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View this Issue	Zero landfill: The closest shave of all Published: May 21, 2013 Green Zone: Materials Schick shaved its waste-to-landfill rate razor-thin, achieving zero landfill status in September 2012--but getting there was anything but smooth. First, the co. enlisted help, then performed a waste audit, segregated materials, and worked out a...

View this Issue	Under Cover: A green winery, no matter the hue of the grape Published: May 21, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities The Parducci Winery in Mendocino County, Calif., is committed to certified sustainable farming practices, water reduction, reuse, and recycling, 100 percent green power (solar, purchased wind credits, and biodiesel-powered farm equipment,) carbon...

View this Issue	Getting in tune with reduced harmonics Published: May 20, 2013 Green Zone: Energy Management Harmonic current distortions to the power supply typically are generated by variable-speed drives. When excessive, the distortions can affect other equipment and cause energy losses. This article explains several methods to limit harmonic...

View this Issue	Global energy management practices, standards increase plant profitability Published: May 20, 2013 Green Zone: Energy Management The importance of energy management is particularly high in the manufacturing sector, where energy use can have a significant impact on product and operating cost. A standard set of energy management practices, applied to small and medium, as well...

View this Issue	Green on the Hill: New energy secretary gives nod to green manufacturing Published: May 16, 2013 Green Zone: Legislation The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), may start paying more attention to the energy efficiency needs of American manufacturers. New U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz answer questions during his confirmation hearings in the Senate Energy and...

View this Issue	From Green Manufacturer Brief: The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act Published: May 16, 2013 Green Zone: Legislation A bipartisan bill intended to level the playing field for all domestic sources of energy production has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and in the House by Reps. Ted Poe, R-Texas, and Mike...

View this Issue	Sustainable food packaging: preserve and protect Published: May 16, 2013 Green Zone: Materials Food products manufacturer ConAgra has made impressive advancements in package reduction and recycling, while advocating "optimizing over minimizing," and reducing food waste, taking into account the lifecycle of the entire product, rather than...

View this Issue	No-, low-emissions lift trucks clear the air Published: March 27, 2013 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers have many green options in their choices of lift trucks, including low- or no-emissions, energy-efficient, forklift technologies. Raymond, Toyota, Nissan, Hyster, Yale, Power Designers, Minit-Charger, and AeroVironment weigh in on...

View this Issue	Minimum quantity lubrication machining process maximizes environmental, cost savings Published: March 27, 2013 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Another approach to fostering sustainability in metalworking lubrication is to use a process called minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). MQL eliminates large quantities of water and oil-based coolants and replaces them with a small quantity of...

View this Issue	Under Cover: Out of trash: treasure Published: March 27, 2013 Green Zone: Materials The Recology San Francisco’s Recycle Central processes 650 tons of the city’s municipal, commercial and industrial waste per day. The center diverts 87 percent of waste it collects from landfill disposal in part via an artist-in-residence...

View this Issue	Green on the Hill: DOE industrial energy-efficiency programs scrutinized Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Legislation The Obama administration announced it would be spending about $1.5 million over the next two years to create new technical assistance partnerships (TAPs) to help manufacturers implement combined heat and power (CHP) programs in their facilities....

View this Issue	From Green Manufacturer Brief: EPA releases chemical use data for manufacturing industry Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Management On Feb. 11, the EPA released the 2012 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) information for more than 7,600 chemicals used in children's and other consumer products, as well as for industrial applications. Issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act...

View this Issue	Green Production, Green Products Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Power Sources The wind turbine is an outgrowth of the company's green manufacturing tradition and of Philips' Green Manufacturing 2015 sustainability plan, which aspires to reduce the impact of operations, focusing on CO2 emissions, water, waste, and...

View this Issue	How do you reduce water consumption by 60 million gallons per year? Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities Philips Lightolier, Fall River, Mass., is a vertically integrated lighting reflector manufacturer, making reflectors for LEDs and fluorescents, and assembling them. The manufacturer reduced its water consumption by 60 million gallons per year from...

View this Issue	Saving HVAC energy at the motor Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Great potential energy savings can be found in what drives the equipment that delivers conditioned cool or hot air to the building. A green retrofit of an existing factory can be as simple as installing a new motor for the heating, ventilating,...

View this Issue	Lighting manufacturer reaches for net zero energy with wind power Published: March 26, 2013 Green Zone: Philips Lightolier’s lighting manufacturing plant installed a utility-scale wind turbine last year that provides 70 percent of its electricity. The wind turbine is the figurehead of the manufacturer’s bold voyage to net-zero-energy status.

View this Issue	The Raising of a Wind Turbine Published: March 21, 2013 Green Zone: Power Sources Out of the 17 wind turbine manufacturers Philips contacted, very few were willing to install only one utility-scale turbine. SANY Electric, a Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer, won the contract to provide the blades, turbine, and tower. A...

