Helping industry go hybrid

HARVARD - When David Koepp and Chuck Davis started All World Machinery Supply Inc. in 1993, they did not set out to pioneer energy efficient technologies and environmental stewardship in the industrial sector.

"I didn't think green. I wasn't pouring oil in a Dumpster, but I didn't go out of my way," Koepp said.

Machine tool parts distributor All World Machinery Supply Inc. relocated from Belvidere to Harvard in 1998, and in July of 2007 bought the city's 7,200-square-foot "incubator building" at 650 Chippewa Road for nearly $400,000.

Since its relocation just before the start of the 21st century, the company implemented use of recycled paper in its offices and for shipping, as well as biodegradable packing materials. Company leaders also encourage employees to buy hybrid vehicles by paying 10 percent of the car's cost, Koepp said.

But the fastest-growing segment of the company perhaps speaks loudest about its deepening environmental bent. During the past five years, All World has sold about 1,000 hybrid hydraulic units that slash machines' energy consumption.

Green leap

The industrial sector emitted 28.3 percent of the nearly 6,000 million tons of carbon dioxide produced in the United States in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That proportion is second to transportation, which is 35.6 percent. In the United States, 98 percent of carbon dioxide is emitted from fossil fuel combustion, the EIA points out, so carbon dioxide emissions and energy use are intertwined.

Hydraulic units account for 50 or 60 percent of machines' power consumption.

The hybrid hydraulic units reduce carbon emissions as well as heat, noise and operating costs, Koepp said.

Normal hydraulic units run continuously, even if their container machines shut down, slow down or aren't being used during some of a production process. That wastes energy by unnecessarily running the unit. Additionally, hydraulic units generate heat, which taxes the climate control system of the facility. Dubbed by All World engineering manager Darrell Janesak "hydraulics with a brain", the Eco Rich units essentially idle when the machines to which they belong shut down or don't need to run.

Local lens

Local customers who've implemented the technology include Otto Engineering of Carpentersville. Otto makes two-way radio accessories and control grips and switches. Products include control grips, joysticks, surveillance kits and wireless accessories, like headsets. The company also fashions first-responder agencies with communications equipment. The switches and control grips are used in the heavy equipment, aerospace, marine, medical and communications fields, among others.

Tom Secreto, supervisor in Otto's machine shop, said Otto has long bought obscure foreign machine parts from All World.

Secreto said Otto piloted a machine in 2002. It worked so well Otto systematically switched over the hydraulic units of 85 percent of its machines, Secreto explained.

Those not swapped were left out due to size: the units work on machines that weigh about 10,000 pounds.

"So now the hydraulics aren't running when they don't need to," Secreto said. "It's a huge savings for the company as well as it's good for the environment."

By the numbers

Koeppe has crunched the numbers, both predicted and actual. His calculations show that a 250-unit factory running 16 hours a day all year could save money, energy and carbon emissions by switching to hybrid hydraulics:

- Energy bills reduced from $2.3 million to $266,000.

- 4.17 kilowatt hours saved.

- Reducing carbon emissions as much as would planting 165,000 trees or parking 434 cars traveling 13,400 miles per year.