Pennsylvania’s Green Economy

When asked why he was so good, hockey icon Wayne Gretzky replied: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”*

As Leo Gerard, President of the Steel Worker’s Union, and Michael Peck of Gamesa, said in a recent editorial, “The world is skating toward multiple clean sources of energy in a carbon-free future.  The question is whether the U.S. has the political will to become a leader in the largest industry of this century, or whether it is willing to accept the economic and climatic consequences of failing to act.”

Pennsylvania has the will.  The Pew Charitable Trust rates Pennsylvania amongst the top three states in the nation that have capitalized on revitalizing their economy through projects that:

• Provide alternatives to carbon-based energy sources;
• Conserve the use of energy and all natural resources; and
• Reduce pollution (including GHG emissions) and repurposes waste.

But transformation takes time and money.  Since central Pennsylvania has faced the same economic hardships that have affected much of rural America, a recent press tour sponsored by Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), provided key insights into how Pennsylvania is meeting these challenges.

Collaboration

One of the hallmarks of the Pennsylvania approach is an aggressive effort to build collaborations between the private sector, universities, emerging companies and technologies, nonprofits, and public support.  While the state is spending funds and receiving federal dollars, they do so when those dollars are matched, if not exceeded, by private investment, or where the state can see measurable results in job growth and revenue.

One Example is the $7 million that Pennsylvania invested in 6 projects, which brought in over $55 million in private capital. Another is a joint project which  matched a $12 million Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act  (ARRA) grant with $36 million from The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), the nonprofit that will manage a revolving loan fund.  The funds are for projects that reduce energy within a facility by 25%, or develop and install technologies that produce electricity from renewable resources. As monies are paid back, they will be re-loaned to other projects.

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, provides operational assistance, entrepreneurial support, and investment capital to emerging tech-based companies and small, existing manufacturers for the purpose of creating and retaining jobs in Pennsylvania.  The organization has created a dynamic virtual incubator to develop an entrepreneurial community surrounding the concepts of clean, alternative energy. The heart of the Virtual Energy Incubator (VEI) is a set of programs designed to assist member companies exploit new energy-related technologies. Incubator members can easily interact with other companies that have the same needs for funding relative to prototype development, testing, and market research.  The virtual nature of the incubator creates the opportunity for networking and resource sharing without the need for expensive travel and time consuming face-to-face meetings.

Innovation Transfer Network

Yet another project is addressing jobs in an area that is traditionally focused on agriculture, by encouraging educational institution and entrepreneurial partnerships. The Innovation Transfer Network (ITN), sought and received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help colleges partner with companies to bring technologies to market, and to speed steps to commercialization. ITN is a first-of-its-kind initiative created to leverage the expertise and innovation taking place at the region’s smaller colleges and universities, such as the 14 institutions eligible for the grant, including Penn State Harrisburg, Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Harrisburg Area Community College, and Shippensburg University.

There are other programs that help private citizens afford renewable energy installations, or build strong recycling operations within their municipalities. The goal of these programs is to grow new jobs for rural workers and their families, and rebuild a community infrastructure that was largely left behind by the high tech revolution of the 80′s and 90′s.

MANTEC

Created in 1988 by Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, MANTEC is a nonprofit that serves the manufacturing community as one of seven Industrial Resource Centers (IRCs) across Pennsylvania’s small to medium sized manufacturers. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through DCED, supports MANTEC, its 2,800 manufacturers and the Industrial Resource Centers.  MANTEC works with companies to help them retain and increase sales, improve plant and equipment investments, and find the “low hanging fruit” of savings and workforce retention.  Using LEAN and Six Sigma process, they help companies to do more by using less, which has helped many Pennsylvania companies compete with larger companies and expand globally.  Since its focus is on processes that use less, recycle and reuse, efficiency for MANTEC is about competitive manufacturing that keeps Pennsylvanians working.  The organization  can boast of over $110 million in sales, savings and improvements to over 200 Pennsylvania manufacturers. For a video of MANTEC, click here.

