Green Manufacturer - November/December 2011

Ecosavvy Newsmakers

Feeney offsets more than 95
percent of its electricity use
with solar power

Feeney Inc., a manufacturer of stainless steel architectural cables, aluminum railings, and trellis products in Oakland, Calif., has installed a 90-kW solar system that generates more than 95 percent of the company’s current energy demands.

The solar installation comprises arrays on Feeney’s two buildings—one with an 18-degree standing seam metal roof and the other on a flat membrane roof. Both roofs support arrays of 190 SunPower 238-W panels, each serviced by a Satcon 50-k W inverter, for a total of 380 panels with a rating of 90.4-k W DC.

DHL unveils environmental
protection initiatives

International express shipping provider DHL, Plantation, Fla., has completed its deployment of a fully green fleet of pick-up and delivery vehicles in Manhattan. This fleet comprises 30 battery-powered electric vans and 50 hybrid trucks. The electric vehicles are charged with green electricity provided by ConEdison Solutions and produced from renewable-energy sources such as wind.

The company also has launched an environmentally friendly Paperless Clearance feature at www.dhl-usa.com that enables customers to transmit documents electronically to Customs, eliminating the need to print and manually attach them to shipments. This new feature saves shipment preparation time and will save collectively millions of sheets of paper each year.

In addition, a DHL GoGreen Carbon Neutral service, available to Express import and export customers in 41 countries, enables customers to offset their estimated CO2 emissions for a service charge that is used by DHL to invest in high-quality, gold standard, and official Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) environmental protection projects.

Siemens Industry Inc.’s Metallurgical Services has announced its Benton Harbor, Mich., facility has received the Michigan Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) Award for its outstanding safety and health management system. This is the second year in a row that the facility has been recognized by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA).

“We have been working toward the
SHARP Award for five years,” said Keith
Rapp, general manager at the Benton
Harbor facility. “We knew we had our
work cut out for us because only a few
companies in Michigan actually receive
SHARP status, but through determina-
tion and dedication, the award was
finally achieved. This recognition is a
great testament to the commitment of
our hard-working employees.”
MIOSHA established the Michigan
SHARP Award to recognize employers
that have achieved workplace safety and
health excellence beyond their peers.
The program, part of the Michigan De-
partment of Licensing and Regulatory
Affairs (LARA), targets small, high-haz-
ard employers to help them develop, im-
plement, and continuously improve the
effectiveness of their workplace safety
and health management systems.

Since 2008 the Benton Harbor fa-
cility’s average total recordable case
(TRC) rates and days away from work,
restricted or transferred (DART) cases
rates were below the 2009 Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) industry average.
Its average TRC rate was 2. 6, com-
pared to the 2009 BLS rate of 5. 4 for
this type of industry. Its average DART
rate was 1.1, compared to the 2009
BLS rate of 2. 6.
The Benton Harbor facility is a Tier
1 supplier to the North American steel
industry. It employs 49 workers and
specializes in the maintenance and en-
gineering of continuous caster molds,
including the application of alloyed
nickel coating for mold copper plates.
Last year the facility received MIOSHA’s
Gold Award for maintaining an outstand-
ing safety and health record.

Siemens Industry Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Siemens’ global industry sector business, a supplier of production, transportation, and building technology products.

Siemens wins SHARP award for safety, health

Trojan Battery and Palladium
Energy form alliance

Trojan Battery Co., Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and Palladium Energy, Naperville, Ill., have formed a strategic alliance to explore the development of lithium-based battery packs for use in Trojan’s key market segments, which include renewable energy, golf, transportation, floor machine, aerial work platform, marine, and recreational vehicles.

This partnership will enable Trojan to expand its battery offerings to meet evolving customer demand for applications requiring lithium-based technology. Traditionally used in portable consumer electronic devices, lithium-based battery packs now enable the use of smaller, lightweight footprints with increased energy density in applications that require primary or backup battery power.

Trojan Battery Co. manufactures deep-cycle batteries and provides power for renewable energy, industrial, recreational, and auxiliary power applications.