Integrating ME3 and BPS to Reduce GHG Emissions and Landfill Disposal While Conserving Energy and Materials

Columbus, Ohio (Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway, Ross and Union Counties, Ohio)

Federal Funding: $498,824
Project Timeline: February 2011 – January 2014

Project Summary
Community Characteristics
Program Results/Estimated Results

Project Summary

Combining Programs to Multiply Benefits

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) continues to generate companies’ interest in the ME3 program. Duke Energy has agreed to fund half of the energy assessment costs. Columbia Gas agreed to provide funding towards energy assessments with a natural gas component. These commitments to subsidize up-front costs and offers of implementation incentives will enhance MORPC’s ability to market the program to other companies. MORPC has enlisted three participating companies to date. One of the companies, MTD Products, a manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, was the first company to enter the ME3 program and has completed the energy assessment. MORPC is working closely with MTD to identify cost-saving energy actions. Future work involves conducting energy assessments for participating businesses and recruiting additional companies.

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) will facilitate the coordination of two previously independent initiatives, the national Economy, Energy and Environment (ME3) program with the Ohio By-Product Synergy (BPS) Network. This integration will provide substantial greenhouse gas and landfill disposal reductions along with energy and material savings.

ME3 is a coordinated federal and local initiative that is designed to help communities work with their manufacturing base to focus on and offer solutions for improved sustainability. ME3 provides manufacturers with customized hands-on assessments of internal production processes in order to identify opportunities for improvements. The Ohio BPS Network matches under-valued by-product streams with potential users, creates new revenues and savings for the organizations involved while simultaneously addressing social and environmental impacts. This generates revenue while reducing both virgin material and energy consumption, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The coupling of these two programs will reveal environmentally beneficial opportunities that are not typically discovered when internal operations (ME3) and external material flows (BPS) are investigated separately. Coordination and joint operation of an ME3 and BPS program can attract more participants by offering “one-stop shopping” for sustainability evaluation and assistance.

MORPC will recruit 25 companies to participate in both the national ME3 program and the Ohio BPS Network. The ME3 reviews will be combined with the BPS synergy assessment, and participating companies will become members of the BPS Network. Participants will receive an assessment of their operations, feedstock needs and waste streams, as well as guidance on actions to achieve cost-effective reductions in energy usage, material consumption and waste disposal. Wherever feasible, participants will be urged to acquire recycled feedstock materials from other members of the BPS Network. Participants will also be able to provide or sell waste streams as feedstock to other members of the Network. Where appropriate, material-exchanges with non-Network members will be investigated.

MORPC use the work completed in this project to educate other communities on the benefits of a joint ME3/BPS initiative by producing a manual to motivate other communities to adopt and integrate ME3 and BPS networks. MORPV will provide a template for doing so, along with presentations at three conferences in 2013 at which community and business leaders can be expected to attend.

The coupling of the ME3 and Ohio BPS initiatives will result in numerous benefits. By adopting new projects that increase energy efficiency and/or substitute wastes for virgin feedstock, businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions; reduce operational costs for energy, material acquisition and waste disposal, reduce energy consumption, reduce demand for virgin production materials, divert waste from landfills, reduce manufacturing costs, create jobs, and promote local economic development.

Community Characteristics

Population:	1,986,829
Area:	6,010 square miles
Government Type:	Regional
Community Type:	Rural, Urban, Suburban
Median Household Income:	$40,249 to $85,054

Program Results/Estimated Results

Expected GHG Reductions:	120,000 metric tons CO₂e annually by 2014
Expected Businesses Involved:	25
Expected Landfill Material Diverted:	5,000 metric tons annually per business

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