It's probably safe to say that most consumers would like to make their lives more "green," but that the devil lies in the details. Much like the UK's Green Homes Concierge, which we wrote about last year, New York-based Green Irene aims to help consumers reduce their homes' carbon footprint.
Green Irene's flagship service is its Green Home Makeover, which it offers for USD 99. As part of that service, one of Green Irene's local eco-consultants will spend 60 to 90 minutes walking through a consumer's home and developing a customized set of recommendations for saving money, energy and water, and for just living a healthier life. Topics in the inspection include energy and water conservation improvements, alternative energy sources in the area and financial incentives such as tax credits, and consumers also get a 6-month subscription to the company's Ask Green Irene online service. When it comes time for implementation, Green Irene's eco-consultants sell many green solutions themselves and can also make referrals to green-minded contractors in the company's Sustainable Contractor Network. In addition to home makeovers, the company also offers Go Green Workshop parties, "EZ Bulb Swap Outs" and makeovers for offices.
Green Irene provides training and business set-up help for its territory-based network of eco-consultants, each of whom works independently, and is currently recruiting through a separate site. Contractors, meanwhile, are invited to apply for membership in its partner network. One to get in on early...?
Website: www.greenirene.com
Contact: support@greenirene.com
Spotted by: Judy McRae
THank you for the post on our company and thank you Judy for the "spot". Just wanted to clarify that while we are NYC based, we have 150 consultants in 35 states. We are the only national Green Consulting firm and we service BOTH homes and small business. This is a good summary.
http://www.beagreenirene.com/GreenIreneBrochurePackage.pdf
In the District of Columbia the Government provides energy audit inspectons for free. It is a 30-50 minutes walk-through followed by a detailed report sent to you three weeks later describing improvements that you can make to reduce energy consumption, how much these improvements will save you and how much they will cost. Check our DC Government website.
This is an increasing trend. Greening, cost savings, and energy efficency needs are contributing to the trend. You mentioned "EZ Bulb Swap Outs". There is a lighting company in Riverside, CA that helps you with lighting refrofitting for your house or business. Their website is http://www.InlandLightingSupplies.com/index.html
Brilliant! This is precisely the service that I've been hunting for *everywhere* online and off for years. I've been listening to Al Gore and his new slideshow on TED.com this morning, his words and this posting here have moved me to action because of the great urgency of our shared carbon problem.
I'll be ringing up Green Irene later this morning and probably retaining them to help me with my house in the midwest US. Thanks for posting this article, Liesbeth.
Good article! I looked into Grene Irene before teaming up with OnlyGreen, which offers similar green services and a more diverse product line. Our focus is on education as well as recommendation of green products that are as eco-friendly as possible, based upon our Product Selection Criteria which covers all stages of a product’s life cycle from manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and disposal.