ebm-papst Fans, Blowers and Technology

by Lou Moffa, Market Manager - Refrigeration

Your next purchase of a food item has many thought-provoking questions attached to it. Is it a healthy choice for your daily diet? Is it organic? Is it is free of chemicals? Is it locally grown? Does it negatively impact the environment?  Your decision to choose a particular food product over another helps you promote a healthy lifestyle and contribute to a healthy planet.

ebm-papst is now helping you make the same smart choices for our planet when choosing fans for your air-moving applications. Working closely with our plastics supplier, we have developed a material called epylen, a custom, wood/plastic composite "biomaterial" that reduces the amount of petroleum products that need to be sourced.

epylen vs. 100 percent polypropylene plastic material

epylen has the same mechanical functionality as the originally specified 100 percent polypropylene plastic material but a significantly lower overall impact on the environment. The wood fibers used are not just added "filler" in the base polypropylene materials that would be exposed on the surface; rather, the fibers are totally encapsulated during the molding process so that the end result is an injection-molded plastic that has the same appearance and surface finish as the original material. In side-by-side comparisons of the two materials, it is difficult to tell the difference.

Housing material made of epylen in its natural color.

But you know us. We of course did not settle for simply a similar-looking material.

Our in-house and third-party testing has proven that the epylen material will not harbor any fungi or bacterial growth, will not weaken from long-term UV exposure, is stable at elevated temperatures, has passed our impact, vibration and thermal shock tests and is resistant to degradation when exposed to common industrial chemicals. Even with all these impressive results, the most frequently asked question when explaining this material to new users is whether it will attract termites! I’m happy to report that termites are not interested in this product, making the epylen material completely suitable for use in the same environments as the original plastic.  

Keeping it Green(Tech)

Keeping with our GreenTech philosophy, the wood material selected for use in epylen has been through a very selective process. The wood is only from renewable sources that are harvested in an environmentally-responsible manner and do not contain any added fertilizers or pesticides.Harvesting is performed in small batches to lessen environmental impact. 

epylen is currently being used in the wall ring of our W1G200 series ESM fans, which are designed for use in commercial refrigeration equipment. Other products will begin to phase in epylen material as well. Our goal is to replace 15 percent of the plastic used in our fans with epylen by 2015.

epylen - the new wood/plastic composite material from ebm-papst.

All of these changes do result in a more costly material than the 100% polypropylene material, but as part of our dedication to the environment, ebm-papst is offering this material at no added cost to the end user.

Please feel free to contact us for more information!

Groundbreaking ceremony for modern test center in St. Georgen, Germany

ebm-papst, the world's leading manufacturer of fans and motors, is investing in a new test center in St. Georgen and thus further reinforcing the company's position at the cutting edge of technology. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Wednesday, July 17th.

Groundbreaking ceremony at the new ebm-papst test center, Dr. Michael Schmitz (ebm-papst), Michael Rieger (mayor St. Georgen), Dirk Schallock, Rainer Hundsdörfer, Thomas Wagner (all ebm-papst)

"Our products and concepts are expected to satisfy ever higher standards with regard to performance, reliability and noise levels. We are rising to these technical challenges with highly qualified development work," says Rainer Hundsdörfer, Chairman of Board of Directors of the ebm-papst Group. The new test facility makes it possible to measure the aerodynamic and acoustic data of the fans at the same time.

The test center is to be constructed on the so-called room within a room principle. In other words, the measurement area is a suspended construction mechanically isolated from the building. This enables extremely accurate measurements to be taken without any interference from vibration for example.

The new test facility will permit the measurement of ebm-papst products in their application environment, for instance in vehicles or in IT and telecommunications devices. The company will then also be ideally equipped to perform psychoacoustic noise analysis in the future. Very slight differences in the frequency characteristics are sometimes enough to determine whether a noise of the same volume is considered to be a nuisance or pleasant. "Knowledge about positive acoustic sensations can give us a definite competitive edge," explains Dirk Schallock, Managing Director of the ebm-papst subsidiary in St. Georgen.

