When did green turn blue?

I must have missed the weekly meeting of the Politically Correct Committee, or something, because I was more than a little confused when, at last week's Laser World of Photonics in Munich I saw large signs stating "The Laser is Blue" on backdrop displays in the exhibition booth of industry giant TRUMPF. I must have missed the weekly meeting of the Politically Correct Committee, or something, because I was more than a little confused when, at last week's Laser World of Photonics in Munich, I saw large signs stating "The Laser is Blue" on backdrop displays in the exhibition booth of industry giant TRUMPF. A naive request to see the company's new blue laser was met with smiles by the marketing staff. Not a blue laser I was told; the company has adopted a goal of making its lasers energy efficient, and a key component in their drive to assist their customers in becoming more efficient also. TRUMPF's new motto is "Powering efficiency – Blue Laser by TRUMPF!"

I asked if this wasn't what we in the U.S. call "green". Well yes, sort of, but German automakers apparently have latched onto the blue idea and passed it on to their vendors. And so blue is now the new green, I guess.

This was confirmed at the 9th International Laser Marketplace meeting, held concurrently with the lasers show, where Günther Braun, CEO and President of Rofin-Sinar Technologies, used the same term to describe social and business factors that will be one of the keys to a growing laser marketplace; pointing out that his company is responding with an expanded energy efficient product line.

Well I'm sorry folks, I'm just now coming to grips with all the ramifications, good and not so good about going green and I'm just not ready for blue. I checked out the web and found a Blue/Green Alliance which leads me to believe that this is a compromise because one or the other was stepping into territory already staked out by someone else.

Being a bit of a dinosaur I'll stick with "Green" for now, especially as I have just initiated planning for a "Laser Welding Turns Green" Webcast, organized by Industrial Laser Solutions, to be held in a few weeks. So if my European friends are concerned that I am green rather than blue, convince me otherwise. I guess I could always go teal then I can cover all bases.