'?? That may be a plug for DIG, but it is true that many outdoor appliances could be individually powered by non-grid sources. Wind, solar and even geo-thermal are all arenas that could become synonymous with the landscape construction marketplace. Especially as the market has tightened a bit, adding these product lines and the subsequent installation through trenching and non-grid connections could be a truly viable profit center.

Somebody is going to be the master of this segment and it may as well be you. Landscape construction is no longer just a bunch of shovels and an old truck. With the green movement the average consumer is beginning to pay attention to what you do and now is the time for PLANET and the local trade associations to help you carve out a niche.

Perimeter lighting, gate operations, water feature pumps, irrigation controls, outdoor refrigerators and many other elements of the modern landscape can be powered by alternative sources, which could easily be a part of your sales pitch. You don?EUR??,,????'???t have to be a member of the Sierra Club or Green Peace to be at the forefront of this burgeoning industry. You just have to be at the forefront. To do that, the associations need to move beyond simply working on H2B and water issues and begin the push to clear the path for the landscape industry to lead the way.

Don?EUR??,,????'???t get me wrong . . .Water conservation is also one of those ?EUR??,,????'??green?EUR??,,????'??? elements that is in the public eye and in the realm of your expertise. In fact, the landscape industry is truly one of the principal leaders in conserving water. Retention basins, underground holding cells, grey water and native plant material selection are all arenas that associations need to be promoting as segments led by the landscape industry.

As the trade show season fast approaches, now is the time to go to those shows and press your associations to step up and out of the 20th century and begin to look to the real future of landscape development. It is no longer OK for the landscape associations to just focus on assisting your company to appear legitimate and helping you hire seasonal labor. It is time for the trade associations to work on securing the path into the green future ahead . . .

God Bless