All the current media attention on global warming, out-of-hand gas prices and green buildings apparently hasn’t percolated down to as many real-world sales opportunities for energy-efficient electrical products as you might have expected. When asked, “Has all this talk about the green market made a tangible impact on your sales?,” twice as many respondents to Electrical Wholesaling’s Top 200 survey had seen little or no impact. As Daniel McLaughlin, president and CEO, Benfield Electric Supply Co. Inc., White Plains, N.Y., put it, “A lot of talk, no action.”
One Illinois distributor said her company’s customers were just starting to get familiar with these products. “They are not on the bandwagon yet,” said Karen Dolins, controller, Idlewood Electric Supply Inc., Highland Park, Ill. Jo Ann Hardy, CFO, Harris Electric Supply, Nashville, Tenn., said the impact of green products was “minimal, but growing.” “Certain cities our area will not issue a building permit until watts-per-square foot are within a certain range,” she said. “This has led to a change in some products being sold.”
However, the green market was providing some solid sales for several distributors. Steve Barker, vice president of sales, Villa Lighting, St. Louis, says the shift to energy-efficient products and the focus on green products made the biggest difference in the company’s fortunes in 2007.
John Maltby, Maltby Electric Supply Co. Inc., San Francisco, also said green products had made the biggest difference in the company’s 2007 sales and said Maltby Electric Supply was, “actively involved selling more controls in commercial applications and offering more energy-saving products as well.
Sanford Leff Jr., Leff Electric Co., Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, said the company has an energy division and that compact fluorescent and ballast conversions were provide opportunities. Leff Electric is also working with customers on a recycling program.
Wade Patterson, president, Tri State Utility Products Inc., Marietta, Ga., said his company was supplying box pads for transformers, cable and connectors to wind farms. Ken Walter, president, Steven Engineering, South San Francisco, Calif., was also seeing sales opportunities in the alternative energy market and said it offered his firm, “new opportunities for our products with promising and continued rapid growth.”