View this Issue	8 Ways to Rock the Dock Published: March 14, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities Each 8- by 10-ft. dock doorway is an escape hatch for conditioned air and a means for outside weather to invade the building. In many busy facilities, the dock door is rarely shut. Often that occurs because forklifts have damaged the door,...

View this Issue	Automaker relights HQ Published: January 22, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities American Honda Motor Co. implemented a lighting retrofit of its U.S.headquarters, including an LED lighting installation in its lobby, that is estimated to net it net annual kWh savings of 1,387,824 kWh; and annual CO2 emissions equivalent...

View this Issue	10 ways a dust collection system can contribute to your plant’s sustainability Published: January 22, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities Because an industrial dust collector is designed to clean a factory’s environment of dust and fumes, it is inherently green. But a properly designed dust collection system can contribute to sustainability in many other ways as well.

View this Issue	Under Cover: Solar vegetative roofs take root Published: January 22, 2013 Green Zone: Facilities In April 2012, Green Roof Technology installed the first Sun-Root™ solar green roof system—a combined vegetated roof with photovoltaic panels in the U.S. The rooftop draws enough power from the system during the day to power a series of...

View this Issue	Green on the Hill: Familiar landscape; some new faces Published: January 21, 2013 Green Zone: Legislation The political and legislative landscape in Washington in 2013 will look much like it did in 2012, with a couple of exceptions. Party balance in Congress is essentially unchanged: Republicans control the House, Democrats the Senate. Most...

View this Issue	Office workspace-maker finds cradle-to-cradle resolution for powder coat waste Published: January 21, 2013 Green Zone: Materials Before office spaces and furniture-maker Haworth could achieve zero landfill, it had to find a resolution for its most stubbornly troublesome waste item—powder coat.

View this Issue	Dispersing the powder coat waste problem on journey to zero landfill Published: January 21, 2013 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers seeking zero landfill status often come to a halt in their efforts when trying to divert their powder coat waste. By finding end users for the waste powder coat, manufacturers can successfully achieve zero landfill and...

View this Issue	Bearing protection for induction motors bears attention Published: January 21, 2013 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Inverters used to control a motor’s speed or torque can net substantial energy savings. But inverters, also known as adjustable speed drives and variable-frequency drives, can induce unwanted motor shaft voltages. A maintenance-free, long-life...

View this Issue	How Energy-from-Waste Works Published: December 12, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities Energy can be recovered via energy-from-waste (EfW) processes from residual waste left over after efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle have been exhausted. The process is simple: Solid and liquid waste is transferred to a combustion chamber; the...

View this Issue	Under Cover: Dropping the ball energy-efficiently Published: December 6, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities In light of New York's power outages post-Sandy hurricane, new energy efficiencies of the New Year's Eve drop ball are notable. The 12-foot-diameter New Year's Eve drop ball in New York's Times Square is powered by 32,256 ultra-efficient LED light...

View this Issue	Green on the Hill: Industrial energy efficiency bill hangs in the congressional balance Published: December 6, 2012 Green Zone: Legislation Groups, individuals rally to encourage Congress to extend wind power PTC

View this Issue	Sage Supplier: Over land, over sea, overcoming solar, wind power transmission challenges Published: December 5, 2012 Green Zone: Renewable Energy Suppliers Cables used to transmit solar generation must be designed for sunlight resistance and a broad operating temperature range. Wind cables are constructed with excellent flexibility, as well as resistance to high-torsion stress, vibration,...

View this Issue	Achieving zero-landfill goals by tapping the 4th R—Recover Published: December 5, 2012 Green Zone: Power Sources Manufacturers increasingly are looking to the "4th R"—recover—to help them meet their zero landfill goals, sustainably recover energy via energy-from-waste (EfW) processes from residual waste left over after efforts to reduce, reuse, and...

View this Issue	Controlling scale in water systems helps prevent Legionnaires' Disease Published: December 5, 2012 Green Zone: Materials The Legionella bacterium, Legionella Pneumophila, the fundamental agent of Legionnaire’s Disease, is a water-based organism that can cause infection when inhaled. Legionella bacteria thrive in stagnating water in tanks, reservoirs, dead legs in...

View this Issue	Making Fritos®, Cheetos®, Doritos® toasty Published: December 3, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities The snacks start as locally sourced fresh crop potatoes or whole grain corn and must end up meeting a gold standard for moisture specification, clump formation, finished oil content, flavor, texture, appearance, and other characteristics—right...

View this Issue	Snack-maker keeps plant toasty using heat recovery Published: November 28, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities Frito-Lay/Pepsico's Beloit plant recovers and recirculates waste heat to heat the plant's and warehouse's ambient air as well as to pre-heat some of its cooking and cleaning processes. The effort is part of its overall sustainability plan, and...

View this Issue	Improving industrial environments with HVLS fans Published: November 6, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities Manufacturing plants and other large, open warehouse environments with high ceilings have a host of unique design and maintenance challenges, including air quality, employee safety and comfort, energy costs, and temperature control. High-volume,...

