NAPERVILLE, Ill., Nov. 29, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Nalco Company (NYSE:NLC) today announced that it has become an ENERGY STAR(r) partner in order to better help customers maximize energy savings and minimize total cost of operations. ENERGY STAR is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) national program for superior energy management. Energy is the single largest operating expense for most of Nalco's industrial and institutional customers, including commercial buildings.
Nalco has joined the ENERGY STAR Service and Product Provider partnership as a provider of energy-efficient products and services. Nalco products include a unique HVAC coil cleaning program and high-performance HVAC filters, which have been shown to significantly improve the energy performance of its customers. In large industrial cooling systems, our programs prevent scale, corrosion and microbiological fouling, all of which impair system efficiency. More than half of a steam system's operating costs are for fuel; Nalco programs for advanced monitoring and corrosion and scale control make boilers more effective, reducing energy use and costs.
"Nalco's water and air treatment expertise enables our industrial and institutional customers to significantly improve the energy efficiency of their operations," says Bill Roe, Nalco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "We are committed to helping our customers achieve improved energy performance in their operations. That saves them money and protects the environment at the same time."
For example, Nalco's Building Environment Solutions program helped a Houston building owner implement an Energy Management and Indoor Air Quality solution. High-efficiency filters that decreased load on air handling unit fans, combined with Nalco's COIL-FLO(r) cleaning system, improved heat transfer and air flow through cooling coils, and saved the building owner more than 1.36 million KW of electricity per year.
"Investments in improving energy performance reduce total cost of operations and also can improve occupant productivity and satisfaction for a variety of facilities, including commercial buildings, hospitals, hotels, educational institutions and even manufacturing facilities where efficiency can be improved by controlling temperature and humidity," said Brad Becker, Nalco's Strategic Business Unit leader for Institutional customers.
Scale, caused by the precipitation of minerals in boiler feedwater, acts as an insulator on boiler surfaces, requiring more energy to operate the system. Deposits as thin as only 1/8th of an inch can reduce efficiency by 12 percent. Scale half that thick, 1/16th of an inch, can increase operating costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nalco's scale prevention programs allow boilers to operate using less energy.
Cooling towers and cooling water systems can also operate more efficiently thanks to many Nalco programs, including our 3D TRASAR(r) advanced monitoring and control technology. The 3D TRASAR system combines services, innovative chemistries, sophisticated equipment and advanced software tools to deliver comprehensive industrial cooling water treatment, monitoring and control.
The EPA estimates that by 2010, the savings from energy-efficient investments will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 2.4 million tons -- the equivalent of the pollution produced by 1.7 million cars -- and save taxpayers more than $750 million per year.
About Nalco
Nalco is the leading provider of integrated water treatment and process improvement services, air management, chemicals and equipment programs for industrial and institutional applications. The company currently serves more than 70,000 customer locations representing a broad range of end markets. It has established a global presence with more than 10,000 employees operating in 130 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers. In 2005, Nalco achieved sales of more than $3.3 billion. For more information visit www.nalco.com.
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About ENERGY STAR:
ENERGY STAR was introduced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as a voluntary market-based partnership to reduce air pollution through increased energy efficiency. Today, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy, the ENERGY STAR program offers businesses and consumers energy-efficient solutions to save energy, money, and help protect the environment for future generations. More than 8,000 organizations have become ENERGY STAR partners and are committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes and businesses. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov or call toll-free 1-888-STAR-YES (1-888-782-7937).