The Sierra Club is introducing a new Web site more than a year in the making: a way to find local sellers of everything from  ”green” light bulbs to solar panels.

A quick check of the site shows some spotty entries for Orange County, although the idea behind the site is compelling.

Just enter your ZIP code and — at least in concept — get a list of local providers anywhere in the nation. The more than 125 categories include cleaning products, cosmetics, toys, furniture, roofing, pest control; the list goes on.

The site includes 16,000 providers, said Sierra Club sustainability director Jennifer Schwab. It’s aimed at those who are just beginning to explore the green world.

“It’s designed to reach the aspirationally green consumer,” Shwab said. “It’s formatted in a certain way to be very user-friendly.”

The Sierra Club, with 1.3 million members, also hopes to attract younger people to the organization.

“Getting them on-board has really been a feat for the Sierra Club,” she said. “Most of their membership is quite a bit older.”

But while the site, called GreenHome, does contain a wealth of information, it’s apparently going to need some more work. A quick check using a ZIP code in Santa Ana (home of the Orange County Register) yielded the following local listings:

• Food: No match
• Solar panels: No match
• Renewable energy: No match

Yet businesses offering such products can be found readily in Orange County.

Other categories, such as “bulbs,” tend to refer users to “Buygreen.com,” which is a local business. But it’s a local online mail-order site. “Bulbs” also yielded Innovative Growing Solutions Inc. in San Diego, which came up frequently for other categories  – even though many merchants in Orange County sell environmentally friendly light bulbs.

Cost calculators on the site seemed to work better. Buying a solar power system for a home in Santa Ana that pays about $100 a month in electric bills should cost $18.488.18 — and after taking advantage of available incentive programs, $10,072.71.

The site also includes many articles on apparel, appliances, lighting, home renovation and other categories, part of the Sierra Club’s effort to educate the public on green practices, Schwab said. And, of course, there is the ubiquitous carbon calculator to help you assess your own greenhouse-gas “footprint.”

Schwab said she knows that, even with 16,000 providers, some of the local listings are limited.

“We’re looking this summer to up that,” she said. “We’re hoping at least to double it, and cover some of the smaller towns and places in between on the coast.”

Solar companies might be more easily found through the solar calculator, she said; other categories should grow as more businesses learn that it’s free to sign up.

“No doubt we have work to do on this,” she said.

(Photo from Web site courtesy Sierra Club.)

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.