Okay, Paul Murray doesn't exactly make chairs himself. He's a chemist who is now the Director of Environmental Safety and Sustainability for Herman Miller, the Michigan manufacturer of high end, contemporary office furniture. Murray began his talk by showing a video that represented the rapid growth of human population on earth.
Paul Murray: The scary thought isn't the population - it's how we use raw materials. There is a very positive side to this too. When you look at that video and think of all those people - they're all going to need chairs to sit in. This is a business opportunity, folks.
And that's part of the thinking behind the group that brought in Murray: Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, or E4S for short. The founder and president of E4S, Holly Harlan has a background in engineering and economic development and says so-called green industry and its methods can have an economic payoff for northeast Ohio.
Holly Harlan: My board is business people. They are looking to develop new businesses or help existing businesses change. So this about business, just like Paul talked about tonight, this is good business practice. I'm an advocate for manufacturing and I'd like to see us building wind turbines here, and bio-diesel plants, green building product plants. I think this is wonderful way to create new jobs.
MU: Is Cleveland industry better positioned to do these kinds of things than in other cities?
Holly Harlan: Certainly the manufacturing base we still have in Northeast Ohio positions us well for that. If you look at wind turbine manufacturing - Cleveland is within 60% of the U.S. population. Why not put a large turbine manufacturing facility here? There's a lot of competition for them.
Harlan points out that some turbine parts need to be cast and Ford's big casting plant in Brook Park will be idle in two years. Another Green opportunity she sees comes as people begin to worry about the energy it takes to bring food to them.
Holly Harlan: The average food mile travels 2,100 miles to your plate. As the price of transportation increases it's gonna costs you more money to get your food from California, Arizona and other places. If we can rebuild the hot-house industry in Northeast Ohio we'll have an opportunity to create jobs and bring local food back. Is that going to happen in one year? No.
But it might happen in 10 or 15 years. And that's what Paul Murray says has been the plan at Herman Miller. They started with a goal to eliminate landfill waste.
Paul Murray: If zero landfill is the right thing to do let's go after zero footprint. So we coined the phrase "Project 2020 Perfect Vision." And we're actually going zero solid waste, zero hazardous waste, zero air emissions, zero water emissions, and 100% renewable energy.
The company has hit 27% renewable energy and with the addition of wind power they expect to hit 50% by next year. They make their chairs easy to recycle and ship them in re-usable containers. They lead the industry in certified green buildings - such one in Holland Michigan with windows that allow in Lake Michigan breezes and sunshine.
Paul Murray: People stopped by and asked to work there when unemployment was 2% in the area. It attracted employees because there is so much daylight in the building. it's really phenomenal.
Murray says it's now cheaper to build and operate a green building than a standard one. He notes a contractor wanted to put a black tar roof on their new plant outside Atlanta to save them $120,000 over a white reflective roof. But the savings would have been short lived.
Paul Murray: The increased costs because of a black roof in Canton Georgia of a roughly 400,000-square-foot building being air conditioned is about $100,000 a year more.
One other benefit to going green, says Murray, the good will engendered by being an environmentally sensitive company has been a considerable help in marketing and sales.