Going green encompasses what Kimberly Keilbach calls the triple bottom line: "Profit, planet, people." The planet portion addresses your company's environmental impact, and the people portion covers how you're treating employees and what you're doing for the community at large.

But profit--the first part of the equation--isn't the least part of the green movement, Keilbach stressed during a presentation at the Institute for Women Entrepreneurs' first-ever Women's Summit in Anaheim, Calif., on June 18.

For one thing, Keilbach says, there's an almost inexhaustible list of ways to make money off the green movement in today's economy:

1. Producing renewable energy
2. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide
3. Developing transportation systems
4. Implementing sustainable agriculture
5. Manufacturing Energy Star-rated products
6. Waste recovery
7. Providing energy audit consultations
8. Installing lower-energy systems
9. Selling offsets
10. Producing and selling organic food and clothing

Keilbach should know. She's the author of Global Warming is Good For Business: How Savvy Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations and Others are Making Money While Saving the Planet. 

According to Keilbach, consumers have said they'll pay more for environmentally friendly products, and that they're more likely to support businesses that try to reduce their carbon footprint.

Easy ways to do that are to reduce the amount of paper used, buy used office furniture, recycle old office equipment or just turn off computers when they're not in use.

But going green is wise not just because it satisfies customers, Keilbach says. Even if you aren't in a business designed to profit from going green, you can save money by choosing that route. She notes that Southcenter Mall in Calgary, Canada, saved $12,500 over the course of two years by installing a weather-based irrigation control system that senses whether it needs to water the plants.

Besides the U.S. government's stimulus package, which includes $80 billion for green businesses, there are local, state and federal tax deductions for going green. For tips on tapping into those deductions, she suggested entrepreneurs research bewaterwise.com, desireusa.com and energystar.gov. In addition, several cities are offering low- or no-interest loans to pay for energy-efficient systems.

Keilbach mentioned a couple of trends in the industry:

• Upcycling: making something new from recycled products
   
• Social entrepreneurship: Matter of Trust is a nonprofit that uses discarded hair from salons to make mats that sop up oil spills.

"With the population growing and resources declining, we need to find different ways of doing things," Keilbach says.