Cambria County-based steel producer Gautier Steel Ltd saved money and improved the environment by using energy more efficiently and reducing waste.

Gautier Steel is one of the nation’s leading steel producers of hot rolled carbon and alloy flats, sharp cornered squares and special sections, received a $100,000 loan from the Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account Program.

Gautier used the funds to improve the efficiency of its operation by converting the company’s electrical supply from 25 cycle to 60 cycle, thereby eliminating the need for a frequency converter. This conversion greatly reduced the amount of electricity that the company used.

The company also realized a reduction in its water consumption used in the mill cooling and a reduction of the amount of natural gas used for its reheat furnace.

During the last three years, Gautier has reported saving 10,836 MWH (megawatt hours) of electricity, 48,614 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas and 121,021 MGALS (megagallons) of water.

This amounted to a savings of approximately $1.3 million in the three years since implementing the project. The company has already achieved its projected payback timeframe and the savings have already paid for the cost of the project.

In order to help small businesses implement pollution prevention and energy efficiency projects, DEP and the Department of Community and Economic Development administer the PPAA loan program. Since the inception of the loan program in 1999, DEP has received 171 loan applications totaling more than $8.4 million.

The loan program is available to any small business owner whose pollution prevention/energy efficiency project is located in Pennsylvania. The business must have 100 or fewer full-time employees and be a separate legal business entity. The loan must be used to purchase or upgrade equipment, or to implement a process change, that reduces or reuses raw materials on-site, reduces the production of waste at the source or significantly reduces energy consumption.

Equipment and processes that focus on recycling or pollution control (scrubbers, filters, dust collectors, etc.) are ineligible for the loan. The project must have a payback period less than or equal to the term of the loan and the expected benefits must extend beyond the term of the loan.

The maximum loan amount is $100,000 with a 2 percent fixed interest rate and a maximum term of ten years.

For more information, visit DEP's Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account webpage or contact Gene DelVecchio at 717-772-8951 or send e-mail to: gdelvecchi@state.pa.us .

1/25/2008