{"id":4910,"date":"2012-11-27T15:16:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T21:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=4910"},"modified":"2016-02-04T12:34:31","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T18:34:31","slug":"companies-get-greener-with-student-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/companies-get-greener-with-student-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Companies get greener with student power"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ellen Forde, senior in industrial engineering, gets guidance from engineering post doctoral research associate Yanan Yue. Forde, who is earning her second bachelor’s degree, is one of 15 students this semester in the Industrial Assessment Center. (Photo by Peter Jakubowski)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ellen Forde has seen the power small changes can have on a company\u2019s bottom line. An engineering student working with 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Industrial Assessment Center (IAC), Forde is part of a student team that helps companies find ways to reduce energy usage, waste and costs.<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cWisconsin is an excellent place for this center because we only work with small and medium-sized manufacturing companies\u201d
\n– Chris Yuan
\n<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cZero waste was a long-term goal of one of the companies we assessed, but they were having trouble getting employees to participate in recycling,\u201d she says.\u00a0 The remedy, she remembers, was simple geography.\u00a0 \u201cI suggested they move where they sorted recycling so that no one was passing by the [non-recyclable] trash collection area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The potential for energy efficiency and environmental benefit is highest in industrial manufacturing, which consumes about a quarter of the electricity in the U.S. and is responsible for about the same amount of CO2<\/sub> emissions as cars, says IAC Director Chris Yuan.<\/p>\n

Backed by more than $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, the IAC at 51ÁÔÆæ is the only such center in Wisconsin and the largest of the 24 funded nationwide. Additional funding comes from 51ÁÔÆæ and Wisconsin Focus on Energy.<\/p>\n

Rewards<\/strong><\/p>\n

So far this year, the IAC has assessed 15 companies on its way to an annual target of 20.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Graduate students Sidharth Parman (left) and Divvesh Patel (second from left) get a tour of the CarlisleIT plant from employee Paul Smyczek. Assistant professor Chris Yuan is at center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWisconsin is an excellent place for this center because we only work with small and medium-sized manufacturing companies,\u201d says Yuan, also an assistant professor of engineering. \u201cOf the top manufacturing companies in the state, more than 90 percent are this size.\u201d<\/p>\n

IAC recommendations save clients an average of $50,000 a year, with a typical payback on investment of 1.5 years, although it could be as short as a few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe savings figure depends on the company practices, its size, whether they use old equipment and whether they implement all the recommendations,\u201d says Yuan, who worked with companies like Ford and General Motors on green manufacturing practices before coming to 51ÁÔÆæ in 2009. \u201cWe also work with Focus on Energy, which offers incentives for upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Training, but also access<\/strong><\/p>\n

Training students in the growing field of industrial energy-system assessment is another priority of the center. An even mix of graduate and undergraduate students this semester is supervised by five 51ÁÔÆæ faculty members and one postdoctoral researcher, Yanan Yue.<\/p>\n

Students usually have limited opportunities to gain access to a company and see all the levels of operations during college, says Yuan. Through the IAC, students have applied efficiency strategies to a wide range of manufacturers \u2013 from foundries to food processers \u2013 and witnessed how each business approaches waste issues.<\/p>\n

Forde\u2019s work with the center has given her a clearer picture of what a career in engineering might entail. \u201cOn my first assessment, that\u2019s when it hit me \u2013 this is what engineers do,\u201d she says. \u201cBefore, I didn\u2019t have an exact picture in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CarlisleIT<\/a>
CarlisleIT engineer Jerry Harrison (left) discusses production of housing for aircraft wiring with graduate students Sidharth Parman and Jianyang Li. Postdoctoral fellow Yanan Yue is at center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another lesson she learned is that recycling is still viewed as a linear process, both economically and environmentally. IAC teams have a chance to present new options.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn one company, they had \u2018hot areas,\u2019 where the hand tools could reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit,\u201d Forde says. \u201cSo we recommended recovering that heat for use in a combustion process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to strategies, students try to quantify the results of their suggestions for their clients, says Yue.<\/p>\n

On a recent plant assessment at Carlisle Interconnect Technologies in Franklin, students suggested the company invest in lighting sensors and purchase a cardboard baler because recycling companies pay more for baled cardboard. The team also recommended the company install its air compressor intake at a cooler location in the plant, says Yue. The move increases the mass flow rate of the air, saving energy in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Industrial Assessment Center is the only center of its kind in Wisconsin and the largest of the 24 funded nationwide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[],"section":[132,246],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[149,150],"class_list":["post-4910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-research","section-business","section-business-world-affairs","uwmnews-feed-engineering-applied-science","uwmnews-feed-engineering"],"yoast_head":"\nCompanies get greener with student power<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Industrial Assessment Center is the only center of its kind in Wisconsin and the largest of the 24 funded nationwide.\" \/>\n<meta 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