Isramart : Kawneer Works on Carbon Footprint

Isramart news:
Visalia - Kawneer Company, Inc. of Visalia has a new program to help its employees and others in Tulare County become part of the solution to global climate change – and reduce their energy bills.

The program, “Make an Impact,” is a joint effort by Kawneer, its parent company, Alcoa, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The effort was launched at a workshop last week where employees and members of the community learned ways to live more sustainably and save money.

“If every household replaced five incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent, the net impact in carbon emissions would be the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road,” said Kawneer Southwest Regional Director Michael R. Stokes, providing an example of how people can get involved. “This is the sort of thing we teach our employees so we can all learn how we can save money by reducing energy costs, but also reduce CO2 in the environment.”

Stokes acknowledged that fluorescent bulbs typically cost seven times what incandescent bulbs cost, “But they'll last more than seven times longer. You will also save on your electrical bill by changing them out.”

Kawneer, the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminum building products and systems for commercial construction, is part of Alcoa's global Building and Construction Systems (BCS) business unit which manufactures and markets architectural systems and products around the world. Alcoa is the world's leading producer and manager of primary aluminum and alumina facilities.

Alcoa focuses most of the Make an Impact efforts on its employees, according to Stokes. “Alcoa values itself on how involved employees are,” he said, noting that Visalia is in the top 10 of Alcoa's 400 plants. “That really says a lot about the workers we have in this part of the country.”

Kawneer is not only providing information about efficient energy use, it is also setting an example. The Visalia plant has a 588,000-watt, roof-mounted pholtovoltaic solar-power system which uses energy from the sun to generate electricity. The system provides $100,000 in annual savings to the plant.

In addition, more than 200 solar light tubes were installed at the Visalia plant to provide day lighting and further reduce energy costs. The light tubes direct sunlight into the plant and magnify it.

Kawneer also has a state-of-the-art rotary concentrator which handles the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from its paint. These compounds are concentrated into fuel, efficiently destroying themselves.

The rotary concentrator cost $1.4 million, and Kawneer is the only company to have one in the western U.S., according to Stokes. The company expects annual savings of $330,000 over 20 years.

“The emission control device will reduce our emissions by 50 percent,” Stokes said. “It will reduce electrical usage, reducing the carbon needed to create the electricity we would have consumed.”

In addition to local workshops, the Make an Impact initiative includes an interactive Web site, www.kawneer.com/makeanimpact, which features tips, tools and resources on how to reduce energy bills and live more sustainably.