Hertzler Systems Inc. has just made a substantial investment in reducing its carbon footprint through Northern Indiana Public Service Company’s Feed-in-Tariff program that “buys back” electrical power from customers that are generating their own clean energy.

Herztler is presently finishing the installation of 48 solar panels at its Goshen location that will feed electricity directly into NIPSCO’s power grid, generating an estimated 13,317 kWh per year and providing the equivalent of 44 percent of Hertzler’s current yearly electricity consumption.

The installing company estimates that over the next 25 years, the system will save 522,275 pounds of CO2 emissions, 1,676 pounds of smog-producing NOx, 1,517 pounds of acid rain-producing SOx, and 103 pounds of asthma-producing particulates. All of this is the equivalent of taking an average car off the road for 849,794 miles, or planting 4.5 acres of trees.

“Our investment is significant and the impact is significant,” said Evan Miller, president and CEO of Hertzler. NIPSCO also extends its clean energy buy back to wind and hydroelectric power, but pays the most, up to 30 cents per kWh, for solar power. By using more customer generated power, NIPSCO expects to slow its need to build new power plants to keep up with the increasing demand for electrical energy.

Hertzler Systems provides automated statistical process control (SPC) software for a wide variety of business and manufacturing concerns to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their operations and the quality of their products and services.

Miller noted the firm also filled some back-lot acreage four years ago with 550 trees, “creating a little woods” as part of its sustainability efforts. It also changed some of its lighting and expects to do more in that area to further reduce energy needs.

Miller called the solar panels “a good long-term investment and a way to reduce our carbon footprint, since we use a lot of electricity and do a fair amount of travel.”

“We’re serious about these efforts and we’ve put money into them because we’re part of an economy that is contributing to the warming of the planet. We have some responsibility to do something about it. We’re a leader in our field of expertise and we want to be a leader in this way too.”

Hertzler Systems has been a leader in Statistical Process Control, SPC software and Six Sigma for over 30 years and serves a diverse customer base in service, transactional and manufacturing environments. The company’s software and services enable clients to connect, collect, and analyze data, building a data infrastructure for making data-driven decisions. These capabilities help clients to reduce costs, cycle time and errors, and increase profitability.

Source: Hertzler Systems, Inside INdiana Business