"But it is equally important to analyse the flow characteristics of new products and constantly enhance their performance and energy efficiency," as Schallock points out.

The investment will amount to a volume of more than two million euro. The test center is scheduled to open in the second half of 2014 and will secure the future of highly qualified ebm-papst jobs at the company's technology base in St. Georgen.

By Matt Menard, Market Manager - Air Conditioning

Building owners view their HVAC system as a necessary evil. Tenants / patients / guests don’t want to hear it or see it, and the system better keep everyone in that building comfortable (an impossible task).  Hot/cold complaints rank #1 on calls into the facilities maintenance department. The HVAC system is the largest utility consumer in a building, mainly due to inefficient motors and compressors. In the eyes of a building owner, the HVAC system should be hidden, silent, efficient and fail-proof.   When the time comes for the HVAC system to be replaced or retrofit, there are many opportunities to improve the system.

These improvements can bring ‘value’ to the building owner in the following ways:  

1.       Energy Savings:  In an average commercial office building, the HVAC system is the largest consumer of electricity, accounting for 40% of the electric bill on an annual basis. Designing and installing an HVAC system that utilizes energy efficient equipment is one of the most logical and effective ways to slash operating costs in a commercial building.  For the past 20+ years, most HVAC manufacturers have put energy efficiency near the top of the R&D priority list developing and utilizing technologies that provide significant improvements in efficiency.  EC technology from ebm-papst is the perfect fit for OEM’s as they strive for higher efficiency, replacing inefficient motors with the most efficient motor technology and integrated speed-control. Many retrofit projects result in energy reduction by 25%, with some extreme cases exceeding 40%.  When combined with government and utility sponsored low-cost financing and rebates for installing efficient systems, building owners will be presented with compelling ROI’s for choosing high-efficiency systems. 

2.       Improved Performance: The hospital of 30 years ago had 1 patient per room and very little technological equipment outside of an X-Ray machine. Today’s hospitals have double the beds, hundreds of computers for the staff, and high-tech tools including CAT & PET scanners and robotic surgical machinery.  All of these changes have one thing in common: they produce enormous amounts of heat.  A 30 year-old HVAC system in a hospital is likely to be undersized and strained, which won’t provide the best environment for the hospital. When a retrofit is performed on the HVAC system, the increased need for cooling capacity and changes to the air distribution system need to be taken into account to create a comfortable and safe environment for all staff and patients The UConn Health Center Bioscience Connecticut facility is being replaced due to inefficient and inadequate mechanical facilities in the existing buildings.    

3.       Better System Control: Even the best and most efficient HVAC systems will operate poorly and inefficiently if not controlled properly.  The ability to control different ‘zones’ within a building allows for the HVAC system to constantly adjust airflow and temperature based on the needs of that zone at any given time. With EC technology from ebm-papst, fan speed can be modulated to provide accurate control and energy savings.  For example, at noon an office cafeteria requires high-volume conditioned air to serve the lunch crowd. At 2:00, all of those people have vacated the cafeteria and are back to their desks, so little airflow is required.  Decreasing fan speed for that zone reduces airflow and the refrigeration system can operate at a lower capacity, both saving energy.  A properly designed and installed automated controls system allows for adjustments to be made in all zones based on time of day, day of the week, current weather, occupancy, etc.  These adjustments and decisions are done automatically and consistently by the computer-based system without the need for human input, keeping all building occupants comfortable at all times in all areas of the building.  In addition to improved comfort, the building automation system can help save enormous amounts of energy as the HVAC system will supply only what is required in specific zones, as opposed to full-blast in all zones at all times. 

