Panel: Financial benefits key to green economy

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A panel of experts in Columbia says getting people to go green is a matter of education and economic incentives.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin and United Kingdom energy minister Gregory Barker took part in the discussion Friday at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.

Barker is a leader in U.K. green initiatives that include retrofitting that nation’s aging homes to be more energy efficient.

The panelists who work primarily in green industries agreed that consumers and businesses need to see the financial benefits of environmentally friendly technologies before they will be willing to invest in them.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.)