Rebuilding and Reusing

Central Pennsylvania is rich in beautiful older houses and buildings, and a legacy of towns which once served their populations well.  Looking to rebuild that paradigm, instead of tearing it down and building a newer model, is one of the ways that a green economy is saving money while rebuilding communities focused on local needs and resources.  One real estate developer is capitalizing on that model.

GreenWorks

GreenWorks is a for-profit company and works to enhance the quality of life in the region by creating new communities in previously developed urban areas. Founded by “serial entrepreneur” Doug Neidich, GreenWorks is an innovative public-private partnership that provides “win-win scenarios for all stakeholders, returning a profit for the savvy investor.” Since 2005, they have developed over $25 million worth of projects in downtown Harrisburg andCarlisle, two of the many U.S. cities that got lost in the rush to suburbs and malls.

Their projects provide renewed business space, occupied by emerging and small businesses.  By focusing on the surrounding community, GreenWorks integrates community development, re-invigorating “walkable” live, work, play and learn neighborhoods.  They actively seek out brownfields–that is land that has been abandoned and where redevelopment may be complicated by environmental contamination–remediating old problems with new ideas. Using solar, geothermal, and wind, they renovate old or build new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings.

Although GreenWorks sounds like a nonprofit with a mission, they are a competitive real estate development firm that is banking on central Pennsylvania, and providing some of the needed infrastructure to house new ventures.

The Green Center

Down the street from GreenWorks is The Campus Square building, home to the Green Center of Central Pennsylvania. The Green Center of Central Pennsylvania is a partnership between Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) and developer GreenWorks to promote growth of environmental technology. Since its opening on April 22, 2010, it has quickly become the “brightest green” commercial building in the region, using the building’s design and alternative energy systems as a working showcase for low energy buildings.  The Center hosts public information seminars on green technology and practices, as well as developing a workforce by providing customized training and consulting. The Green Center also partners with HACC as well as other academic partners to offer degree and non-degree classes in green subjects.  Area professional firms with a green emphasis were  recruited to join the center and collaborate with each other and local schools and to assist in the Center’s educational mission.

Technologies

Central Pennsylvania, which has a population accustomed to working hard and getting value from the land, needs a range of job opportunities.  As Pennsylvania’s Governor Edward G. Rendell said recently:

“Energy independence means creating jobs at home that can’t be outsourced. As we emerge from the recession, we need to intensify our efforts to create good jobs and grow the economy.  By investing in the green economy, we can increase employment while at the same time reducing energy consumption, saving money, and preserving the natural wonders with which we were blessed.”

Some would argue that as manufacturing moved abroad or relocated to other states, Pennsylvania lost the base that augmented the small towns and provided an alternative for the small farmer.  Now the state is looking at renewable technologies that range from low to high tech, from growing plants for fuel or nanowires for solar panels, to small research labs and large facilities manufacturing equipment used worldwide.

Keystone Biofuels

The cornerstone of Keystone Biofuels (KBI) is biodiesel fuel, which it has been manufacturing since 2006 as the longest running biodiesel production facility in Pennsylvania. KBI is also researching ways to make to make biodiesel production even cleaner and more valuable. In addition to biodiesel, they are working on ways to offer new energy solutions for customers by developing second generation feedstocks and beneficial uses for co-product streams.

One approach, in progress, is Unicarb, will use the wastes and co-products generated from the production of biodiesel to treat nitrates in sewer treatment plants. Nitrates in water is a worldwide problem.  Forty nine states cite nutrients, excessive algal growth or “dead zones” where there is not enough oxygen in the water.  Unicarb is a clean, efficient way to remove nitrates, so the waste from KBI’s process will become a helpful product for another application.

KBI is also is looking to drive electrical generators with biodiesel, so that they can take their entire operation off the grid, using no fossil fuel generated electricity.

Penn State Biofuels

The basis for KBI’s biodiesel is plants that are grown on land not suitable for food production. They are also helping to sponsor a program at Penn State Harrisburg, to make high oil content plants, such as Jatropha, with stronger roots so that they are more drought and temperature tolerant.

