HARBEC
cares about the environment and it’s reflected in everything
we do. By combining energy efficient equipment with on-site green energy
sources, we reduce our green house
gas (GHG) emissions, and lower our environmental impact on our natural
resources, such as water, land and air.
- Energy
efficient equipment:
In
addition to the reduced noise levels, HARBEC’s transition
to all electric presses has lowered energy costs up to 50% and
has increased processing speed and cycle time. Where we used
to produce buckets of start-up parts to achieve process accuracy,
repeatability and predictability, we can now get there in only
a few parts. And we don’t waste energy in the
process.
- 100%
green fleet:
Super,
ultra-low emissions are our “driving” force – pun
intended. Our company-owned vehicles include hybrids, all
electric (with zero emissions) and those that run on bio-diesel
or compressed
natural gas (CNG). Our bio-diesel delivery truck alone reduces
emissions by 50-90% over regular diesel.
- On-site
renewable energy source:
 Over five years ago, HARBEC installed
a wind turbine to provide a clean, sustainable and renewable energy
source: wind (which, in the winters of Upstate NY, is in abundant supply).
- Utility
grid connection to green power:
All of the electricity HARBEC purchases from the utility is green power
-
Our
future: 100% green power:
HARBEC
is currently undertaking a test to convert two of our turbines
from natural gas to liquid fuel.
Given that bio-diesel is a renewable fuel that is the result
of photosynthesis, this would be a “net zero” environmental
contribution. As such, it may lead us to 100% green power with
a small additional investment.
-
Our
desire: 100% plastic conversion:
At
the heart of HARBEC is one key question that should be posed
to all manufacturers: Why use metals when
you don’t have to? If you haven’t converted to
plastic yet, please speak to us. We can help.
- Lighting the way to lower energy use:
Recently HARBEC completed a total building lighting system upgrade which will reduce the amount of energy used by nearly 50%. This means half as much greenhouse gas is generated while our bill is reduced proportionally.
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At
HARBEC, we foster a mentality of sustainability that permeates our
corporate culture. With any project
or new initiative, employees ask themselves, “How does this impact
the environment?” As a team, we have a proactive awareness, and
personal responsibility, for protecting the environment. As a result,
we have developed many ingenious solutions to conserving water, reusing
scrap, and eliminating pollutants.
Water
conservation and re-use:
HARBEC saves over one million gallons of water per year by utilizing
an 800K gallon reservoir to capture and hold rain water. This
system uses thermal mass to temper heated process waste water,
(i.e., dissipate
the heat) prior to sending it to our cooling tower, which reduces
the energy required for total cooling requirements.
Ecostones™:
the HARBEC remediation alternative: 
HARBEC developed a unique jack-shaped product made of scrap plastic
materials that has twice the surface area and twice the voids
of dolomite. While HARBEC employs a typical cattail filtration system
to remediate
parking lot runoff (i.e., pollutants such as salt and oil), the
cattail roots, and associated, microorganisms live in the vast
surface areas
and voids of the Ecostones, instead of soil. The efficiency of these HARBEC
Ecostones has been proven by A/B tests of side-by-side dolomite
vs. Ecostone for water purification in ponds.
Chemical-free
water filtration:
Unlike typical water filtration systems that use multiple chemicals to purify water prior to dumping it into streams, the
HARBEC filtration
system uses no chemicals. HARBEC employs an eddy current process,
where dissimilar metals are utilized to purify industrial waste
water. Net result: the water that HARBEC releases into the environment
under
its SPDES permit is cleaner than the city water which was originally
sourced.
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