View this Issue	Top 5 things to know about the energy-from-waste process Published: October 26, 2012 Green Zone: Power Sources Senior Vice President of Covanta 4Recovery L.P. fields questions about the energy-from-waste process.

View this Issue	Sage Supplier: Better batteries start with better materials Published: October 3, 2012 Green Zone: Renewable Energy Suppliers Next-generation materials and chemistries are increasing electric vehicle battery energy density, power and voltage cost-effectively and meeting different market needs for energy storage, specifically. Lithium-ion batteries are made differently...

View this Issue	Rooftop daylighting, sensored electrical lighting pair up for sky-high savings Published: October 3, 2012 Green Zone: Power Sources Are you considering implementing an integrated daylighting/electric lighting upgrade in your manufacturing plant and warehouse? Solar daylighting works with controls and supplementary electric lighting to light a plant all day long with low...

View this Issue	Top 10 things you should know about converting to LED lighting Published: October 3, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities Manufacturers considering converting their lighting systems to LED should first get answers to questions such as: "How will installing LED fixtures in my manufacturing facility affect other systems?" "How should I plan light output/coverage for my...

View this Issue	Under Cover: Bottoms Up, wine shipper turns packaging on end Published: October 3, 2012 Green Zone: Materials Happily, for the eco-conscious, Grafcor Packaging, Rockford, Ill., partnered with UFP Technologies, Georgetown, Mass., to developed a unique 12-bottle molded fiber wine Packaging System called “Bottoms Up”™ that allows wine lovers to enjoy...

View this Issue	Out-of-the-box sustainable packaging options for manufacturers Published: October 1, 2012 Green Zone: Materials The packaging industry is under a lot of environmental pressure. An estimated 30 percent of landfill waste comprises packaging. Fortunately, packaging manufacturers and users have taken important steps to improve packaging performance and minimize...

View this Issue	Green on the Hill: Greenhouse gas, NEMA standards pushed and pulled Published: September 28, 2012 Green Zone: Legislation The EPA has proposed a rule that would set an emissions standard on carbon dioxide for new electric plants at a rate of 1,000 lbs. of CO2/megawatt hour (MWh).

View this Issue	Dell’s Campbell: The whole package Published: September 27, 2012 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Oliver Campbell, Dell’s Director of Procurement, Packaging, is in the process of greening the packaging the tech giant uses to protect its servers, desktop computers, laptops, and notebooks during shipping.

View this Issue	10 Ways a dust collection system can contribute to your plant’s sustainability Published: September 26, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities Because an industrial dust collector is designed to clean a factory’s environment of dust and fumes, it is inherently green. But a properly designed dust collection system can contribute to sustainability in many other ways as well.

View this Issue	10 Questions about UL Environment’s zero landfill validation program Published: August 9, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities UL Environment recently launched its new waste diversion validation program and introduced at the Green Manufacturer Network Take on the Zero Waste to Landfill Challenge on June 12 in Portland, Ore. The validation program is intended to provide...

View this Issue	Raising energy efficiency with electric lift trucks Published: August 9, 2012 Green Zone: Power Sources AP Exhaust’s employees use lift trucks to pick and ship up to 31,000 automotive exhaust products per day. The manufacturer converted its in-plant fleet to new all-electric lift trucks that have increased load, lift, and acceleration capacities...

View this Issue	Sage Supplier: Wind turbine manufacturer seeks lead with LEED Published: July 25, 2012 Green Zone: Renewable Energy Suppliers When Siemens Energy opened its first U.S. wind turbine nacelle factory in Hutchison, Kansas, it wanted to make sure that the building was built green. As one of the world’s largest providers of renewable energy and environmental technologies,...

View this Issue	Pharmaceutical producer seals dock Published: July 25, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities L. Perrigo, the country’s largest producer of over-the-counter, private-label pharmaceuticals, saved energy and protected its product by closing up the gap between its leveler pit and the dock wall.

View this Issue	Under Cover: Recycling disposable diapers Published: July 25, 2012 Green Zone: Materials TerraCycle, is the manufacturer that has made its mark by making a silk purse out of a Skittles® bag, and practically gave birth to the cradle-to-cradle concept in the process. Now the manufacturer is taking cradle-to-cradle to a whole new level:...

View this Issue	Reduce paint VOC emissions’ costs with concentrators Published: July 24, 2012 Green Zone: Machinery and Equipment Solvent-based paint still is used predominantly on automobiles, machinery, and appliances for which a smooth surface finish or durability is crucial and other special-purpose coatings. Using the proper abatement technology on paint, coating, and...

View this Issue	Controls, sensors use in building energy management systems forecast to grow Published: July 24, 2012 Green Zone: Facilities The controls and sensors market in the U.S. and Europe is expected to rise at 18 percent annually between now and 2020 on the strength of increased penetration into buildings less than 50,000 square feet, indicate the results of a recent Lux...