It's becoming increasingly clear that green product innovation is far from a philanthropic effort - it's a growth platform, especially during slower economic times. By Andrew Winston

With so much attention on resource constraints and energy prices, many companies are rushing to help their business customers or end consumers reduce their footprint - it's a fantastic way to steal market share and drive revenues. There's no single framework for driving innovation, but one way is to use the large environmental challenges we face - such as energy, water, and toxics - as a catalyst. See if you can help customers reduce their footprint in those areas.

Let's look at innovative products that are helping customers reduce their contribution to four major environmental challenges.

Tackling the Energy Crisis, One Product At a Time

Tech companies are continuing their arms race to reduce energy use in computers at home (Dell and HP are both shooting for 25% energy improvement), in corporate datacenters (IBM is looking to halve energy use), and even software's relatively small role in tech energy use (see Microsoft's efforts on this front). The total GHG savings from all these efforts could be substantial - HP is pitching its products as the way to reduce 1 billion tons of CO2. Tech is the easiest to measure perhaps, but it's in no way the only energy saving category. One of the most successful household products in recent memory is Tide's Coldwater formula, which tackles the 11% of all household energy use that goes to heating water to wash clothes. P&G doesn't release sales numbers (we do know that the category edged up when Coldwater hit shelves in 2005), but execs say that the three-year-old product is in 7 million households. Not bad.

Reducing Water Use

Water itself is not often the focus of green products. When there are water shortages in particular regions, everyone pays attention, but most of the time it's quasi-invisible. This general lack of focus on water eco-efficiency will change as per capita water accessibility drops. Some of the traditional products in this space, like water-saving showerheads at home, or drip irrigation systems for the ag business, will continue to grow in popularity. For now, though, many innovations tackle multiple challenges through water (like Tide's detergent, or the shower heads that are often pitched as a way to reduce energy use). EcoLab produces more efficient dishwashing systems, used by food service giant Sodexo among others, to reduce water and energy use. Clorox's Brita filters, and companies selling new water-vending machines, pitch you on making your own filtered water at home so you can avoid plastic bottles. As a critical issue, water is climbing the charts fast. Companies will find a good market in helping consumers and businesses manage water use.

Using Less Stuff

It's hard to get consumers excited about waste reduction, but some companies are trying. Direct sells, like compost systems, are finding a new niche, but the green pitch on resource use is often multilayered. Sigg bottles will help you reduce plastic use from disposable water bottles but will also make a style statement. Designer shopping bags are a similar story. Another angle some companies take is to reduce material/resources for customers before they even handle a product. Xerox launched a new copy paper last year that used 50% less pulp. The customer can feel good without even changing behavior. Of course Xerox, HP, Canon, and others are pitching duplexers in printing to help reduce waste as well. All of these examples demonstrate a good strategy for tackling the un-sexy issue of stuff and waste: help customers reduce in a painless way.

Taking the Toxics Out

For consumers, after energy costs, the environmental issue that causes the most angst is probably toxics, especially in food and personal care products. Organic foods (by far the fastest growing segment of the food market) and green home care products have taken off. Method, the San Francisco-based upstart, is one notable, and fast-growing, success story. The company has made well-designed, non-toxic cleaners cool and sexy and shifted the industry's mindset - everyone is now designing products that look good on the shelves instead of producing bottles that are only fit for hiding below the sink. Clorox's big play in this space, Green Works, takes the company in a new direction, moving away from its brand challenges around chlorine content in cleaners (see the company's fascinating "in me/on me/around me" strategy discussed here).

In the B2B space, one of my favorite green stories of the last year is about the commercial floor cleaning machine developed by Tennant. It's a longer story than I can do justice to now (see the longer piece I wrote here), but in short, the company's machine uses just tap water and no chemicals to clean hard surfaces (for more, listen to SLM's interview with the CEO). Customers love the fact that they don't have to train custodial workers how to handle toxic chemicals. Companies that can reduce toxicity at their customers' workplaces or homes will discover appreciative, paying customers.

Of course, these examples are just a sampling of the vast selection of greener products out there today. Do your company's products qualify?

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Andrew Winston is founder of Winston Eco-Strategies and co-author of the best-selling Green to Gold. Read his "Eco-Advantage" blog here.

Note: This article has been adapted from Eco-Advantage Strategies, Andrew Winston's regular newsletter on how to build value and competitive advantage by innovating for sustainability.