6 Ways Manufacturers Can Profit from the Clean Power Plan

EDITORIAL_Even before the Clean Power Plan was finalized and announced earlier this month, various groups and organizations were mounting opposition to it. Although the plan mostly affects power-generating utilities, some manufacturers are concerned that their energy costs will escalate.

One manufacturer not sweating the Clean Power Plan is global grooming appliance manufacturer Wahl Clipper. The sustainable company has launched a number of green initiatives, including a 600-kW solar PV array that generates three times the electricity it needs for its machinery and facility. The company just pocketed its first SREC for $10,000 for the sales of part of its excess energy production.

Other manufacturers prepared for the plan include those in the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program that are already using renewable energy, such as Aluminum Shapes LLC, Boeing / South Carolina, Coilcraft Inc., Colgate-Palmolive, Dow Chemical Adhesive and Function Materials, EarthColor, Inc., H&M, Laddawn Manufacturing, Hypertherm, Inc., Herman Miller Inc., Harbec,  Method, Neenah Paper, Inc, Solberg Manufacturing, Steelcase Inc., and The Timberland Company.

Here are six ways you can get out in front of the Clean Power Plan:

1. Manufacture for the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. Why not capitalize on the surge of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies by manufacturing the necessary components and products? American Roll Form and Tamlin Products make coin making components for the solar energy industry. Iowa boasts more than 60 manufacturing and service companies doing business in wind, including Acciona Windpower, Clipper, Siemens, TPI, Trinity Structural Towers. It’s no coincidence that Iowa generated nearly 25 percent of its electricity via wind in 2012.
2. Make them cheaper. Participate in the cost-downs of renewable energy and energy efficient machinery by applying standard cost-down tactics such as economies of scale, engineering improvements, lean practices, sage material choices, improved manufacturability, and machinery and supplies negotiation. Steel fabricator Summit Steel & Manufacturing found a better, less expensive way to produce concentrated solar dish prototype, saving its customer $500,000 in development costs—and reducing the technology’s cost in the process.
3. Take part in energy-from-waste options. Manufacturers that send their nonrecyclable waste to energy-from-waste facilities like Covanta’s can achieve zero landfill goals while their waste is converted to inexpensive electricity. The gasification technology is very clean, with sophisticated pollution controls compliant with strict maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air standards.
4. Install renewable energy in your plants. Solar energy seems to be a very good fit for manufacturers who have big flat roofs (and who doesn’t?). It works almost anywhere, and is modular, so you can start small and build.Philadelphia Sign Co.’s 900 kW solar PV system generates more power than its facility using, making it a net zero energy plant. Many factories have found wind power to be suitable including Method, and Phillips, especially if they are located in an area with property surrounding their plants. Food processors, breweries and wineries, and forest products manufacturers are taking advantage of the opportunity to generate renewable power using biofuels and their own organic and agricultural waste.Paper mill Domtar self-generated 74 percent of the electricity used in its pulp and paper mills using biomass, according to its just-release 2015 sustainability report. Still others have great opportunities to generate power cleanly geothermal, especially in new construction. Best of all, once installed, the inputs—solar, wind, geothermal, organic waste–are free.
5. Embrace energy efficiency. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, (ACEEE) energy efficiency is key to Clean Power Plan compliance. Manufacturers can significantly reduce their energy consumption with energy-efficient lighting, HVAC, Premium® efficient motors, variable frequencies drives, replacing and fixing leaky air compressors, heat recovery, energy management programs, and numerous other ways.
6. Sell RECs and participate in demand response programs. The programs that pay you back for generating energy on-site and reducing energy on demand.

There’s no need to fear the Clean Power Plan. Manufacturers that get on board are likely to find it a sweet ride.