In Search of the
Ultimate Green
What if metalcasters could harness inexpensive (or free) power sources to fuel their facilities? SHEA GIBBS, SENIOR EDITOR
W
hen Peter Kinley saw the Olympic torch in Turin, Italy, lit by concentrated
sunlight shortly after energy rates had escalated at his metalcasting facility in 2004, he had an idea for an invention. Kinley, president and chief execu- tive officer of Lunenburg Industrial
Foundry and Engineering, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, thought he might be able to melt metal with the power of the sun. Today, what Kinley calls the “Pro-
metheus” project is in working order and available for use in metalcasting plants—but it does have limitations,
like so many other pie-in-the-sky, ultimate green projects. So what are the real prospects for
such futuristic and far-reaching ideas? MODERN CASTING went in search of alternative means of powering up casting plants and explored their chances of making the mainstream.
Private Windmills According to wind energy advocate
Windustry, Minneapolis, a “home or farm scale” wind project is designed to harness the power of a small wind turbine (from 1-100 kW) to “produce enough electricity to power a single home, farm, ranch or business.” Te turbines used in these projects can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dol- lars. Te non-profit also works on projects designed to power large scale farm cooperatives or groups of homes through the installation of an appropri- ately-sized, local-source wind turbine. Tese machines can cost in the several million dollar range. So, could a project that falls some-
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., has a 1.65 MW Vestas wind turbine on campus. Could metalcasting facilities use the same technology?
24 | MODERN CASTING April 2011
where within these ranges be designed to power a metalcasting facility?
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