N YSERDA: Fighting Rising Energy Costs and Preventin# Pollution

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1 N YSERDA: Fighting Rising Energy Costs and Preventin# Pollution through Energy Efficiency Energy prices are rising. Energy supplies are low and demand is great. New sources of energy generation will not be available for several years. So are we helpless? No. Do we have some control over our energy bills? Yes. We have energy efficiency. Adopting energy efficiency practices is the most effective tool we have to control energy costs. This column highlights some of the energy efficiency successes that have been achieved by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit corporation created in NYSERDA NYSERDA helps New York State companies and municipalities save money and prevent pollution through energy efficiency. NYSERDA is committed to using innovation and technology to solve some of New York s most difficult energy and environmental problems in ways that also improve the state s economy. NYSERDA does this by facilitating private and public partnerships with the state s businesses, industries, municipalities, residents, and academic institutions to address New York s most pressing energy and environmental issues. Since 1990, NYSERDA s Research and Development (RBD) program has successfully brought into use more than 125 innovative, energy-efficient, and environmentally beneficial products, processes, and services. NYSERDA s Energy Efficiency Deployment (EED) program has provided financial and technical services to help more than 400 businesses and institutions assess and implement cost-saving energy efficiency measures. The EED program also helps fleets convert to alternative fuel vehicles, provides technical assistance to building owners to help them with energy performance contracts and procuring energy-efficient equipment, and offers programs to improve energy efficiency and affordability for New York State s residential customers, especially those with low incomes. From developing or demonstrating new energy-saving products and processes, to defraying the cost of installing commercially available but underutilized technologies, NYSERDA is working to bring energy efficiency to all New York state industries and institutions. NYSERDA s support includes technical assistance and engineering studies to identify the best options for a particular site and, in some cases, cost sharing to purchase, install, and demonstrate innovative energy-efficient equipment. For the many unique situations where a commercially available solution does not exist, NYSERDA provides funding to help create new energy-efficient pollution prevention strategies. To maximize the benefits from financial resources, NYSERDA leverages its funding with ~~ Miriam Pye, Adele Ferranti, Gary Davidson, and Dana Levy Pollution Prevention Review / Winter 2001 / 111

2 t i I federal and private sources to get the biggest bang for the buck. Funding for NYSERDA s R&D program comes from a combination of assessments on electric and gas utility sales, voluntary contributions for the New York Power Authority and the Long Island Power Authority, the System Benefits Charge (PSC Opinion No. 98-3), and cofunding from a variety of public and private sources. The EED program is funded through federal grants, the System Benefits Charge, and NYSERDA research funds. Collectively, NYSERDA programs provide assistance to all sectors. Pollution prevention projects may fall within the R&D program or the EED program. R&D Pollution Prevention Programs The primary focus of the Industry and Environmental Research R&D programs is to develop and demonstrate energy-efficient environmental and pollution prevention technologies. Through partnerships with industries, institutions, and other government agencies, the Industry R&D Program helps develop and expand the use of innovative energy-efficient and environmentally acceptable technologies by manufacturers. Opportunities are often found for process improvements, control systems upgrades, selection/creation of enhanced raw and final materials, and pollution prevention techniques. The Environmental Research R&D program concentrates on municipal and industrial solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment, sludge and residuals management, air pollution control, combustion efficiency improvements, hazardous waste treatment, animal manure management, and watershed protection. Pollution Prevention Assistance through EED Through EED, industries and institutional facilities may work through NYSERDA s Flexible Technical Assistance program (FlexTech) to obtain training, additional engineering services, and increased access to federal technical resources for industries and municipal water systems. Programs are designed to include engineering assistance. General energy audits, aggregation and rate analysis, and comprehensive energy management services are available for all customer sectors, but are primarily aimed at small- and medium-sized commercial customers. Another program focus involves improving public awareness of energy benefits and utility restructuring and competition. linking Energy Efficiency and Pollution Prevention Through its various programs, NYSERDA is helping New York companies and municipalities to protect the environment by using resources more efficiently-that is, through pollution prevention and energy efficiency. For many years, efforts to promote energy efficiency and P2 traveled on separate, parallel paths. More and more, however, the synergies between energy efficiency and nonenergy forms of pollution prevention have become increasingly apparent. Energy efficiency (E2) projects often have nonenergy pollution prevention benefits, and pollution prevention projects often save energy. In other words, E2 and P2 often happen together. In addition, both energy efficiency and pollution prevention projects often have nonenvironmental benefits, such as saving the direct costs of resources, reducing disposal costs, avoiding fines, minimizing bad publicity, enhancing productivity, improving product quality, and improving workplace conditions. Programs to reduce pollution have evolved from prescriptive, measure-based regulations that focus on the tailpipe to more flexible programs that focus on reducing pollution by minimizing? < waste and redesigning the way we do things. The : 102 / Winter 2001 / Pollution Prevention Review :I.b

