Article Launched: 07/28/2008 11:58:21 PM PDT
By Ben Baeder
Staff Writer
INDUSTRY – A milk-processing plant and a power company have teamed up to turn extra heat into cold, hard cash.
Part of the power from the Dean Foods Co. dairy plant in Industry comes from a natural-gas furnace, which burns at 1,400 degrees.
Rather than letting the excess heat from the generator radiate into the atmosphere, Costa Mesa-based EPS Corp harnesses it and uses it to produce steam and hot water for the plant – a process typically called cogeneration.
Cogeneration saves 15 percent to 40 percent when compared with the separate production of electricity and heat, according to the California Cogeneration Council.
“It’s one of the most overlooked and readily available services to reduce your carbon footprint,” said Jay Zoellner, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “Its a way to produce the highest return on invest for reduced carbon emissions.”
The energy from the natural-gas furnace can also be used to cool off hot water.
EPS built the energy system at the Dean Foods Co. property, but EPS retains ownership of the equipment. EPS generates the energy and then sells it to Dean Foods at a price lower than the local utility company, saving the food company about 10 percent on energy costs. Dean Foods did not have to put up any money for the project, Zoellner said.
EPS also designed cogeneration systems at two Dean Foods Co. plants in other states, as well as at other businesses throughout the United States, such as Walt Disney Co., Miller Brewing Co. and Tyco International Ltd.
The cogeneration projects at Dean Foods were primarily funded by an investor, but EPS recently bought out their partner and now completely owns the systems, the company announced Monday.
EPS also produces equipment that monitors and adjusts energy usage and carbon emissions.
Cogeneration facilities have been lauded by environmental groups and government agencies as one of the most efficient ways to reduce pollution and cut energy costs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency built a cogeneration system at its own lab in Richmond, which has reduced energy costs there by 21 percent, according to EPA documents.