4.       Increase in Asset Value: In the commercial real estate market, a building owner’s business is the building. The value of this building can be measured in two ways: revenue generated by the building, and asset value of the building.  Improving any part of the building, including retrofitting the HVAC system with a modern efficient design, increases the value of that asset immediately. In other words, if the building were sold, a premium would be paid for the building with the modern HVAC system than that of the antiquated, inefficient system.  In another case where the building owner retains the property, a modern HVAC system can help with revenue as a premium lease rate can be negotiated due to the efficiency and comfort provided to the tenant. 

5.       Being Green:  Efficient buildings and “Being Green” can bring value to a building owner that cannot be immediately measured in dollars and cents. “Green” and “Sustainability” are very common marketing campaigns being utilized by companies to promote their global citizenship.  Possibly included in these campaigns is the commitment to own/lease buildings that meet certain Green/Energy guidelines. Building owners can take advantage of this market segment with the choices they make in creating energy efficient buildings, and many times charge a premium to clients.

Did we miss anything? Please share your thoughts below!

Armin Hauer, Advanced Technology Manager

An article in a recent issue of Sustainable Business examines the potential impact of the uncertain supply of rare earth magnets on manufacturing EC motors, noting that EC technology is reliant on rare earth elements. But this isn’t always the case…  

The manufacturers of electric motors struggle to predict the future costs of rare earth elements. As a result, user circles often regard permanently excited electric motors, which are particularly energy-efficient, as expensive. But highly efficient electric drives don’t necessarily depend on strong rare earth magnets. For example, "simple", cost-effective and – above all – readily available ferrite magnets suffice for energy-saving EC fan motors with an external rotor design. In some cases, these reach motor efficiencies of more than 90 percent.

How an EC motor works

A brushless DC drive (BLDC motor), a BLPM motor or an electronically commutated (EC) motor – exactly which motors are in the rare earth element discussion? These are all actually different names for permanently excited synchronous motors. These motors use electronic drives that are either AC line-powered or that use DC power supplies. The BLDC/BLPM motors usually operate with square-wave currents (block commutation). In contrast, EC motors can operate with both square-wave currents and with sinusoidal currents (sinusoidal commutation). The latter method achieves a significant noise and vibration reduction over the block commutation method. The design with sinusoidal currents corresponds to the classic synchronous motor.

Exploded view: The permanently excited synchronous motor, also called brushless direct current motor or EC motor.

An EC motor always requires a drive electronic that includes an inverter for the control of sequential and reversing current flows in all cores of the armature. This electronic commutation determines the strength and rotational speed of the resulting magnetic field that the armature generates. The permanent magnet rotor responds by revolving synchronously with the rotary field of the armature. In contrast, the speed of AC line-powered asynchronous motors depends on the frequency of the supply voltage and on the motor load. The torque-speed characteristic of an EC motor mimics a DC shunt motor, because both motor voltage and shaft speed, as well as motor current and shaft torque, correlate linearly. The angular rotor position is continuously determined by either sensor hardware in the motor, or the inverter senses the so-called counter-electromotive force and the motor currents for resolving the position mathematically. The idle motor speed depends on the applied voltage and the number of turns of the armature windings. Within the physical parameters of output power, torque and temperature exposure, nearly arbitrary motor speeds can be reached slip-free and synchronously with the rotating magnetic field. These speeds are completely independent of the AC line frequency.

Dynamic requirements determine magnet choice

As a result of their unique motor characteristics, external rotor EC fans seldom need strong rare earth elements. That type of magnetic quality is really only needed to minimize the moment of inertia for very dynamic servo motors.

Why our EC motors don’t need rare earth magnets

ebm-papst GreenTech EC motors for energy-efficient fans remain undisturbed by rare earth element scarcity, because the armature of a GreenTech EC motor is located inside and is surrounded by the rotor.

Cutaway: Centrifugal fan with external rotor motor.

Our energy-efficient fans remain undisturbed by rare earth element scarcity because the arrangement with external rotor motor achieves a higher torque than an internal rotor motor of the same size, magnet system and magnet thickness. An internal rotor motor has a restricted magnet volume, a reduced air gap surface and smaller radius. External rotor motors that use hard ferrite magnets cleverly applied to fans and blowers attain torque and efficiency levels that internal rotor motors can achieve only with rare earth magnets, due to limited volume and size.

