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While it’s been predicted for years, we’re starting to see conclusive proof that franchises are introducing green technology to cut costs and improve their public perception.

Rankings like the Franchise Direct Top 100 Global Franchises give extra consideration to franchises that have environmentally-friendly corporate ethos. I think after a bit of suspicion and uncertainty about the financial viability of operating green business, franchises, assisted by cheaper green technology, are now truly warming to eco-power.

Anyone researching the trends will notice that a lot of the country’s leading franchises are rolling out their green revolutions in the South. Franchises like Subway and McDonald’s have launched their green prototypes in states like New Hampshire and Florida. If these businesses can succeed, they can become a lightning rod for eco-business across the region.

What’s perhaps most fascinating is that many of the franchises rolling out ‘green stores’ are working in the QSR sector. ‘Fast food’ franchises, more than any other franchise industry, have to deal frequently with lobby groups who disagree with the health of their product. So it’s interesting to see that franchises like Chik-Fil-A, Subway and McDonald’s have “embraced higher efficiency components” in the words of QSR web. I was particularly intrigued by this innovation introduced by McDonald’s California franchisees, Tom and Candace Spiel:

The Spiels didn’t want to be the only benefactors of their greening efforts, so they also added an in-store interactive display to educate customers about the restaurant’s energy-efficient details.

The display, created by Iowa-based QA Graphics, includes an “Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard” which is anticipated to attain the Innovation in Design green education credit in the LEED certification process. It is the second McDonald’s unit to incorporate a QA Graphics display for LEED credit, the first being in Cary, N.C.

“Not only does McDonald’s earn an education credit for having this tool, but it’s personally important to the Spiels,” said Sarah Erdman, marketing director for QA Graphics. “The point of this is to pass this information on to customers. It’s bright and fun for kids and it provides details that the general public can understand. LEED certification can be complex, but this has simple information about what makes this building sustainable.”

Roger McClendon, sustainability officer with Yum! Brands, recently blogged about the changes that franchises like KFC are introducing. Their stores are committed to saving electricity and water, while preventing carbon emissions.

For franchises in 2011, going green just makes sense (and cents).

It’s quite well-known that America’s leading food franchises are trying to ‘green up’ their business, but it’s fascinating to see other franchises seize the reins of this eco-revolution.

News comes from Japan via the New York Times that 7-11 have launched a number of experimental stores which utilize a number of revolutionary green technologies. The stores are based in Kyoto, one of the most progressive cities in the world for technology and green industries. 7-11’s may have a reputation for harsh fluorescent lamps and will replace them with LED lamps in the about 100 eco-friendly stores will be opened in Kyoto and beyond in the next month or so.

Also to come are solar panels for stores and electric vehicle chargers inside the stores. 7-11 say that it is there hope to one day to turn all of their stores ‘green’. A scientist told the paper that this will be the equivalent of keeping 600 cars off the road. Interestingly it was a franchisee who helped open the negotiations to bring the first green outlet to Kyoto.

But Hiroshige Ozasa, the franchisee, said that when he was negotiating the opening of a new Kyoto branch a little more than a year ago and 7-Eleven told him it wanted to use the city as a base for the eco-konbini rollout, he was not dissuaded.

“Nowadays, people in Japan are really concerned about the environment,” Mr. Ozasa said, “so I felt proud to have my store chosen to be the first one in Kyoto.”

7-11 is the global leader in convenience store franchise market and we hope to the rest of the industry follow their example.

McDonald’s have been at the forefront of the green transition in franchising. While some businesses have been implanting piecemeal green changes into their business practice, McDonald’s have been rolling out LEED gold certified restaurants across the country of late.

To be clearer, a LEED certified franchise involves a “whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health”. A gold ranking is the second-highest ranking on the LEED table, and McDonald’s recently opened their fourth LEED gold-certified franchise in Riverside, California, their first one in California.

Since California is the hub of America’s green economy, it’s a great leap forward. QSRweb reports that the franchisees of this green unit are Tom and Candace Spiel. This store, like the others, will feature:

• A light colored hardscape to reduce heat emissions
• Native drought tolerant plants to reduce water consumption
• Low flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water usage
• Almost 300 photovoltaic panels to generate a percentage of solar energy power
• Recycled denim insulation inside the building

“We are so proud of this restaurant and its possibilities to encourage and educate our customers and community on the importance of environmental sustainability,” said Candace Spiel, McDonald’s owner/operator.

Best of all, McDonald’s have changed the color of the arches at these units. They are now, typically, green.

The green economy is on the rise and the franchising industry is prospering accordingly.

All the latest economic reports show that the green economy is helping to re-ignite the economy and a brand-new franchise report from Franchise Direct report says that green franchises are harnessing its power.

Perhaps once viewed as a fringe market, the world’s green economy has grown incredibly in recent years. In the words of Alisa Harrison of the International Franchise Association: “the green trend has been growing for about 25 years now, but it has only recently become mainstream.”

The green economy proved its strength by growing in the wake of the 2008 recession. This was proof to economic experts that consumers would continue to buy environmentally-friendly products despite the harsh new economic reality. Currently valued at about $5.2 trillion globally and $1 trillion nationally, the green economy is currently making advances in the franchising industry.

The exclusive new Franchise Direct report found that there are two kinds of green franchises: franchisesthat exist solely to improve the environment and those that use green technology and practices in their everyday business. The former category is currently experiencing rapid growth, as entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for environmentally-friendly products like solar panels.

As for the growing list of companies that routinely employs green technologies, their hope is to appeal to consumers whose ethics inform their daily shopping. Many of America’s top franchises have introduced green technologies to appeal to this wide audience.

Any forward-thinking entrepreneur thinking about purchasing a franchise must seriously consider the green market. The new Franchise Direct green report provides insight and analysis on the country’s best green franchises, while detailing the industry’s best opportunities.

At first glance, the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of Deepwater Horizon seems to have nothing to do with franchising. But any franchise trying to bill themselves as a ‘green business’ can learn a lot from PR disaster that BP have created for themselves by flaunting their green credentials.

I remember when BP first tried their green marketing approach a few years ago. I was living in New Jersey, where having a car is essential. When I saw a gas station marketing themselves as the eco-friendly option, I was a bit surprised. Surely, there is nothing eco-friendly driving an automobile 50 miles a day, as I did in those days. I wasn’t completely fooled, but I know I went to BP stations a few times with the thought in mind that it might be a better option than their competitors.

The shocking scale of the disaster in the Gulf has forever contradicted BP’s image as an ‘eco-friendly’ brand. Entrepreneur has penned an insightful piece for their August issue that tells it straight to other businesses: the landscape for green businesses has changed. To claim to be a green business requires more than using 40 watt light-bulbs or keeping the lights off in your business overnight. Being a green business means being a business that looks at the environmentally-friendly option in every possible place.

That creates a lots of challenges for entrepreneurs.

“Being green in and of itself isn’t a differentiator except with a small group of consumers,” says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and author of Strategies for the Green Economy, told the magazine. “Green succeeds only to the extent that it means better–it’s cheaper to buy, it operates better, it lasts longer, it’s cooler for my image. People do want to do the right thing, but they don’t want to go out of their way to do that. They love ‘change’ when it’s a noun; they hate it when it’s a verb.”

The story does mention the Pedals To Property franchise which we had blogged about earlier this year. That’s a green franchise that’s true to its word.

If anything, the BP spill is firming the idea in many consumers’ minds that green is the way to go. Some cynics are amused that it is the ‘eco-friendly’ gas giant that is responsible for one of the largest oil spills ever. BP, and all businesses and franchises, should now know that if you’re claiming to be a green business, you better mean it.