Where Every Day Is Earth Day

 

 

 

 

As the nation observes Earth Day on April 22, both small and large companies are voluntarily developing clean energy and conservation tools to save costs while improving the environment. Here are some Chamber members in action.

 

Paine's Inc., a third-generation recycling and waste handling company in East Granby, Connecticut, services home, business, and municipality waste and recycling needs. Eight years ago, Paine's installed the first of two waste oil furnaces to heat its 10,000-square-foot maintenance and shop buildings. The company, which has 62 employees, uses waste oil from its fleet of trucks. Prior to installing the furnaces, the company was spending approximately $4,000 a year to heat its buildings. Last year, the company spent less than $1,000 to purchase 300 gallons of oil to supplement the 2,500 gallons that come from its 42 trucks, according to company president Michael Paine. "The furnaces paid for themselves within the first three years."

 

In addition, the company recently began using soybean-based biodiesel in all its trucks. Paine says that the company switched to biodiesel in response to last summer's high gasoline prices and a new regulation that reduces allowable diesel truck emissions. Further, biodiesel burns cleaner and its costs are more stable than gasoline, according to Paine.

 

Washington, DC-based Gridpoint Inc. designs and sells two types of "intelligent energy management appliances" that allow customers to track, store, and manage their energy use. Gridpoint's "protect" and "connect" units, which are the size of washing machines and retail for about $11,000 each, also provide rechargeable backup power for use during outages. The connect unit works with other renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power.

 

Since going to market in January 2006, Gridpoint has signed on 100 customers, mostly residential, who can log on to a personalized online portal to monitor and manage their energy consumption. "If we're ever going to be serious about renewable energy in this country, we've got to be able to find a way to make it easier for people to use it without requiring specialized knowledge," says Michael Petrucelli, Gridpoint's vice president of government affairs and a member of the Chamber's Emerging Technologies Committee.

 

Gridpoint is also working with utility companies to offer the units to their customers.

 

Everton Energy in Kansas is the new kid on the ethanol block. Everton was formed by Leon Trammell and Steve Cloud of TRAMCO, Inc., and former Department of Agriculture official Bert Farrish. TRAMCO supplies conveyors to large bulk commodity companies, including ethanol producers such as Archer Daniels Midland. Trammell, a member of the Chamber's Council on Small Business, Cloud, and Farrish recently broke ground on 600 acres of land for a plant that will produce 110 million gallons of ethanol a year using both corn and milo as feedstock. Trammell predicts that Everton's first plant will be producing in the last quarter of 2008. The company plans to build at least two additional plants and may acquire established plants.

 

"Buying less foreign oil-that's what it's all about," says Trammell. He's also pleased to be able to bring approximately 55 high-paying jobs to rural America and help farmers increase the value of their crops.

 

Chevron Energy Solutions (CES) is an example of one of America's larger companies at work to improve the environment through a successful business. CES, a Chevron subsidiary established in 2000, modernizes the energy infrastructure of public institutions and large businesses to provide energy efficiency and renewable power. In the last three years, CES has developed projects nationwide worth $1.3 billion.

 

"Our goal is to deliver environmental and other benefits in a commercially viable way," says CES President Jim Davis. "CES does both-we're profitable and our projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions." 

 

In most cases, CES is able to retrofit facilities at little or no up-front cost to the customer. Its high-efficiency equipment yields energy savings that pay for the project costs over time and lower the customers' energy bills. In the case of renewable power systems, CES can also help customers secure government rebates and other incentives to offset total project costs.

 

CES recently completed an innovative system at a wastewater treatment facility in Millbrae, California, to address a growing urban environmental challenge-the disposal of restaurant grease. The facility's on-site power unit is fueled by methane gas produced during the bacterial breakdown of 3,000 gallons of restaurant grease that the facility receives every day. In addition, Millbrae benefits from fees it collects from disposing of the grease at the facility.