A fan motor design with an external rotor has an additional advantage: The fan impeller mounts directly to the outer rotor, directly to the motor "housing". The result is a compact axial length and superior self-cooling of the external rotor motor.

To further discuss how our EC motors are different, contact us.

Dr Jürgen Schöne, R&D Director of Aerodynamics and Motor Technology at ebm-papst Mulfingen,Werner Müller, Manager of Motor Development at ebm-papst Mulfingen, Armin Hauer, Advanced Technology Manager at ebm-papst Inc.

The leading technology supplier ebm-papst has again been successful at the Baden-Württemberg Environmental Technology Prize. The AxiTop diffuser made of epylen, a wood-plastic composite, was nominated in the category "Energy Efficiency."

The jury presided over by Prof Dr Dieter Spath (Head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Head of the Institute for Human Factors and Technology Management at the University of Stuttgart) chose the winners in four categories from amongst 118 entries. This year's prize was presented by Franz Untersteller, the regional Minister of the Environment, on July 11, 2013, at the Stuttgart "Wagenhallen".

The distinction was accepted by Dr Bruno Lindl, Managing Director Research and Development ebm-papst Group: "We were particularly delighted to receive this distinction, as the product was developed on the basis of our GreenTech philosophy, which aims to manufacture products designed for maximum energy efficiency whilst at the same time preserving resources."

The diffuser helps to significantly reduce noise and enhance efficiency in applications such as heat exchangers. Lower sound levels are particularly important for fans used for example in residential areas, where noise is a critical factor. Energy savings of up to 27% are possible with a simultaneous reduction in operating noise of 7.2 dB(A). No design modifications are required even on retrofitting. Thanks to the use of epylen, a wood-plastic composite developed by ebm-papst, the company was able to add the ecological finishing touch to the already excellent quality of the diffuser.

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector has been awarding the Environmental Technology Prize every two years since 2009 in recognition of outstanding and innovative products in the field of environmental engineering. To qualify, products must make particularly efficient use of resources and help to preserve the environment. They must either be coming up for market launch or not have been on the market for longer than two years. ebm-papst have already won prizes twice before.

By Scott Beauchemin, VP of Engineering, ebm-papst Inc.

Our company’s product portfolio has expanded into much larger sizes over the past decade. Ten years ago, a large ebm-papst fan was 500mm to 630mm in diameter. Now, we’re selling fans up to 1.5 meters in diameter that are used in large-scale refrigeration and ventilation applications.

Because importing such large products from our manufacturing counterparts in Germany posed logistics and warehousing challenges, we at ebm-papst U.S. decided to take advantage of our 25+ years of value-added experience to localize production here in the U.S.

The ebm-papst fans we purchase from Germany are now built into larger sheet metal assemblies designed to meet specific customer needs. The majority of this customization happens at our Farmington, Conn.-based U.S. headquarters.

We began by localizing production of our larger axial fans, which are typically used in condensers for the refrigeration market or in chillers in the HVAC market. These fans consist of a GreenTech EC motor, HyBlade® axial fan blades, grill guard and sheet metal venturi. Our U.S. facility now produces the sheet metal venturi and the final fan assembly.

As a result, motors, blades and grill guards are now shipped from Germany in more densely packed pallets, increasing the amount of components sent in one container and helping to reduce our environmental impact.

The next step in the process was to localize production of RadiPac assemblies. A RadiPac is a backward curved impeller, driven by a GreenTech EC motor, contained in a sheet metal enclosure. As energy efficiency has become a hot topic in the U.S. market, demand for energy-efficient backward curved impellers using a GreenTech EC motor has increased significantly. These products are typically used in rooftop air conditioning units, computer room air conditioning units and air-handling units, just to name a few applications.

