From an environmental perspective, the worldwide recession is reason to celebrate. For example, the retraction of global economies means fewer trees being cut down to build new houses and the closing of factories results in reduced burning of fossil fuels. Can I get a woohoo from the polar bears?

Of course, this is said with tongue firmly in cheek as we can't make light of rising unemployment and its devastating impact on families everywhere. But the pause in economic growth could be a positive in our long-term sustainability.

Unlike past years when our carbon footprint was growing like a teenager's sneaker size, this year, we'll use less energy in the U.S. and therefore release less greenhouse gas emissions. According to Reuters" Electricity sales to industrial customers are expected to shrink 6.4 percent this year, leading to an expected 1.7 percent drop in overall power consumption in 2009, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its most recent outlook."

Since the majority of energy we use comes from fossil fuels, we're inadvertently capping carbon emissions.

By reducing our purchasing of inefficient legacy technologies today, we're allowing time for cleaner technologies to become commercialized. As long as we continue to commit r&d money to promising technologies, we'll have better, more economical products to use when the economy reboots and starts to grow again.

Take the auto industry (please!). While there's been a slow down in all car sales, the sale of more fuel-efficient hybrids haven't slowed down as quickly as some gas guzzlers such as the Hummer, which saw sales drop by 51 percent and may be euthanized as soon as Tuesday.

The auto industry was selling about 15 million new vehicles per year in North America, this year sales may dip below 9 million. The upside to people holding onto their existing vehicles is that in 2010-2011, we'll see a bevy of new fuel-efficient ICE cars, hybrids, as well as plug-in and full electric vehicles. Should the economy rebound by then, a pent up demand for new vehicles should spell success for these innovations. By 2015 the average MPG of vehicles on the road will likely be higher because of the recession.

Similarly, with continued investment in smart grid, solar, wind and biofuel technologies, we'll have a more competitive energy landscape when we need to add capacity. The challenge is to continue spending on research when everyone's scrambling for dollars.

Update: Our Friends at Red, Green and Blue did some research validating that depending on the length and severity of a recession, greenhouse gas emissions can go down. Nicely done!