How to Profit from Going GreenLeon Wasser MBA, PEng.

rFh. news from Canada's manufacturing secror seems in-

I creasing dire wirh over 300,000 jobs lost, many plantsI closing or on life-support and the vital auro secror reerer-

ing on the abyss. Plants elsewhere as well from the USA even toChina. Many are asking if there even is a future for industry inCanada. The answer to this question is a resounding yes.

Canada, like of the rest of the world is simply enrering anew economic phase, the Green Revolution. Just as consider-able dislocation accompanied rhe earlier agricultural, industrial,computer and telecommunications revolutions, the Green Revo-lution that we are living through, compounded by a global fi-nancial crisis. represenrs a period of great challenge, but alsoone of oppomrnin' innovative and resilient industrial leaders.Success during these transitional rimes requires both new toolsand ne*' merhodologies. This article inroduces some strategiesthat s'ill help you to survive and profit from rhe emerging newGreen Economy.

lbu will need to focus on two important business functionsto sun'ive the bad times and then to prosper. First that willneed ro rransform the inputs to your product, especially energyand material sources. Simultaneously, you should be thinkinga6our hoq' ro increase the Green Content of your ourpurs, soas ro make rhem more amractive to a rapidly evolving, globallycomperirile. ensironmentally conscious and increasingly green-orieoted marker place.

The most obvious place to start is with energy conservation

since for many manufacturers, utility costs consrirute 30 - 4O%of all expenses. Driving these costs down may be essentialthrough the transitional period. One excellent guide on the sub-ject is "The Bottom Line on Managing Your Electricity Costs: AGuide for Manufacturers" published by Ontario's IndependentElectricity System Operator". This guide oudines four key stepsthat all manufacturers must take which we will expand on inthis article.

1. Know How You are Billed

2.Take Control of Your Energy Use

3. Find the Right Technology

4. Use Incentives to Your Advantage

Knowing how you are billed is quite important since this willempower you to make rational decisions about how you can re-duce udlity costs. Even before the electrical sector was deregu-lated, Ontario's energy sector was quite complex with each LocalDistribution Company (LDC) or local power utility, having rheability to set irs own pricing formula under the guidance of theOntario Energy Board. Deregulation created more opportunitiesfor savings, but made the market dramatically more complex.The advent of time of day pricing and other fine-grain pricingschemes will make price comparison decisions even more critical,but also more important. Similarly, the deregulated gas marketoffers options rangingftom ditect putchase frornEnbtidge andUnion, to purchases at well-head, to consortium bulk purchasesto independenr suppliers. At least water supplies are still prettysimple since they are all sdll local and public.

Given that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, up-grading utility meters can empower t"" *tjjrfr?:?^;lr*;:n

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data. As a result, the growth in the intelligent metering businessover the past several years has been phenomenal including com-panies like Intellimeter. Better metering can help you monitoryou consumption more precisely and make better operational

decisions.

Once you get a handle on consumption, you may find it very

worthwhile to examine your utility bills. Companies like UtilityAdvocates Inc. review a company's utility bills and then take a

contingency fee based on the savings found and recovered..

Next you should focus on taking control of your energy costs.

One way to do this is through a process called Re-Commission-ing process. This involves the systematic inspection every piece

of mechanical equipment to ensure that it is still performing as

designed, and then tuning-up each system up to spec. It is also

worthwhile to use a company like PowerCon to systematicallytest you facility's power systern, including its transformers, todetermine what problems exist, how big they are and savings

opportunities.

Finding the right energy conservation technology to use atyour facility requires both time and insight. For instance, if your

production involves a considerable use of inductive power for

motors and compressors, then you should be considering invest-

ing in a power conditioning system which can recycle "bad" pow-

er and then achieve considerable power cost and maintenance

cost savings. For large high ceiling facilities where temperaturestratification can be a factor, high tech high power ceiling fans

can help reduce heating and cooling costs. Lighting upgrades, if

these are outstanding, are often easy and afford a quick payback,

that are attractive even if the power saved is minor. In many

cases it may be worthwhile to install variable speed drives onmotors, new HVAC equipment or other equipment upgradeseven ifthey have longer paybacks.

Identifring and taking advantage of incentive funding is often

critical. The Ontario Power Authority' Electricity Retrofit In-

centive Program, or ERII is delivered through almost all of theprovince's local utilities. Generally this program offers incentives

of $150 per K$7 of reduced demand. Manufacturers located in

the City of Toronto can benefit from the more generous BOMACDM program which offers the greater of $400 per KtD( of de-mand reduction or $0.05 per ICWH of reduced consumption. In

November 2008, NRCan relaunched its ecoEnergy incentiveprogram for industry which offers tp to 25Vo ofproject costs to a

maximum of $50,000 per application and $250,000 per corpo-rate entity to help small- and medium-sized industrial facilities

and can complement OPA funding. Enbridge and Union Gas

offer incentives to fund both natural gas conservation studiesand actual projects.

These are some of the initial steps that manufacturers can take

to become more green - and more sustainable.

Leon Waser MBA, PEng. h an long+ime green engineer axd is VP ofbusiner dzuelopment for PowerCon Optinized Pouer Sol*ions lnc. Hecan be contacted by pbone dt (416) 473-4614 or by e-nail at Lwas-

ser@PowerCon.ca.

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