ebm-papst Fans, Blowers and Technology

Under rainy skies, a celebration of green

While last Wednesday’s showers prevented an outdoor celebration, the weather didn’t dampen our Every Day is a Green Day luncheon at ebm-papst’s US headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut. Employees have been preparing for this day by bringing their old and outdated electronic devices to the office for recycling.

Just a small sampling of the many electronics collected this week!

Employees also took the opportunity to purchase energy efficient and environmentally friendly CFL lighting from TechniArt, Inc. and had the ability to shred personal documents with Cintas.

After eating locally-sourced hot dogs, burgers and strawberry shortcake, we learned what many employees do to be green at home and work with a trivia contest.

The winning answers:

“At work, I requested a filtration system for the Deburring Machine, and was granted... My house has energy efficient insulation, windows, faucets, thermostats on a timer set for occupancy times, no greater than 58°F. We grow our own vegetables, fruits, have a compost bin for the garbage. I have rain barrels to catch rain water for plants, a wood stove heats our house. Our town has, and we utilize, a transfer station, recycle bins. We have solar panels for hot water. We have CFLs throughout the house (inside & outside).” Thomas Dunbar, Facilities Maintenance.

“I supplement my transportation needs with an electric bicycle of my own design. Counting the 28 miles I put on it this weekend, I’ve logged over 12,300 miles on it. I use solar thermal panels of my own design to supplement my upstairs heating in the winter time. The panels use a re-programmed older revision ALU board and sample 5000 series fans from the previous decade. I drive a Smart car which has cut my commuting gas consumption in half. I’ve switched over to LED lighting in approximately half of my household.” Charles Blow, Design Engineer.

We also formally ‘threw the switch’ on the power inverter to begin converting energy produced by the new, additional 50 kilowatts of solar panels on the roof of our production facility into power for our facility for a total of 100 kw now installed. When that power isn’t needed, we’re sending excess power back to ‘the grid’.

Flipping the switch!

ebm-papst President and CEO Bob Sobolowski and Vice President of Engineering Scott Beauchamin with Mark Waldo, president of Waldo Electric, with Waldo’s energy inverter in the plant’s power control room.

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ebm-papst’s trash patrol hauls lots of junk

June 14

On Friday, the trash pickup team from ebm-papst donned tear proof clothing and braved weeds, thorns and wild animals to haul hidden trash from a public area next to Farmington River off of Route 4. Among the interesting items we found: tires and traffic cones! 

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Every Day is a GreenDay! Closing:

June 18

A closing newsletter was sent out to all employees, highlighting the winners of the trivia contest. A compilation of tips from all of the contest entries was included, to encourage the employees of ebm-papst to continue living a green life style.

Here are some different ways to expand your efforts:

• Motion detector lights throughout the house

• Wrap water tank to make it more efficient

• Wash clothes in cold water and line dry them

• Set heat to 65 degrees and AC to 80 degrees

• Use a vegetable garden to supplement your meals

• Bring all unwanted books to the library

• Use a composte pile to recycle kitchen waste

• Fill a bin with soapy water to wash pots and pans

• Use rain barrels to collect water for a garden and house plants

• Buy produce from local farm stands

At ebm-papst, our philosophy is focused on constantly trying to improve the effect the company has on the environment, whether through the products manufactured here or by the actions of those that represent the company. A recent undertaking was the installation of solar panels on the Tech Center and Manufacturing Facility at 110 Hyde Road. The solar panels became operational on June 16, 2011. The power generated by the panels is enough to satisfy the needs for powering the Tech Center offices. At the peak output, the panels are capable of producing 50kw of electricity.

Some facts and figures:

• 238 solar panels

• 32 Mega-watt hours have been generated to date

• Daily electricity production is more than enough to power the Tech Center offices

• Environmental equivalent to planting 425 trees

This is an aerial shot of the new solar panels on the Tech Center and Manufacturing Facility at ebm-papst. In the background are the corporate offices.

Campaigns for ‘being green’ are everywhere. The plastic water bottle I’m drinking out of uses about 1/3 of its label just to tell you that they’ve redesigned their bottles in an effort to be green. Here’s an idea, use less paper and make a smaller label. On my desk, a box of all natural sweetener - that’s made of recycled fiber - requests that you recycle it once it’s empty (and I will). More noticeable than that I see green buttons filled with white checks everywhere I look - the symbol for ebm-papst’s own green campaign, GreenTech.   

  Less of a campaign, and more a way of life, GreenTech is a name  put to the philosophy ebm-papst has used for decades. "Each new  product that we develop has to be better than its predecessor in terms of economy and ecology." An example of that philosophy in action is the ACmaxx series. This series started as an attempt to advance the standard technology of the basic  AC fan. The problem with the basic AC fan is its poor efficiency compared to DC technology.

• By giving our fan the ability to operate on AC mains power around the world, while retaining the AC fan’s mounting dimensions, a new standard was created. But this wasn’t good enough.

• While the ACmaxx could fit applications new and old because of its wide voltage range and compact dimensions, there was one problem. Due to the complexity of the electronics, the installation depth couldn’t replace all AC fans. Our next step was streamlining this series into an even better model – the i-Maxx.

The i-Maxx takes the ACmaxx concept to a whole new level.

• By integrating the drive, fan and converter electronics into the motor hub, the i-Maxx has the same dimensions of conventional AC fans, while maintaining the ability to connect to worldwide AC mains.

• We didn’t stop there. The i-maxx is also quieter, more compact, and more efficient than its predecessor. 

This way of life is not just for designing new and more efficient fans. It’s also in practice in the offices and in building the factories, locally and internationally. At the US corporate headquarters in Farmington, CT, and throughout all of the international locations, the employees are urged to recycle, not just bottles and cans, but paper as well, with several paper bins located throughout the office. On of the factories located in Hollenbach, Germany, uses solar power to generate its own energy. The factory was also designed to convert residual heat into a usable ventilation system. Here, at the corporate headquarters in Farmington, a renovation was just completed. Solar panels are up and running, providing our building with lighting that shuts off after a period of inactivity. That will keep us from being too sedentary- but that’s another issue for another company. Many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon, while ebm-papst has been driving.