<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Olympia, WA -</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">12.7.12</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Stemilt Growers has been acknowledged for its green energy efforts. Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire recognize Stemilt Growers with a Governor’s Award for Leadership in Energy Performance during an awards ceremony. The event was held at the state Capitol last week. The company received the honor for significantly reducing its energy use during the past two years. Stemilt accomplished the feat with help from Chelan County Public Utility District.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Stemilt’s Tate Mathison, Sales Team Leader, and Monty Leavitt, Refrigeration Manager, accepted the award on behalf of the company. The awards recognized exceptional energy efficiency efforts by Washington state industries as part of the Washington Industrial Energy Leaders program.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/LeadershipInEnergyPerformanceAward.jpg" alt="images120712" /> (Stemilt president West Mathison and refrigeration manager, Monty Leavitt with the company’s Governor’s Award for Leadership in Energy Performance)<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“It’s a great honor for Stemilt to be recognized as an energy leader in Washington, a state with a great ‘green’ reputation. These energy savings projects and this award were made possible by our work with Chelan County PUD and the foresight of people like Jim White and Monty Leavitt to realize changes in our operations that would conserve energy for years to come,” said Roger Pepperl, Stemilt Marketing Director.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Stemilt reduced energy consumption at its largest fruit packing facility, Olds Station, by 30 percent over the past two years. A great amount of the energy used at the facility is attributed to the industrial refrigeration and controlled atmosphere equipment that is used to keep the fruit fresh until it can be processed and shipped, according to a press release. The company was able to make efficiency improvements by reducing the speed of its industrial refrigeration fans and installing CO2 scrubbers to control the atmosphere in storage rooms at Olds Station.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Controls on refrigeration fans have helped with the cause as well as the installation of CO2 scrubbers to assist with controlling the amount of CO2 inside fruit storage rooms.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Stemilt has achieved energy savings of 8,770,190 kWh per year with these efforts. This number equates to $167,000 in utility costs annually, equivalent to the energy used to power an estimated 400 all-electric homes in Chelan County. The project was made possible with help from Chelan County PUD and its Resource$mart Program.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">These two Stemilt projects cost a combined $1 million to implement with 625,000 was paid for through rebates from the PUD. Washington State University contributed $50,000 on the variable frequency drive project. Chelan County PUD’s expertise in energy conservation has allowed the company to see this project and others come to fruition over the past 12 years.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.stemilt.com/StemiltHome" target="_new">Stemilt</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