RadiPac assembly

Localizing this production comes with many benefits. Three of the main ones include:

1. Products made to order

A major benefit to producing axial fans and RadiPacs locally is our ability to customize each product. Our sheet metal capabilities allow us to easily alter the venturi on an axial fan or the sheet metal enclosure surrounding a backward curved impeller. We have the ability to make specific mounting provisions for a customer. We can powder paint the venturi a customer-specified color. The end result is a product that exactly matches each customer’s requirement.

2. Quick turnaround

Beside allowing design flexibility, local production allows us to quickly react to customer demand. One example: We have several customers that use the same base fan in three different product variations. The differentiating factor is the sheet metal venturi. Without localization, we would have to import all three fan assemblies from Germany. Stocking the correct product mix would always be a challenge. By localizing production, we can stock the base components (motors and blades) and customize the sheet metal to each customer’s specs.

3. Reduced carbon footprint

By producing the sheet metal venturi and the final axial fan assembly, the motors, blades and grill guards are now shipped from Germany in more densely packed pallets, increasing the amount of components sent in one container and helping to reduce our environmental impact.

Localized production is a trend that makes sense on many levels: efficiency, customer service, development of skills and jobs in our communities. What other benefits do you see? What opportunities are still out there?

Share you thoughts below!

by Tom Costello, Market Manager - Appliance & Heating

Commercial food equipment engineers are always on the look out for opportunities to improve the cooking performance of their gas fired appliances; therefore, recent industry design trends are taking a page from the comfort heating industry’s, condensing boiler technology. For more than 20 years the comfort heating industry has been perfecting the gas-air ratio control (GARC) system to modulate the combustion energy to the heat demand of the home, optimizing efficiency and reducing energy consumption. Now these same GARC assemblies are being applied to today’s gas fired commercial cooking applications for combi-ovens, conveyor ovens, and fryers.

Combi-ovens offer chefs the opportunity to utilize in one appliance three cooking modes while precisely maintaining the cooking temperature for (a) convective cooking, (b) steam cooking, and a (c) combination steam and convective cooking.  This multi-operational design is applied to counter-top to floor standing combi appliances that satisfy the demands of a small restaurant to a large institutional kitchen. The GARC technology allows for all three of these modes to existing in a fast acting but controlled release of energy that more efficiently cooks the food products.

Gas fired fryers also utilize the modulating GARC technology to respond to changes in load demand while offering precise temperature control of the oil for cooking and warm-up profiles. The GARC assembly is made of three main components: a premix ready gas blower, air-fuel mixer (venturi), and zero governor gas valve. The combination of all three of these components allows for the precise control of gas and air to be delivered to the burner in a constant ratio that also allow for variable gas-air input by speed controlling the blower.

Premix ready gas blower, venturi, and zero governor gas valve

This gas-air ratio control provides a pneumatic coupling between the blower and the gas valve via the venturi allow for the gas and air to be modulated by sending a variable speed signal to the blower motor. The result of this modulating combustion technology applied to cooking appliances is the precise temperature control, rapid response to load changes, and energy conservation during off peak hours that benefit either the restaurant owner, chef, or customer.

To learn more about this technology, please don’t hesitate to contact ebm-papst sales or marketing.

by Phil Hartman, Senior Director - Marketing, ebm-papst Inc.

With this year’s GreenDay theme of reducing and measuring CO2emissions we decided that one way to tackle this would be to leave some cars at home on June 5th.  This means carpooling, or getting to work by alternate transport such as cycling or on foot.  With enough participants, perhaps we could accumulate enough saved miles to make a dent in gas usage for a day. 

For me, cycling to work seemed like a good experiment since I don’t live too far from work.  A bike ride sounds easy, but before doing so I realized that a certain amount of thought had to be put into planning my route.  The most direct route (Rt 6) I normally take would put me together with cars driving at fairly high speeds in multiple lanes, going around curves, and over a small mountain; the good news is that the town recently painted bike lanes on Rt 6 where previously there were none.  On the other hand I could take a more indirect route using smaller back roads, but in many cases with no bike lanes and maybe more chances not to be seen by drivers.  In the end I decided to try my luck on the back roads to limit my exposure to high speed traffic and to avoid large intersections with multiple lanes to cross. 

