Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Q- What is one example of waste heat in a process?
A- Refrigerant used in refrigeration expels heat to the atmosphere. We can use this heat to pre-heat domestic water or warm make-up air in an air handling unit (or for other facility needs). Waste process heat, engine or motor heat can similarly be transferred for other purposes.
Q- Give an example of waste energy in a process?
A- Water pumped through irrigation lines can provide usable or storable electricity. So can a motor used to shell corn; an auger system moving beans, corn or hay; a flywheel used in equipment that crushes or shapes food product. Any kind of motion used for any process can potentially provide spare energy for other applications.
Q- Would we consider other sources of energy besides those derived from waste?
A- Absolutely! Wind, solar, geothermal and hydro-electric energy are always considered as potential sources of energy. It depends on the financial benefits to the Client.
Q- Elaborate on ways to help pay for improvements.
A- Operational and energy efficiencies can pay off costs of implementation in durations ranging from one to ten years - even before counting incentives provided by private and public funding.
There are many private foundations, quasi-public companies, local, state and federal programs that have: tax incentives, utility cash rebates, energy production tax credits, pilot program grants, zero and low cost loans and cash grants. These can sometimes pay for much or most of costs associated with improvements.
A few of these agencies and programs include: your own local and state gas and power companies; USDA's Rural Development Programs, Renewable and Energy Generation and Energy Efficiency Grants, Sustainable and Renewable Agricultural Research and Education programs (SARE); State and Federal Departments of Ecology Grants; State Business and Energy tax credits; Community Industrial Efficiency Programs; Green Building Tax Credits; Energy Efficient Commercial Building Deductions; Department of Energy Grant Programs; Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) grants and loans; marketable carbon credits; Energy Installation Tax Credits; Bonneville Environmental Foundation - plus other existing sources and new ones that will come into play.
Did you know that your firm can sell its excess tax credits?
We continuously monitor new and proposed legislation, utilities and foundations to provide as many opportunities as possible to offset costs for new energy utilization systems.
Q- List a few examples of potential sources and uses of process and waste material.
A- Grape 'pomace' (skin, seeds and pulp left-over from wine production) can provide a higher relative BTU value than commercial wood pellets - and the remaining ash can be a commercially viable byproduct (activated charcoal) - this doesn't even include the additional potential income from others uses of grape pomace before pelletizing; livestock manure can be processed anaerobically, and even dried without external heat (bio-digestion) to produce bio-gas and viable commercial fertilizer chemicals and compost; potato processing 'waste' cuttings can be used to produce ethanol and bio-gas; beer hop 'waste' can be pelletized and gasified to offset costs of process drying; leftover meat/chicken trimmings and fat can be used to produce bio-diesel; chicken droppings and used bedding can be used instead of LP gas to heat chicken houses in the winter - resulting also in healthier and larger numbers of chickens growing to process size/weight (higher per/lb. sale prices plus more lbs. to sell with lower production costs); waste raw vegetable trimmings can be digested anaerobically to produce bio-gas and commercially viable compost; food scraps from large 'captive' populations (prison kitchens, industrial size cafeteria operations, university student feeding enterprises, etc.) can be converted to bio-gas, fertilizer minerals and compost.
Q- Provide some examples of how we can help with government oversight while reducing costs or generating income.
A- 1- By processing livestock and poultry manure for energy, most if not all of the offensive odors can be eliminated - still leaving valuable minerals, compost, fertilizer, or other marketable bi-products.
2- Recycling process water, your water 'footprint' can be substantially reduced while lowering production costs. By treating recycle process water, valuable 'ingredients' (many considered pollutants) can be separated and utilized profitably or disposed of with zero or low cost, and dangerous pathogens can be destroyed. Waste water can be returned to the aquifer or body of water in as good or better condition than when taken.
3- Using 'processed gray water' for certain aspects of processing food, agricultural products or irrigation, - water pollution is reduced or eliminated.
4- Processing waste livestock parts or dead animals in a controlled digestion process - soil, air and water pollution is eliminated and rendering costs are mitigated or eliminated.
5- Recycling waste process vegetable oil or animal fat can be used to produce bio-diesel and reduce or eliminate fines due to leakage or spillage, while lowering storage costs.
Q- Do 'value added' concepts play a part in your survey?
A- 'Value added' products can sometimes equal or exceed profits from waste recovery for energy. As one example, extractions from grape pomace offers the raw material for marketable byproducts such as food grade oil and flour additives. The pomace remaining after extraction is still a very good energy source.
Q- How does one get 'started' and move forward with "Resource Recovery Group"?
A- We make an appointment to meet with you and possibly some vital people in your group. We review your existing operation and any plans for enlarging, reducing or modifying your building, farm or facility. We learn about your operation from purchasing through shipping (first in to last out) to understand how you conduct your business, your most important costs and profit center(s), and any bottlenecks you want to eliminate or aspects you would like to improve. We review the efficiency of your major equipment. We determine the 'systems' and 'flow' of your business.
Our approach is 'holistic'. We want to understand the least efficient to the most efficient aspects of your business so we don't wind up helping you in one way while hurting you in another. Like a good doctor, everything about your business that could be relevant is in bounds. We guarantee complete confidentiality. Unless you authorize us, we don't discuss your enterprise with anyone else.
We write a report summarizing our understanding of your business and areas we believe to offer potential improvement, untapped, or under-utilized resources. You review this to flush out errors, omissions or add any new ideas of your own.
We research the best 'means and methods' for YOUR operation, (e.g. technologies or systems) to use waste heat or energy in existing processes or introduce new sustainable energy from (either or both) waste material utilization or sources including solar, wind, geothermal or hydroelectric. We provide a report that outlines the results of this research.
We provide preliminary costs and benefits of our recommendations, initially not including cost reduction from 'outside' sources (rebates, tax credits, grants, loans, etc). This way you can determine efficiencies and 'payback'. When you select the paths you want to pursue, we can investigate outside funding sources that should only serve to improve the cost/benefit ratio of a pro-forma and business plan. We list some potential sources of outside funding.
Finally we provide a business plan that includes all of the information gathered from our collaboration and research. You provide the direction to pursue. You authorize us to apply for funding to determine the extent of your own financing.
We provide varying levels of oversight during design development and construction. We research turnkey design-build-startup services. Each of these comes with detailed proposals including essential personnel, equipment providers and subcontractors. We also consider self-operation or contract operation by highly qualified individuals or 'operation and maintenance' specialty firms.