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An Ohio Distributor Goes Green

Eco-friendly changes draw dynamic business

A few years ago, Dick Doerr, president of a northeast Ohio distributorship, introduced recycled paper and soy-based ink to his customers, testing the market for a green trend that has resonated throughout the business world. While green has naysayers who believe it’s merely a fad, Doerr isn’t one of them. He decided to put his money where his house is.

Or rather, the house in which his business, Dynamic Design and Systems Inc., is located. When the company moved into the 60-year-old structure, Doerr took the opportunity to “go greener.” The building’s inside was wholly rebuilt with recycled-content construction materials, finished with non-toxic paint and insulated with earth-friendly cellulose. Currently, Doerr’s getting the building LEED-certified, which establishes a level of environmentally friendly construction in both design and materials.
“It used to be that there was a much higher initial cost for anything green,” Doerr says. “Now, there’s still a bit of a premium, but it’s a lot more readily available and affordable. Really, from a long-term perspective, you can’t afford not to go green.”

In September, Dynamic installed an array of solar photo-voltaic panels mounted on a pole in the front yard. The array pivots to follow the sun. The setup generates about 15 to 20 percent of the company’s energy. The company was awarded more than $8,500 to pay for the system, which was supplemented with state grants. He predicts it will pay for itself in eight to 10 years.

The installation couldn’t be better for business, Doerr says. “You really can’t miss it driving down the street. We’ve gotten a lot of good calls from both large and small companies who are interested in what we do. We’ve gotten a lot of jobs we wouldn’t have otherwise, I think.” It took about eight months to complete the paperwork for the business, he says. The company initially encountered resistance from the municipal zoning staff, as his neighbors were worried that it would be an unsightly display. The panels have had the complete opposite effect, however, as Doerr says his eco-friendly ways garner praise from customers and neighbors.

On sunny days, when the array is generating more energy than the company needs, the electricity is converted to alternating current through an invertor in Dynamic’s basement, and then sold to the power company through the electrical grid. The process is called “net metering,” and Doerr says he can actually watch the meter spin backwards as the company accrues credits for the energy. Dynamic also operates several printers, including a wide-format machine, but they are powered by conventional means, as sunlight in Ohio does not lend itself to constant industrial-level power. Additionally, solar power fluctuates both seasonally and randomly, and is not yet entirely reliable as Dynamic must draw from the power grid on winter days. However, Doerr says, he is still committed to greening his business in other ways. The company just purchased a $5,000 air filter for the printer. The filter uses 60 pounds of charcoal to take VOCs out of the air.

One of Dynamic’s customers, a national manufacturing company in Texas, is working on a green ISO certification and asked Dynamic to help be part of that process. “We’re starting to get a lot of other businesses ask us how we do it or what steps they should take.”

Doerr also considers offering green consultative services. He and his wife, an environmental speaker and teacher, try to “live green” at home and are working on a solar installation there, too. “We’ve tried to stay a step ahead of our competitors,” he says. “When I started in the industry, it was 98 percent business forms—now I don’t think we sell 10 orders of those a year. Green is part of the future.”

––Rebecca Trela