By: Deborah Johnson Wood
This year's Embracing a Green Future
conference has adopted a new twist that helps organizers practice what
they preach – the conference will become carbon neutral by purchasing
carbon credits from local green energy endeavors.
"The purpose of this conference is to
help manufacturers get on, or continue, on their sustainable journey,"
says Anne Saliers, innovation director, Right Place, Inc. Right Place and MMTC-West
are hosting the conference. "One of the new topics is carbon
management, and one of the ways to make the conference as sustainable
as possible is to purchase carbon offsets."
Right Place has partnered with Holland-based Viability to make the conference carbon neutral.
"Through our Green Events Program, we
marry a local nonprofit that is, for example, putting up a wind turbine
or solar panels and is eligible for carbon credits, with events
happening in the area," says Chris Byrnes, Viability president and
founder. "The projects come from Viability's registry, and are not on
any global registry."
For Embracing a Green Future, Viability
assesses the electric usage, waste, heating usage, and transportation
for speakers and attendees to determine the carbon footprint. The
carbon credits will be purchased and retired, and the nonprofit gets
the money to help pay for their green energy project. In return, the
conference lists Viability as a sponsor.
"It's primarily a marketing program for us," Byrnes says. "We intend to promote the program around the country."
The conference features presentations
on greening your company through environmental management systems,
product/service design, facilities, purchasing/supply chain,
operations, packaging, and more. Attendees can choose two half-day
workshops on operating lean and green, green materials and chemistry, carbon management 101 or green marketing guidelines.
The conference is April 28 and 29 at Grand Valley State University's Eberhard Center. For more information or to register, click here.
Source: Anne Saliers, Right Place Inc.; Chris Byrnes, Dan Kuipers, Viability LLC
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Embracing a Green Future conference promotes sustainable manufacturing
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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