I know from running that roads in the area aren’t always user-friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.  In some cases the roads either aren’t wide enough to comfortably accommodate a rider and traffic, and/or don’t have designated bike lanes, and/or the painted bike lane area is so tiny that it allows hardly any room for the runner or rider – an afterthought in road design not unlike fans sometimes being treated as an afterthought in system/cooling design!  Also there seems to be less control with cycling than with running in traffic.  While running, I face traffic and I can see what is coming at me, but with cycling the danger can be behind or perpendicular to you and you may not see danger coming - complicated by higher speeds achieved on a bike.  With either method you have to be very alert and try to be as visible as possible to drivers.  My bike ride to work opened my eyes even further to how much better roads could be designed if towns really wanted to support cycling.  There are Rails-To-Trails paths that go through Farmington which are perfect for cycling, but those paths are limited and were not useable for my commute to work from out of town.

After a very hot weekend, the morning of Green Day had perfect weather for biking to work.  While riding to work I noticed so much more detail about neighborhoods and the landscape than I do when driving.   As all cyclists and runners know, some drivers are more considerate than others when passing.  For my roundtrip, I have to say that most drivers were very accommodating and gave me adequate space when they passed.  I arrived to work energized and ready to go, and also enjoyed an invigorating ride home.

The result - I’m glad I ventured out on the bike to test the practicality of this method of transport.  I estimate that I saved approximately one gallon of gas, which may not seem like much but it all adds up especially over many people.  While cycling to work would not be practical for every day or year round commuting, there is no reason why I can’t find occasional days from spring through fall to ride to work on my bike.  It’s just a matter of planning and adjusting my schedule to make this possible, with the added benefit of reducing my carbon footprint.  If cycling to work does catch on within the company, we may have to build and install a bicycle rack to accommodate everyone – perhaps a new value added project for our manufacturing department?!

As a group using an alternative method of tranportation, we saved 275.5 miles = 12.8 gallons* of gas. And 0.114 metric tons of CO₂

*Based on an average fuel economy of 21.5 mpg, from the US EPA.

By Armin Hauer, Advanced Technology Manager 

Two weeks ago, I joined my German ebm-papst colleagues Katrin Schaake, Wolfgang Laufer and hundreds of scientists, researchers and engineers who swarmed San Antonio to attend three powerhouse events from June 3 - 7:     

• The Air Movement and Control Association International (AMCA) engineering conference    

• The International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI)’s annual technical congress with several hundred papers and meetings of 20 committees

• The ASME International Gas Turbine Institute’s TurboExpo 2013, which hosted vendors from 12 countries 

As a longtime corporate member, ebm-papst has actively participated in AMCA’s events and worked on its committees. Because fans and turbomachinery play an important role in aircraft engines, power plant turbines and many other applications that would be discussed at IGTI and ASME, this year AMCA decided to co-locate and co-time its conference to allow cross-pollination of ideas and expertise with the other two events. 

The scope of fan sizes explored during the AMCA conference spanned 3.6  to 157 in., speeds from 750 to 10,500 rpm, and absorbed power from 30 W to 20 MW. We fan engineers loved it! 

The AMCA schedule included Wolfgang’s presentation, “Numerical Investigation of Axial Fans in Serial Connection,” that discussed his team’s research on two-stage setups of compact cooling fans, which are used widely in electronic telecom and computing equipment. These connected fans operate mostly at part load. If one fan fails, the remaining fan will speed up to avoid a local pressure drop or recirculation in the application. 

Using 3D numerical methods, the ebm-papst team of aerodynamics engineers, led by Wolfgang, studied various two-stage set-ups of axial fans with 85 mm impeller diameters. The goal was to measure and compare steady and unsteady calculations of different serial fan configurations and compare results. 