3 ~~CCeSS and cost effectiveness of this approach have been proven. With energy efficiency and pollution prevention, we all come out ahead by helping both the environment and the economy. The fact that energy has been cheap, and not a big ticket item for most people and industries, has made energy efficiency a relatively low priority for most of us. Current climbing prices, however, may be a wake-up call reminding us that traditional fuel sources are not unlimited, and that we do not have control over their price or availability. Using energy efficiently is the only power we have over controlling its cost. NYSERDA s successes show that many opportunities exist to use energy more efficiently, allowing us to benefit both in terms of the environment and our pocketbooks. NYSERDA s Industrial Pollution Prevention Program The focus of NYSERDA s Industrial Pollution Prevention (IPP) Program is to develop and demonstrate energy-efficient methods to reduce, recover, reuse, or recycle industrial wastes at the point of generation. Waste treatment methods are considered (in cooperation with NYSERDA s Environmental Research Program) in cases where pollution prevention opportunities are exhausted or not practical. The IPP Program provides financial assistance to New York companies for: Detailed engineering feasibility studies of innovative, energy-efficient waste reduction and treatment technologies for New York State facilities; or Product or process development, demonstration. and commercialization. Through NYSERDA s FlexTech program, companies may also be eligible for technical and financial assistance for evaluating the feasibility of commercially available pollution prevention strategies. FlexTech assistance is provided on a firstcome, first-served basis. Proposals for the other two project types are traditionally accepted through competitive solicitations, such as Program Opportunity Notices that can be found on NYSERDA s website at under the opportunities section. Pollution Prevention Successes Water Reuse and Metals Recovery in the Metal Finishing Industry NYSERDA worked with SUNY Research Foundation at Buffalo and the New York State Center for Integrated Waste Management to assist New York State metal finishing companies to develop water recovery and reuse standards. Based on the waste streams at each facility, treatability tests were developed for evaluating water recovery and reuse technologies. During the project, waste characterizations have been completed for: Anoplate Corporation, Syracuse, Sew York General Super Plating Company, Inc., Syra- cuse, New York H.M. Quakenbush Inc., Herkimer, New York L.D. McCauley/McGard, Inc., Orchard Park, New York The Center has developed a manual for use by other metal finishing companies. The Center also evaluated ion-exchange systems and the use of ozonation and ultraviolet technologies for cyanide destruction. As a result of these efforts, the Center teamed up with Diversified Manufacturing of Cheektowaga, New York, and General Super Plating in a second NYSERDA project to design, construct, and evaluate a wastewater treatment system that integrates ion-exchange, ozonation, and ultraviolet technologies for water and metals recovery on individual plating lines. The prototype system has been assembled and is E2: Energy Efficiency Pollution Prevention Review / Winter 2001 I 103

4 expected to be demonstrated at General Super Plating this winter. Preliminary estimates of energy savings from water recovery using ion exchange at one metal finishing facility are about 55,000 kwh/year (a 75 percent energy reduction); this facility discharges 90,000 gallons per day to a wastewater treatment facility. On average, metal finishers spend $100,000 a year on pollution abatement and consume about 213,000 gallons of water for every $100,000 in sales. The potential for savings is therefore significant. Even with a 50 percent recovery rate, savings would be more than $50,000 annually. Efficient Silver Recovery from Alumina Catalyst Ames Goldsmith, a silver processing company in Glens Falls, New York, supplies 96 percent of the silver oxide and 12 percent of the total silver product used in the United States. The company developed an innovative, energy-efficient process improvement to refine spent alumina catalyst, which is used in silver recovery. Ames Goldsmith developed the new process using a pilot-scale system and working closely with its customers to maximize product quality. Once the process was refined to maximize process efficiency and product quality, a fullscale system was developed and installed with NYSERDA support. The project helped the company reduce sludge and slag process waste production by percent and water and energy consumption by 33 percent, while increasing capacity by 50 percent. Annual savings are approximately $130,000. This project won a Governor s Pollution Prevention Award. Membrane Technology for Recovery and Reuse of Mixed-Dye Wastewater NYSERDA provided the critical support and funding to develop a membrane technology for recovery and reuse of mixed-dye wastewater. Through the services of the New York City Industrial Technology Assistance Corporation (ITAC), NYSERDA demonstrated that Compudye, Inc., which dyes more than 8 million pounds of textile fabrics annually, could realize water and sewer savings of approximately $144,000 a year and additional annual energy savings of $139,000 through the reuse of hot process water. The technology will assist New York dye facilities in reducing water use, water disposal, and energy requirements for heating process water. There are approximately 17 other dye facilities in New York State that could benefit from this technology. Dehumidification System to Air-Dry Water- Based Paints NYSERDA, Goulds Pumps of Seneca Falls, New York, and Optimum Air Corporation of Malta, New York, developed a dehumidification system to air-dry water-based paints used for industrial pump components. Goulds had been using a solvent-based coating formula with a volatile organic compound (VOC) content of over five pounds per gallon for over 35 years. The company worked with Strathmore Products Inc. of Syracuse, New York, to develop a water-based coating that reduced the VOC content to less than 1.7 pounds per gallon. The company then teamed with Optimum Air Corporation to develop a dehumidification drying system to quickly remove the moisture Exhibit 1. Goulds PumDs Annual Cost Savings Energy efficiency $183,000 Paint usage 52,000 Air permit 11,000 Waste disposal 7,000 Labor 116,000 Profits on increased sales due to improved product quality are estimated at an additional $800,00O/year. 104 I Winter 2001 I Pollution Prevention Review Miriam Pye, Adele Ferranti, Gary Davidson, and Dana Le

5 from the coated surface. The energy used for their warm-air dehumidification drying process is much less than the energy used for the old hot-air drying process. Goulds added over $1 million/year to its bottom line while saving energy and preventing pollution. The company also won a Governor s Pollution Prevention Award. Exhibit l shows Goulds Pumps annual cost savings. For More Information For additional information about NYSERDA and its programs, visit the NYSERDA website at Miriam Pye, Adele Ferranti, Gary Davidson, and Dana Levy are with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Pollution Prevention Review / Winter 2001 I 105