EAM Mosca reduces environmental footprint

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.comTimes Leader Staff Writer

WEST HAZLETON — EAM Mosca, a polypropylene and polyester strapping manufacturer in the Valmont Industrial Park, says it will save approximately $46,000 each year on electricity costs thanks to new energy options it’s implemented.

EAM Mosca begins with a lighting upgrade that will replace all of the fixtures in the manufacturing area, which accounts for about eight percent of the company’s electricity usage.

The 500 new lighting fixtures being installed by George J. Hayden, Inc. of Hazleton at EAM Mosca’s 141,500-square-foot facility will save the company approximately $46,000 annually, said EAM Mosca Project Engineer Bob Szumilo. The upgrades are part of an energy program implemented by CAN DO, Greater Hazleton’s economic development agency, and has been used at other area businesses, too.

The lighting upgrade will reduce EAM Mosca’s energy usage by 50,493 kilowatt hours per month and reduce the company’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 450 tons each year. That is the equivalent of planting more than 2,200 trees. The company employs 90 people.

Director of CAN DO Energy Solutions Bernadette DeBias said the return on investment for this project is anticipated to be less than two years.

“As CAN DO continues to create awareness of the importance and benefits of reducing energy usage, it is our hope that more and more companies in Greater Hazleton will initiate green energy projects,” she said. “This is yet another Energy Solutions success story, as EAM Mosca’s attentiveness to energy efficiency and the environment will also save the company money in a time of rising electricity rates.”

Two other Hazleton employers also took advantage of energy saving programs through CAN DO. U.S. Cold Storage expanded its 215,000-square foot facility in the Humboldt Industrial Park North in Hazle Township by 145,000 square feet and used high-efficiency lighting in the new section of the facility. Installing LED lighting in the expansion rather than the metal halide lights used in the older section reduced the company’s energy costs from an average $92.60 per day to about $10.80 per day, according to CAN DO.

Simona USA, which manufactures and distributes thermoplastic products such as the plastic sheets used to make advertising signs and chemical tanks at its Conahan Drive, Hazleton plant, completed an upgrade of the lighting in its 180,000-square-foot facility in October, Simona President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Denoo said in a recent interview. Through a combination of energy savings from high-efficiency lights and the installation of motion sensors that turn them on only when movement is detected, the company’s lighting costs were reduced by 60 percent, Denoo said.