Our team proved how a proper arrangement of two axial fans will increase both fan pressure rise and flow rate. This type of arrangement would benefit air flow through the system & enhance cooling.

Dr. Michael Schmitz, manager of aerodynamics and simulation research and development at ebm-papst-St. Georgen, is a member of IGTI’s recently created Fans and Blowers Committee. The papers sponsored by this committee highlighted fan technologies in hovercrafts and fan sound reduction techniques for locomotives. One researcher provided bio mimetic studies involving fan blades with leading-edge bumps similar to the tubercles of humpback whales. Another analyzed the tip-clearance noise of axial fans, comparing experiments with numerical simulation. Another IGTI paper discussed inverse design methodology for fans and blowers driven by a genetic algorithm. 

Other topics presented at the conference included computational fan development, innovations such as a carbon-fiber bladed fan for abrasive air streams and a pair of fire-resistant, reversible tunnel ventilation fans. 

Presentations also addressed the all-important testing and certification of fans. In addition to electrical safety, air performance, sound, overspeed, balance and vibration requirements, some fans must undergo seismic pre-qualification or high-temperature stress testing. 

A talk about permanent magnet fan motors provided a welcome refresher. In 2004, ebm-papst Inc. won the AHR Expo Innovation Award for incorporating magnetic drive technology in fans up to 50 in. diameter and 12 kW electrical input, which expanded products to a wide variety of HVAC/R applications that can benefit from these advances.  The exhibition rounded off our days with hands-on demonstrations, follow-up discussions and networking opportunities. 

Next year’s Turboexpo takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany, and we’re already looking forward to participating. 

What innovations in fan technology are benefiting your business environment? What areas can be improved for your application’s air-moving requirements? We’d love to hear from you – leave a comment and message below.

To celebrate Year Two of our global Every Day is a GreenDay initiative— and thank employees for their contributions to improving our environment — our Farmington, Conn. headquarters hosted an ice cream social in its central courtyard on a sunny, pleasant June 5.

ebm-papst facilities around the globe planned the day to coincide with the United Nation’s World Enviornment Day. Our Every Day is a GreenDay program is just one more example of our GreenTech philosophy and how we do business year round. 

ebm-papst Inc. employees enjoy a sunny afternoon break – ice cream included - in the company’s tranquil courtyard.

Employees receive gift bags with LED bulbs, a GreenTech sprayer and recipes to make environmentally friendly home cleaning solutions. 

Employees receive gift bags with LED bulbs, a GreenTech sprayer and recipes to make environmentally friendly home cleaning solutions.

Market Manager Tom Costello enjoys locally-sourced ice cream from the University of Connecticut Dairy Bar

Building on the launch of Every Day is a GreenDay last year, in May employees planted new trees around the ebm-papst campus, did a wetlands cleanup, brought paper to a company-wide shredding event and brought in their old electronics for recycling.

Joining the many employees who found ways to save energy on their commute by ride-sharing market manager Todd Cardillo powered his way in with a training run. Todd explains how he and his family are increasing their green activities at home:

Media Coordinator Julie Manning and her husband have been turning their home into an environmentally friendly haven, from recycling old kitchen cupboards for use in the garage, to installing energy-efficient appliances, to state-of-the-art, electricity-sipping lighting systems

Since the company launched its first GreenDay in 2012, Regional Sales Administrator Jessica Chaffin has taken new initiatives to save resources at home and work, including printing fewer documents (or only certain portions of a document), using both sides of a paper and consolidating customer shipments whenever possible.

Beginning this month, ebm-papst employees, partners and customers will be able to stay up to date on the company’s year-round GreenDay and GreenTech activities through the new GoGreen website, courtesy of Manager of Marketing and e-business Jamie Perkins, Marketing Assistant Meghan Finley and Media Coordinator Julie Manning.

Have an idea for our new GoGreen website? Contact us and let’s talk green!