Rizco Design

As gas prices continue to soar and green-powered products appear in the marketplace, the awareness and demand for renewable energy continues to rise. The five types of green energy include hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, biogas and biomass. The benefits? According to the EPA, green power purchases avoid carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, reduce some types of air pollution, hedge against future electricity price increases, serve as a brand differentiator, generate customer, investor or stakeholder loyalty and employee pride, create positive publicity and enhance your organization’s public image and demonstrate civic leadership. Early in 2007, Rizco Design converted its office to a 50% hydro/50% wind platform, so we thought it would be important to learn a bit more.

Back in June of 2008, Rizco Design hopped in a car and headed south to Atlantic City, New Jersey, not to gamble away our money or drink ourselves silly, (which would have been fun as well!) but instead to learn more about renewable energy! A quick hour and a half later we landed at our destination, Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA), a well air-conditioned, dimly lit building, filled with flashing lights and a few bells and whistles. ACUA is an agency that provides responsible water and land waste management to southern New Jersey and is the home of the first commercial wind farm in NJ that creates sustainable power along the coastline.

Thomas Lauletta, our trusty guide and VP at ACUA, filled us in on the history of the wind farm that was developed by Community Energy and Jersey-Atlantic Wind. There are five 380-foot wind turbines that are named after the wives of the top executives including Deirdre, K.C., Cathy, May and Carol! The windmills are situated on ACUA’s wastewater management plant, where they generate up to 1.5 megawatts of power. Their main function is to feed New Jersey’s energy grid with alternative energy, although they also provide 1/3 of the plant’s power in exchange for the ideal location for wind in the area. Additionally, almost three thousand solar panels also supply energy for the plant as well, in order to minimize the amount of non-renewable energy used. ACUA even has an electric car named “Sunny “on site too that is wind and solar powered! As you can imagine, tons of wastewater is pumped through the plant around the clock that requires a great deal of power. It is great to see that ACUA is clearly committed minimizing their environmental footprint.

Rizco’s second stop was to ACUA’s Environmental Park, a 360-acre compound that provides land waste management for much of southern New Jersey.  Michele Bellinger, ACUA’s Public Education Director, introduced us to the organization’s green platform. From hybrid vehicles, to a bio-diesel fueling station, to a “Geo” Administrative Building, ACUA’s Environmental Park is at the forefront of environmental responsibility. The land is divided up in to different areas of waste management. In one area, biodegradable land waste, such as wood, branches and leaves are recycled into different types of bio-soil and bio-mulch through a composting process that takes 3 to 6 months. In another building, plastics, glass, paper and cardboard are collected, sorted and distributed to off-site centers for recycling. Possibly the most impressive area of the park, though, is its landfill project. Generally, landfills would seem more offensive than impressive, but in this case, ACUA is putting their un-avoidable waste to work! In a typical landfill setting, methane and other harmful greenhouse gases are emitted into the air. ACUA has capped off inactive areas and currently pumps out these gases via underground gas wells, which is burned off and converted into energy! The landfill supplies 100% of the park’s energy while preventing gases from polluting the air! Genius!

All in all, it was definitely worth the trip down to ACUA to see the processes and gain a better understanding of wind and other alternative energy sources.  Tours are free, so call and schedule one for your company!

Michele Bellinger
ACUA Public Education
509 272-6937