Businesses try making their own energy
QUINCY, Massachusetts: For years, Twin Rivers Technologies sold the byproducts from soybean and other natural oils it processes to pet food makers. But as energy prices began to rise, the company found a better use for leftover oils: fuel.
Today, these leftovers account for about half the fuel Twin Rivers burns at its Quincy plant, saving the company millions of dollars in energy costs.
The self-generated fuel is just part of Twin Rivers efforts to become energy independent. It also uses steam from its manufacturing process to generate electricity and hopes to eventually add wind power, too.
“Our goal,” said the company president, Paul Angelico, “is to be fossil fuel free within five years.”
Twin Rivers is among the growing number of U.S. businesses - from small markets to the retail giant Staples - that are trying to gain control over soaring energy costs by producing it themselves. Some are turning waste into fuel. Others are investing in wind, solar, and hydro power. Still others, like Twin Rivers, are combining different technologies.
Driving the move to self-generation is the surge in energy prices and uncertainty about how high they might go. A few years ago, businesses were reluctant to invest in energy projects, said Warren Leon, director of Massachusettss Renewable Energy Trust, which funds alternative energy initiatives through small utility surcharges.
But with prices still rising, businesses believe high energy costs are here to stay, Leon said. As a result, applications to a trust program that helps finance alternative energy projects for businesses and institutions have more than doubled since 2004.
“If youre just purchasing energy on the market, you are vulnerable to its swings,” Leon said. “But when you have something onsite, like a wind turbine, you can get some predictability.”
Gaining control over energy costs is one reason Ring Brothers Marketplace, a specialty grocer in South Dennis, Massachusetts, plans to install a system to turn food waste into electricity. Electricity accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of the stores costs, said Patrick Ring, the manager and buyer.
The system, which will cost about $280,000, including $195,000 in grants from the Renewable Energy Trust, composts spoiled produce, meat and other organic material to produce methane gas. The gas fuels a turbine, which, depending on the amount of organic waste available, could generate more electricity than the store needs, Ring said.
“We needed to figure how to cut down on our electrical costs because theyre so high,” Ring said.
Staples, meanwhile, is pursuing wind power to provide about 25 percent of the electricity it needs at its Framingham, Massachusetts, headquarters, said Mark Buckley, vice president of environmental affairs. The office supply retailer is undertaking wind projects at three other U.S. locations and is also installing solar energy systems.
So far, Staples has installed solar panels at nine locations, including a distribution center in Killingly, Connecticut, where solar power generates about 15 percent of the facilitys electricity.
“We want to be more energy-independent,” Buckley said. “Its good for the bottom line, good for the environment, and good for the communities we serve.”
For Massachusetts companies, its also good for survival.
Massachusetts businesses are saddled with the third-highest energy costs in the nation, paying 51 percent more than the national average, according to Economy.com, a forecasting firm in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
“If youre competing against states where electric rates are 40 or 50 percent lower, its tough,” said Robert Rio, vice president of government affairs at Associated Industries of Massachusetts. “Its pushing people to become their own energy managers.”
Twin Rivers competes not only against U.S. companies, but also foreign manufacturers, many with lower labor and other costs. The company, which operates from a former Procter Gamble soap plant, refines oils from soybeans, coconuts, sunflowers and beef tallow to make chemicals used in soaps, detergents, cosmetics, lubricants, and foods.
Angelico, the company president, said Twin Rivers decided to try burning the natural oil byproduct as fuel several years ago when the price of petroleum began to rise. The company spent about $75,000 on testing.
Twin Rivers, which burns all the byproduct it generates, combines it with fuel oil in a 50-50 mixture. The company discovered the byproduct had another benefit: It cut pollutants by an average of about 30 percent.
Twin Rivers subsequently patented the substance as a clean air additive.
Twin Rivers burns the mixture to produce steam for manufacturing.
The company then found another way to cut energy costs by using excess steam energy to drive a turbine, which now generates about a third of the plants electricity. Twin Rivers has cut its combined energy costs by about $3 million a year, including alternative and renewable energy tax credits, Angelico said.
