Sustainable Energy Fund Elects Officers, Provides Overview Of 2008 Accomplishments

At its annual meeting recently, the Sustainable Energy Fund announced the election of new officers for the upcoming year and outlined its accomplishments in 2008.

 

Andrew Stein was elected Chairman. Robert J. Davis, from Throop, was elected as Vice-Chairman, and Alan A. Roman, from Reading, was elected as Secretary-Treasurer. Reverend John Ryan succeeds Dennis Maloskey and joins Eric J. Epstein, of Harrisburg, Gary F. Lamont, of Conyngham, and G. Scott Paterno, of Hummelstown to complete the Board.

 

Chairman Andrew Stein, from Barto, joined the Board in 2006 and succeeds Gary Lamont. In announcing Dennis Maloskey’s departure Chairman Stein stated “We would like to express our gratitude to Dennis Maloskey who completed is term. His vision has been a driving force in advancing the SEF’s mission to promote the use of renewable energy resources, clean energy technologies, and energy conservation.”

 

“We are so pleased to have a new board member of the caliber of Reverend Ryan”, Mr. Stein commented, “his extensive experience in education and business leadership, combined with his passion for renewable energy make him a wonderful choice to round out the 2009 Board of Directors.”

Reverend John Ryan, C.S.C., Ph.D., from Wilkes-Barre, is Director of the William G. McGowan School of Business at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre and succeeds Mr. Maloskey.

 

During the annual meeting, the SEF staff presented the annual plan to the Board of Directors.

Highlights of the past year include:

--SEF’s Solar Scholars program is a college-level solar education initiative that promotes the adoption and integration of renewable energy concepts and technologies into a school’s curriculum. Solar Scholars™ offers funding and incentives for students to design, build, operate and maintain a solar system of significant impact on their campus, for which they receive academic credit.

The solar energy education initiative prepares the next generation of leaders with the sustainable energy knowledge they will need to make informed decisions in the future. This year, 31 schools within the PPL territory, a partner in the 2008 Solar Scholar’s program, attended the week-long intensive training conference hosted by Dickinson College.

--Environmental Education Grant, SEF received a DEP Environmental Education Grant to promote the understanding of electric generation and energy conservation with via two types of light bulbs. SEF provides science teachers in Pennsylvania with lesson plans and activities including a curriculum unit, “Investigating CFLs and Incandescent Bulbs,” written for middle and high school grade levels. The unit includes lesson plans, four activities, vocabulary and formulas, and a resource page. The curriculum unit is available for free download on the SEF website.

 

To compliment the CFL curriculum, SEF developed a fundraising program where PA schools could sell CFLs rather than traditional fundraising products. Teachers, PTO officers, or student coordinators can sign up for the program on behalf of their schools.

--Small Business Lighting Rebate, SEF and PPL partnered to design and implement a new rebate program that provides small businesses up to $2,000 to help replace old or inefficient lighting with new energy efficient technology. The new Energy Star lighting will provide long-lasting energy savings. The program applies to small businesses with less than 100 employees, less than 25,000 square feet, and in good standing with PPL.

--Commercial Energy Efficiency Finance Program, over the past year, SEF developed CEEF to encourage businesses and organizations to implement energy efficiency projects via a creative financial program in which the business pays for the energy efficient upgrades with the electrical savings. The CEEF program offers many creative features such as allowing the business to start loan payments 3 months after the project is completed and increased loan payback periods to allow a positive cash flow.

 

The program pilot was Mt. Joy Wire, a company that manufactures and sells a variety of carbon steel, stainless steel and plated wire products as well as specializing in applications such as plating, tempering and crimping of wire. Mt. Joy Wire upgraded their lighting at a cost of $162,333. With a projected annual energy savings of $63,089, based on 2009 rates, Mt. Joy Wire will save more than $450,000 on electricity during the next 10 years.

--Green Build Program, SEF developed a Green Build program to help fund efficient, green or LEED building projects by Pennsylvania businesses, organizations, and municipalities. This Green Build program is (1) gap financing to complete the final portion of a green building finance package (2) replacement financing for owner/developer’s portion of the project funding and/or (3) financing for the energy-related portions of a green or LEED building project with traditional financing. In 2008, the Commonwealth Financing Authority designated SEF a Fund Manager for its Building PA program.

--LED Program, SEF has a financing program for Pennsylvania municipalities to upgrade traffic and pedestrian signals to new LED technologies that consume up to 90 percent less electricity than older incandescent lights. LED bulbs last an average of 10 years, versus one to three years for incandescent bulbs, thus municipalities also save labor and equipment costs. Recently, two municipalities purchased LEDs from the COSTARS website: Mifflinburg and Fairview Township. With the addition of these two projects, the SEF LED program has participated in the installation of almost 2,000 LED lenses; and saved almost 5 million kilowatt hours of electricity, and over 6,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

--Niche Market Financing,SEF niche market is the creativity in meeting the financial needs of businesses that support SEF’s mission. This year SEF had two such projects:

 

--Plextronics, a Pittsburgh based company, is a leading innovator of technology for printed electronics. The printed electronics market comprises next-generation light, power and circuitry products, including flexible displays, plastic solar cells and organic RFID tags. The financing will allow Plextronics to expand its research and manufacturing capabilities as well as increase its investment in sales and marketing.

 

--Environmental Management Group International, Inc. located in Media, Mains Dairy Farm located in Cumberland County, and SEF collaborated to construct an anaerobic digester for manure conversion and on-farm electricity generation.SEF and the Department of Environmental Protection provided more than $600,000 in funding for the project which will convert livestock manure from more than 500 cows into methane gas. The methane gas will feed either a modified internal combustion engine or solid oxide fuel cell to generate electricity for the farm and to the grid.

For more information, visit the Sustainable Energy Fund webpage.