Since 1990, NYSERDA's Research and Development (R&D) program has successfully brought into use more than eighty 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 the energy efficiency and affordability to New York's residential customers, especially those with low incomes.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit corporation created in 1975, 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, and residents to address New York's most pressing energy and environmental issues.

Visit the NYSERDA web site.

NYSERDA also has responsibility for energy analysis and modeling, West Valley site management, radioactive waste policy and nuclear coordination, management of the Malta, NY rocket fuel Superfund site, and issue tax-exempt bonds for certain utility facilities and special projects.

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 Benefit Charge (PSC Opinion No. 98-3), and co-funding from a variety of public and private sources. The EED program is funded through federal grants, the SBC, 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

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 through process improvements, control systems, materials, and waste minimization. The objectives are pollution prevention and environmental compliance, and reducing energy costs. 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 for all customer sectors, but primarily small- and medium-sized commercial customers. Improving public awareness of energy benefits and utility restructuring and competition is another program focus.

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 pollution prevention traveled on separate, parallel paths. More and more, however, the synergies between energy efficiency and non-energy forms of pollution prevention have become more apparent. Energy efficiency projects often have non-energy pollution prevention benefits and pollution prevention projects often save energy. In other words, energy efficiency and pollution prevention often happen together.

In addition, both energy efficiency and pollution prevention projects often have non-environmental 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 "tail pipe," to more flexible programs that focus on reducing pollution by minimizing waste and redesigning the way we do things. The success 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 has not been a "big ticket" item for most people and industries, makes 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 nor do we have control over their price or availability. Using energy efficiently is the only power we have over controlling its cost. The good news is that, as NYSERDA's successes show us, 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 first-come, first-served basis. Proposals for the other two project types are traditionally accepted through competitive solicitations such as Program Opportunity Notices that can be obtained from Jane Powers at 518-862-1090 x3342

or, click here to find the information on NYSERDA's web site under “Opportunities”.

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

Anoplate Corp., Syracuse

General Super Plating Co., Inc., Syracuse

H.M. Quakenbush Inc. Herkimer

L.D. McCauley/McGard, Inc. Orchard Park

Water recovery using ion exchange

Preliminary estimates of energy savings associated with ion exchange for one metal-finishing facility discharging 90,000 gallons per day to a wastewater treatment facility are about 55,000 kWh/yr (75%). 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 significant. Even with a 50% recovery rate, savings would be more than $50,000 annually.

The Center is developing manuals for use by other metal-finishing companies. The Center also evaluated ion-exchange systems and the use of ozonation and ultraviolet technologies for cyanide technologies. As a result of these efforts, the Center teamed up with Diversified Manufacturing, 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 expected to be demonstrated at General Super Plating this summer.

Efficient silver recovery from alumina catalyst

Governor's Pollution Prevention Award Winner Ames Goldsmith, a silver processing company in Glens Falls supplies 96% of the silver oxide and 12% of the total silver product used in the United States. The company developed an innovative energy-efficient process improvement to refine spent alumina catalyst. 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 full-scale system was developed and installed. The project helped the company reduce sludge and slag process waste production by 40-50% and reduce water and energy consumption by 33%, while increasing capacity by 50%. Annual savings are approximately $130,000.

Optimizing electrochemical grinding

Electrolyte Recycling Savings

Waste production will drop by 93%, water use by 88%, and power consumption by 75%. Operating costs per machine will drop by over $20,000.

In electrochemical grinding (ECG), an electric current flows between a negatively charged abrasive wheel and the positively charged work piece through an electrolytic fluid. Conventional ECG produces large quantities of hazardous waste, requires extensive trial and error and operator input to achieve product quality, and is energy intensive. Compositron Corp. of Brooklyn is working with NYSERDA and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Automation Technologies to develop an electrolyte recycling and process control system to transform ECG into an environmental-friendly, cost-effective machining solution, highly attractive in a wide variety of applications.

Artificial intelligence will monitor and control process parameters, modulate power output, enable recycling of electrolyte fluids, and produce a waste suitable for reclamation. The system will also be remotely diagnosed through the Internet, enabling on-line support and expedited troubleshooting and repair. Users will realize significant increases in productivity and product quality, with simplified operation.

See Compositron's web site on this work.

Dehumidification system to air-dry water-based paints

Goulds Pumps' 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 estimated at an additional $800,000.

NYSERDA, Goulds Pumps of Seneca Falls and Optimum Air Corp., (Malta, NY) developed a dehumidification system to air-dry water-based paints used for their industrial pump components. Goulds had been using a solvent-based coating formula with a volatile organic compound (VOC) content of over 5 lb/gal for over 35 years. The Company worked with Strathmore Products Inc. (Syracuse, NY) to develop a water-based coating that reduced the VOC content to less than 1.7 lb/gal. The company then teamed with Optimum Air to develop a dehumidification drying system to quickly remove the moisture from the coated surface. Goulds added over $1 million/yr to its bottom line while saving energy and preventing pollution. The company also won a Governor's Pollution Prevention Award.
____________
Adele Ferranti is the NYSERDA Industrial Pollution Prevention Program contact, 518-862-1090 x3206. For environmental research R&D, contact Jim Reis, 518-862-1090 x3251. For Energy Efficiency Deployment and FlexTech, contact Brian Platt, 518-862-1090 x3309.

NYWEA home | NYWEA officials & CLEARWATERS' masthead

Executive Director |

Editor |

Webmaster
Clearwaters Advertiser Index
To speak with a representative: 1-315-422-7811