The New England Environmental Finance Center (New England EFC), based at the University of Maine’s Southern campus at the University of Southern Maine USM), partnered with Island Dog Brewery located in South Portland, Maine, to trial an alternative cleaner highlighted in the Assessment of Alternatives to Cleaners and Sanitizers for the Brewing Industry by the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI). Island Dog Brewery expressed interest in an alternative vat cleaner to limit exposure to harmful chemicals and to reduce operational environmental impact.
Category: Case studies
Innovation drives sustainability success at DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee plant
Read the full story in Chiller & Cooling Best Practices.
Innovation is at the core of virtually every initiative at DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. This includes a host of activities designed to allow the leading supplier of advanced automotive technology, systems and components, to realize its corporate vision of creating a sustainable automotive society.
Among key initiatives at DENSO’s Maryville, Tennessee, facility is the use of an innovative ice-storage system engineered to provide environmentally friendly comfort cooling to employees at the company’s main production facility. The system also allows Plant 101 to reduce cooling costs per ton by 44%, while providing a payback of less than four years. It also resulted in an annual carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction of 18,000 tons.
A circular model
Read the full story at Recycling Today.
DS Smith employs its circular approach to recycling and packaging production as a model for future North American growth.
Unilever ‘warms up’ ice cream freezers to help tackle emissions
Read the company news release.
Unilever is launching two pilots to trial warmer ice cream freezer cabinets with an aim of reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by approx. 20 – 30% per freezer*, whilst ensuring the same ice cream quality and consumer experience.
IHG Hotels & Resorts Green Engage Program
Read the case study from U.S DOE’s Better Buildings Program.
IHG Hotels & Resorts provides all its hotels with access to the IHG Green Engage system, a comprehensive online sustainability platform that allows hotels to track, measure, and report on their carbon footprint and utility consumption. The system also offers more than 200 “Green Solutions” to help hotels drive resource efficiency and reduce their environmental footprints, as well as detailed technical guidance that hotels can use to implement these solutions.
Piloted in 2009, the program’s initial successes and support from the independent IHG Owners Association led to the adoption of IHG Green Engage as a foundational standard for all IHG-branded hotels globally in 2015.
Cutting oil recovery: Are you in the 1%?
MnTAP engineer Daniel Chang details one company’s successful cutting oil reclamation project in this article for Precision Manufacturing (article on p. 18).
The Walnut Creek Wetlands: A story of restoration and community perseverance
Read the full story at American Rivers.
The area surrounding the Walnut Creek Wetlands in Raleigh, North Carolina has an inspirational history of restoration work and community involvement.
Tiny Bubbles Mean Big Energy Savings for Henry POTW: Micro-Bubble Aeration Improves Energy Efficiency at Wastewater Treatment Plant
With assistance provided through the Public Water Infrastructure Plant Efficiency Program, the City of Henry Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) replaced their existing lagoon aeration system with Micro Bubble Diffusion (MBD) technology, resulting in significant energy cost savings and a reduction in the dissolved solids present in their treatment lagoons.
CD Aero Eliminates Use of nPB, Gains Production Capacity
A leading manufacturer of electronic capacitors globally, CD Aero (formally known as Aerovox)
has been in business for over 100 years. Located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the company
employs 80 people and manufactures intelligent capacitor solutions for industries such as the
medical, military, health and beauty sectors. CD Aero’s capacitors are supplied to original
equipment manufacturers and end up in products such as defibrillators and laser hair removal
devices.After a change in ownership, CD Aero worked with the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) and
the Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) to find a safer alternative cleaning
process to the use of n-propyl bromide (nPB). With a new aqueous cleaning process, the
company is now saving $46,000 per year, protecting health and safety and reducing its
regulatory obligations.
Optimizing Nutrient Treatment Wastewater Ponds: Gaylord, MN
Wastewater nutrient optimization is a challenge faced by pond treatment systems throughout Minnesota. In the case of Gaylord MN, wastewater treatment has been enhanced significantly thanks to the collaboration between Gaylord’s plant operator, Robert Kloeckl and the LCCMR wastewater nutrient optimization team. Achieving effective wastewater treatment starts with the people who operate the facility, and Robert has been more than willing to explore new ways to attain the best possible treatment. Together with the field and technical support of Tim Hagemeier and Frank Stuemke with the Minnesota Rural Water Association, Gaylord’s treatment is better than ever. As of fall 2019 Gaylord is achieving excellent phosphorus treatment with a most recent effluent sample of .285 mg/L and average effluent of .52 mg/L since October 2019. Gaylord’s approach to wastewater treatment involves strategies that the project team have found to be best practices in ponds throughout Minnesota with great success at achieving better nutrient removal.
Environmental News Bits 
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