GloPak Corp. opening a Solar-Powered Plastics Manufacturing factory on October 7th, 2011

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, there's a question whether it's good/preferable to convert farming land into industrial use.  Here we have an example of newly built a factory with a significantly sized (500 kilowatt) solar panel array on the roof.  There was also news today of an automotive repair shop near San Diego who also installed a solar panel array on their roof.  Both of these are examples of already-industrialized land being given another use to house a solar photovoltaic electricity plant.

That is, industrial land serving two purposes:

• the primary purpose for the facility (factory, warehouse, auto repair shop, etc)
• it's rooftop space being used to generate electricity using solar panels on the roof

This is

• cleanly generated electricity
• generated close to its point of use
• whose peak of production (the daytime) corresponds to the overall peak demand period (daytime)
• that's installed on land that's already industrialized (doesn't remove wilderness or farm land from those purposes)
• earns a second income for the business which owns the roof

A couple years ago I posted a "wouldn't it be neat if.." piece about the potential of those self-storage businesses to house photovoltaic solar electricity production.  They, like factories and other business buildings, are well situated to be house solar panels because of the large amount of roof space.

How can we encourage more of this?

 

 

GloPak Corp. Announces Grand Opening of Solar-Powered Plastics Manufacturing Facility on October 7th, 2011

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GloPak Corp., a full-service plastics manufacturer of industrial and recyclable custom garbage bags, film and liners for restaurants, hotels, hospitals and consumers markets, today announced that it will celebrate the grand opening of its new 80,000 square foot facility and corporate headquarters on Friday, October 7, 2011 at 132 Case Drive, South Plainfield, N.J.

The commemoration of this new plant is significant as it is one of a handful of plastics manufacturing plants in New Jersey using green energy to power its production process. Elected officials, local businesses and civic leaders will join GloPak Corp. management for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, lunch and tour of the facility.

"As part of our commitment to the environment, focusing on green and sustainable solutions, the new South Plainfield facility will reduce its carbon footprint with the unveiling of our 500+ KW roof system and a three-acre solar energy field adjacent to the plant," stated GloPak's CEO, Harold Martin Sr. "GloPak's CO2 emission will be reduced by 690 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide every year. These efforts have improved core manufacturing processes without compromising product quality."

The new plant runs 24 hours, 7 days a week. The energy-efficiency effort of implementing solar technology is expected to save more than $90,000 in energy costs each year. The plant maintains a staff of over 20 full-time employees, and with the overall savings on energy, GloPak Corp. plans to hire additional workforce from the South Plainfield area within the next 18 months.

Additional media that would like to attend the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony are encouraged to make arrangement with GloPak Public Relations through glopakevents@gmail.com.

About GloPak Corp.

GloPak Corp. (http://www.glopakcorp.com) was founded in 1966 by Harold Martin Sr., and remains family owned and operated. GloPak produces polyethylene products, extrudes Grade A approved poly resins and is committed to providing the same high-quality products to end-users while promoting a healthy environment.

Media Contact:

Candace Sandy646.298.5506 or glopakevents@gmail.com

SOURCE  Glopak Corporation
Web Site: http://www.glopakcorp.com