Being ‘Green’ Pays Dividends

Sandy Alexander’s commitment to wind-generated electricity coincides with the company’s decrease in dependence on natural gas. In 2006, at a cost of more than $500,000, the printer replaced two existing afterburners with a highly efficient MEGTEC CleanSwitch regenerative thermal oxidizer, which destroys the emissions generated by its web presses and reuses them as fuel. The RTO is said to achieve an annual reduction of more than 10 million cubic feet of natural gas and save nearly 164,000 kilowatts of electricity per year. According to Chip Stine, senior vice president, as a service for environmentally minded customers, the company can measure and report by job the total VOC output based on the type of ink used, and cite the environmental benefit of using vegetable oil-based inks.