A NEW YEAR, A NEW LEAF? WHY IT COULD BE GOOD TO LOOK AT GREEN ROOF CLEANING IN 2011

Are you thinking about turning over a new leaf this year? many of us start the year wanting to change something about our lives.

One thing is true about the new year and that is everyone has a moment when they get a fresh start, for some it doesn't take long to fall back into bad habits but for others that stick to the commitments that they make the new year can often bring about many positive changes in peoples lives.

This year we are hoping that many roof cleaners will look to the future and join the growing number of roof cleaning companies like ourselves that are implementing green roof cleaning solutions.

The most important aspect of the “Green" roof cleaning movement is to identify what constitutes “Green” and then set standards and procedures that companies can adopt which will maintain the integrity of the “Green” label in the eyes of the consumer.

The “Green” label has to stand for something real, if consumers get the impression that your “Green label” is just a marketing gimmick to help your chemical cleaning business get a slice of the emerging green economy then they will quickly lose faith in it and the green label will become meaningless. Any organization that sets green standards and procedures for our industry has to have solid environmental credentials.

Since August 2010 the Florida based environmental lobbying group clean4life have been spearheading the green movement in roof cleaning, their QA™ “Green” certification program for roof cleaning has now set the de facto standard for roof cleaning contractors to follow in order to achieve their coveted green certification award.

The KC Group are proud to be the first green certified roof cleaning contractor in FLorida. When we talk about being “Green” certified it is important to understand what consumers are looking for when it comes to choosing an environmentally responsible contractor. Consumers who care about environmental issues will be saying I want to play my part and make decisions that lessen my impact on the environment.

The challenge the chemical cleaning industry faces is not to try and find ways of making chemical cleaning sound more environmentally friendly but to actually start to consider alternatives to chlorine and sodium hydroxide that are actually greener and safer for plants and the environment.

The photograph below shows damage to shrubs caused by a chemical roof cleaning contractor using Chlorine. Tree frogs and other small animals are also killed by roof cleaning chemicals.

The difficulty a lot of chemical roof cleaning cleaning contractors have is that they have invested in specialist equipment to spray chlorine and cannot afford to switch to chemical free cleaning. All they can hope for is to try and find ways to package and sell chlorine soft washing as a biodegradeable cleaning option and hope that the majority of consumers will view the term biodegradeable as meaning "Green".

From a purely financial standpoint it might well pay to go green in 2011, there is a lot of talk from wall street about the dollar being heavily devalued this year and possibly even losing its coveted place as the world's reserve currency. If this were to happen goods and raw material costs would skyrocket overnight, It may well be prudent to look at the economic benefits of going green and thereby becoming less dependant on raw materials such as chlorine and sodium hydroxide.

Those looking to get into the business for the first time would do well to consider looking at green roof cleaning as it is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the US. Whatever your reasons for going green, whether they be commercial or idealistic it makes sense to look at the green roof cleaning movement as a positive philosophy.

Those contractors that wish to make a sincere contribution to a greener and healthier environment will be those that prosper in the emerging green economic landscape.