The Lansing Board of Water & Light has received a Return on Environment Partnership Award from General Electric for improving power plant efficiency that resulted in lower costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The award, granted through GE Water – a business unit of GE Energy – recognizes “a select group of customers whose environmental, health and safety achievements, along with cost reductions, clearly demonstrate that environmental responsibility and improved profitability are perfectly compatible goals.”
BWL General Manager J. Peter Lark recently accepted the award from GE representatives, noting: “Our great staff, working in consultation with GE, found innovative ways to clean the main condenser in our Erickson Power Station, without having to shut down the system.
“As a result, we made significant cost savings, reduced solid waste and prevented an estimated 86 tons of greenhouse gas emissions,” Lark said.
GE cited several positive factors in announcing the award:
- The BWL showed initiative and innovation by creating a process for cleaning the power plant’s main condenser while it was “online.” This reduced fuel consumption and emissions, and avoided an outage and associated expenses estimated at $150,000.
- Reduction of 720 tons of solid waste because less fuel was burned.
- Reduction of an estimated 86 tons of emissions because less fuel was burned.
- The use of specialized chemicals typically used for online condenser cleaning was completely avoided with the BWL’s innovative approach. The procedure was completed while meeting all environmental discharge limits.
Lark accepted the Return on Environment Award at a recent ceremony in Lansing. The award itself is made of hand-cut Heritage Irish Crystal.
The Lansing Board of Water & Light is Michigan’s largest public utility, serving more than 96,000 electric customers.
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