Nucor: Plant Earns Orion Environmental Award As a Result of Energy Saving

For further Information contact:

Dave Cary, Communication Specialist
Orion Energy Services
1204 Pilgrim Rd.
Plymouth WI 53073
(920) 892-2935
dcary@oriones.com

Jerry Richie, Production Manager
Nucor Cold Steel-Wisconsin
7200 S. 6th St., Oak Creek,
Oak Creek, WI
(414) 764-0226
jrichie@nucorcoldfinish-wi.com

For reducing the amount of electric power it uses for lighting by 52%, Nucor Cold Finish–Wisconsin, of Oak Creek, has been presented with the Orion Energy Services Environmental Stewardship Award.

In a recent retrofit, Nucor — until recently, Fort Howard Steel — replaced 99 400-watt metal halide fixtures with a similar number of Orion Illuminator ® fixtures. As a result, the Power Nucor uses for lighting dropped from 287,258 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year to 138,378, a 52% power and cost saving of 148,880 kWh.

That power no longer has to be generated at all; hence, the environmental benefits that stem Nucor’s power reduction. According to federal formulas, a power saving this size means that145 tons of carbon dioxide, 40 tons of carbon, .6 tons of sulfur dioxide and 1/3 ton of nitrogen oxides — pollutant by-products of power generation — will not enter the local atmosphere each year.

Stated another way, the reduction is the air-scrubbing equivalent of a 27-acre forest or removing 24 cars permanently from the road. It is also the conservation equivalent of saving 12,290 gallons of gasoline or 293 barrels of fuel oil each year.

Nucor production manager Jerry Richie said Nucor appreciated the award. “Nucor’s very proactive and big on being stewards of the environment,” he said. “Committed to being a good neighbor. We’re always looking for ways to reduce and energy costs and improve waste treatment in an environmentally acceptable manner.”

Richie said Nucor was pleased that Orion’s usage and cost projections had been borne out. Employees, he said welcomed and liked the increased illumination.

“Nucor Cold Finish can be proud to accomplish all this with a single move,” commented Orion president Neal Verfuerth. “You don’t often see that — an energy usage reduction, cost reduction and environmental benefit going hand in hand. And taking their 148,880 kWh saving off the power grid is also a move toward stabilizing energy prices because it reduces demand.’

“I don’t see anything but positives in this decision of Nucor’s, and we salute them for it.”

Located at 7200 S. 6th St., Oak Creek, Nucor Cold Finish-Wisconsin is an important part of the Nucor Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that manufactures steel and steel products throughout the United States. The company produces cold finish steel bar products for shafting and machined precision parts. Each bar is produced accurately to size, finish and straightness. These bars in turn are purchased by several industries, including the automotive, farm machinery, hydraulic, appliance industries, electric motor, and service centers, among others and are used in tens of thousands of products such as anchor bolts for basketball hoops, farm machinery, hydraulic cylinders, shafting for air conditioner compressors, ceiling fan motors, garage door openers, electric motors and lawn mowers.

Orion Energy Services, Plymouth WI, manufactures and markets energy efficient lighting solutions for the manufacturing, distribution center, warehousing, commercial, school, and gymnasium markets. Orion provides capacity displacement solutions for supply side management, transmission management, and demand side management for the electricity industry. Neal Verfuerth, Orion President, received one of Wisconsin’s most prestigious awards, the Ernst & Young 2004 Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year, and Orion has won numerous awards as a company. For more information, visit www.oriones.com.