Dr.  Sairam V. Rudrabhatla is Penn State Harrisburg’s lead plant biotechnology researcher and investigating ways to alter biofuel crops to thrive in Pennsylvania’s climate and produce higher yields on land with little other agricultural value.

Penn State’s Harrisburg’s biofuels research provides undergraduate environmental engineering and life science students with a real-life, hands-on experience.  Penn State Harrisburg recently received an $ 817,000 grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority to develop a $1.6 million Central Pennsylvania Laboratory for biofuels research and a teaching facility on campus.  The laboratory project will consist of a 3,000-square-foot biotechnology development and deployment   laboratory and a specialized 1,500-square-foot greenhouse complex.

Komax

Solar panels are amongst the most complex of manufacturing tasks.  The end product is like a series of pancakes and fillings–microns thin–that must be created, laminated, cut and  assembled.  Small flaws have a major impact on efficiency: that is the percentage of solar light that is converted to energy.

Komax builds photovoltaic automation systems, along with high speed automation for the electronics, medtech, and automotive industries. Some of their modules are standardized “off the shelf” while others are customized, catering to the specific designs used by different solar panel companies.  Founded in 1975 by Max Koch, the solar business of Komax was launched in 2001 with the acquisition of Brian Micciche’s ASCOR.  In the last three years, they have tripled their work force, and moved into a 100,000 square foot facility in Springettsbury, PA.

Illuminex

Nanotechnology is the science of very small things that have very powerful uses.  Just seeing nano particles requires very advanced, and very expensive equipment.  Designing and testing new ways to use such particles is another financial hurdle. And yet two companies nestled in central Pennsylvania are doing just that.

1 human hair=on average is 100 microns.
1 micron = 1,000 nanometers.
1 nanometer = 100,000 times a human hair.

Illuminex was started by Joe Habib on a veritable shoe string.  Instead of launching with millions in investor backing, he started a company on the leading edge of technology by partnering with bigger companies like Raytheon and Thermacore, making use of small government grants from agencies such as National Science Foundation, and scrounging for second hand equipment.  Settled in a former RCA color TV factory in Lancaster, his company is making nanowires. These can be used to create a surface, much like a shag carpet, but on a tiny scale. Companies, looking at Habib’s technology, have tested it to direct heat away from temperature sensitive devices such as computers, radar and medical devices.

Illuminex is currently working with Philadelphia College of Textiles to investigate a process for weaving nanowires into a fabric.  Habib envisions a day when tents could be made out a material that would be a portable solar energy source for the military–or iPad dependent campers.

Solarity

In a similar approach–using nanotechnology–but with a different application, Steve Fonash’s Solarity, at Penn State Innovation Park in State College, is developing the next generation of solar technologies. The company was one of the first to cross the barrier in thin film, creating large panels without the breakage and flaws that lead to most thin film photovoltaics being about the size of a DVD. The challenges in thin film have also kept the prices high, although thin film is more efficient than standard photovoltaics.

Increasing efficiency is the big challenge.  As Fonash says, the largest drawback to solar energy is the way that solar panels turn sunlight into energy.  Currently, the average amount of energy produced is well under 18%.  The substrate which absorbs light is one barrier. To understand a substrate, imagine an inch thick slab of malleable clay–although the actual substrate is measured in microns not inches.  If the surface is flat, the substrate is inexpensive but inefficient.  If the surface is pitted with holes, like if you were to poke it many times with a pencil, then it would be more expensive but more efficient, since the holes would increase the surface area that can absorb light. Solarity is looking at developing more light absorbent nano surfaces that will help bring down manufacturing costs while bringing up efficiency.

The Green Economy

These are just a few of the projects that Pennsylvania is using to create a robust economy by investing in a green economy future.  In fact, Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that have managed to grow employment in the last year by over 1.1%. By planning for the future that is coming, it looks like Pennsylvania and Governor Rendell are winning right now.

* With due deference to Pittsburgh Penguin and Philadelphia Flyer hockey greats like Mario Lemieux and Bobby Clarke.

Reported by Joenathan Dean, AIA, LEED AP