Imerys has embarked locally on a new program directed at the company's environmental sustainability and focused on energy conservation. The company unveiled the program during an open-air presentation midday Wednesday, June 17, at the Imerys Marble Hill plant.
A worldwide minerals corporation, Imerys mines and crushes marble here in Pickens County. Plant output here ranges in size from one-and-a-half-inch gravel to fine grains of powder 2.5 microns across.
To visualize 2.5 microns, think of something 40 times smaller than a human hair, Perry John suggested. Environmental engineer for Imerys, John also served as company pitch man during the Wednesday presentation.
Fine-crushed marble is powdered calcium carbonate, used as a filler in roofing shingles, PVC pipe, carpet backing, and other industrially-made products where a petroleum-based chemical might work but would cost more, John explained.
Before the marble is powdered, it is large boulders, trucked from the tunnels of an underground mine at Marble Hill. The mine reaches down about seven layers, John said. Each layer is about 100 feet deep.
Huber's plant east of Marble Hill, the Imerys Marble Hill works, and Polycor's quarry at Tate all sit on the same marble seam, John said.
"Tate had the advantage of not having a hill on top of their marble, so they didn't have to go underground like we have here," he said.
Combined output from the Marble Hill plant and another Imerys plant at Whitestone accumulates to 810,000 tons of crushed marble yearly, John said. "As a company that harvests a natural resource," he said, "only if we do that in a responsible way can we be a sustainable part of the community."
Part of John’s job here as the company's environmental manager is keeping Imerys operations in compliance with air and water pollution regulations established by government in the 1970s, he said. "Today upwards of 99 percent of the dust generated [in local crushing plants] is collected in bag houses and collectors," John said. "There are 83 dust collectors and control devices here."
John said the state recently backed away from limiting the company's groundwater pumping permit when regulators realized the positive impact of mine water downstream. Clean water from the Marble Hill mines discharges into a nearby creek and flows to Lake Allatoona, John said. The increased stream flow adds a million gallons daily to Lake Allatoona, he said. Imerys mines at Whitestone flow 2 million gallons daily to Carters Lake, he added.
It is the intention of Imerys at the corporate level to move beyond regulatory compliance and make a positive impact wherever Imerys plants operate, John said. The company lists several avenues toward positive outcomes under a program it calls Sustainability Development.
Sustainability meets human needs while preserving the environment, allowing needs to continue to be met into the future, John explained. "There is an acceptable balance of industry, community and environment that can meet the needs of all three," he said.
Sustainability development at Imerys Marble Hill will focus for one year on energy conservation at the plant, John said. The program will also reach to the community with power saving ideas that work as well at home, he said.
John said part of the drive for reduced energy use at the plant is desired reduction of carbon dioxide emissions up the line at the generating plant.
Coal-fired power plants release carbon into the atmosphere. Cutting energy use at the Imerys plant should reduce the marble plant's "carbon footprint", that amount of carbon dioxide emissions released on the world by the electrical demands of many power-driven rock-crushing machines. "Hopefully we'll have a measurable impact by our energy use reduction efforts," John said.
The game plan for power use reduction will be three-pronged. Plant leadership will seek green choices as a production facility. Training will tune employees to think and practice energy conservation. And an employee team, a cross section of plant workers, will regularly meet for scheming ideas to curb energy waste.
"We're seeking input from employees, contractors and vendors for energy-saving ideas," John said. There will be an incentive program. Anyone who comes up with an energy-saving notion or implementation will see their name go into the hat for a prize drawing, John said.
Imerys also wants to reach the community with energy-saving ideas employees and others can use at home. John promoted programmable home thermostats, motion sensors to replace light switches, and new smart power strips.
These new smart power strips take their lead from the first plug in line, he explained. Plug your computer into that first outlet on the strip, and when you turn off your computer, the whole power strip turns off. That way turning off your computer could also de-energize your printer, scanner, and maybe a computer sound system.
All faucets need aerators, John added. Their slight restriction reduces water use, he said. He also recommends CFLs, compact fluorescent lamps. All CFLs are not the same, he warned. It takes a special kind to work with a dimmer switch or on a circuit where more than one light switch controls a fixture.
Another thing to look at for saving energy around the house is your HDTV (if you happen to have one). Set the device on "Home" mode instead of "Retail", "Vivid", or "Dynamic" mode, John advised. Those last three are to jazz up the picture in the store while the set is for sale, he explained. And unfortunately, that jazzed picture uses more energy.
John said Imerys will be training employees on energy-saving ideas they can use at home. "But the same concept applies in the plant," he said, "small things you can do that add up in a year's time."
"We want to be a sustainable part of this community," John said. "We have a desire to integrate with you and cooperate with you," he told the press and others gathered for the Imerys presentation.
"I'm excited that our plant manager, one of the first things he did when he got here was wanting to reach out to the community and do it through the environment," John said. Ramrod for bringing sustainability development on line at the Imerys Marble Hill plant is new Operations Manager John McFarlain. McFarlain assumed leadership of the plant in May. |
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| PHOTO BY JEFF WARREN |
| In blue jeans and tie-less (Imerys uniform at the Marble Hill plant) Environmental Manager Perry John outlines a new company effort to curb energy waste. |
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