Each year, The Best of Lebanon Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses that are believed to have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The Best of Lebanon Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally and data provided by third parties.

About the Best of Lebanon:

The Best of Lebanon is funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of Best of Lebanon Award is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising. The Best of Lebanon Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs.

SOURCE: The Best of Lebanon


E-Mail: PublicRelations@2009Award.org
WEBSITE: http://lebanon.2009award.org

"We find Bonhag Associates to be an innovative partner who has the depth of engineering experience to take on complex projects and keep them on track! They recently competed for and were selected to be the vendor of our energy efficiency grant which is designed to help the small businesses of our region. We have tremendous confidence in the quality of their work and their intensity to complete the project on time," stated Jon Freeman, President of Northern Community Investment Corporation.

The USDA grants are comprised of: one for $200,000 for energy efficiency in Vermont and a second for $100,000 for energy efficiency in New Hampshire. Both grants are designed to enable small businesses improve their energy usage and overall energy efficiency, thereby reducing operating costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With one year of planning already completed, Bonhag Associates is currently underway on this important project. Covered under the grants, Bonhag Associates engineers are consulting small business owners in the local region on ways to reduce energy costs and designing and implementing the necessary systems.

Wayne T. Bonhag, principal of Bonhag Associates and a veteran mechanical engineer, has saved hundreds clients a total of nearly 169 million dollars in energy costs during the 45 years he has worked in the engineering field. Bonhag is well known for taking existing and proven technology and combining these technologies to create eco-friendly CHP facilities (high efficiency Combined Heat and Power) and other methods of clean power production.

Two of Bonhag's other recent CHP projects that are of local importance are:

1. Bonhag Associates has been awarded a $25,000 Vermont Clean Energy Grant to study the implementation of a CHP project for ReNew Building and Salvage in Brattleboro. The CHP plant would use salvage wood to generate clean electric power and heat while diverting the scrap wood from the local landfill. Phase two of the project will be construction of the CHP facility. Learn more about ReNew Building and Salvage.
2. Bonhag Associates has been awarded a Vermont Clean Energy grant for the Windsor Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) a CHP project to collect landfill gas from the local landfill and use it to produce electrical power and heat; producing over 360 KW of power and heat from the process. The power is returned to the power grid. In addition to the power generated, there is a significant reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases from the landfill.

Other Bonhag Associates local projects:

1. Bonhag Associates was awarded a contract from the Propane Institute in Washington, DC for a propane fired CHP project on an Dairy Farm in Central Texas to produce electric power, chilled water for their milk processing, and hot water for cleaning and other uses. The resulting process will run at an amazing 87% efficiency (compared to about 35% for standard methods of providing the above electric and thermal energies). The firm is also studying the feasibility of implementing a cow manure based CHP project for the dairy farm.
2. Bonhag Associates is currently working on a solar project to provide low level power for remote transmitter towers in the region. Because solar power alone will not be able to provide enough power, other eco-friendly systems are being developed. This methodology will negate the need to run power lines to these remote areas.
3. Bonhag Associates is currently working on a full CHP project, with three years of preparation already in place, in Vermont. Additional details are not available at this time.

Background information:

NCIC—established in 1975 to promote sound development in Northeastern Vermont and Northern New Hampshire. As a private, non-profit, community based corporation, NCIC strives to generate and preserve employment and other social economic benefits for the region. This is all done by the prudent investment of its own resources and hardworking staff. In its earliest years, NCIC received federal funds to offset its administrative expenses. Since 1982, NCIC has been self-sufficient, relying entirely on investment income to support the cost of operations. NCIC provides not only capital, but also professional assistance for a wide range of business and community development and investments.

EPA—The EPA promotes greater use of CHP because significant cost-effective emissions reductions can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the nation's energy supply. CHP systems achieve effective electrical efficiencies of 50 to 70 percent, compared to average fossil-fueled power plant efficiencies of 33 percent in the United States. This improvement in efficiency translates to:

• Reduced total fossil fuel use.
• Reduced emissions of regulated air pollutants.
• Reduced emissions of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas associated with global climate change.

Furthermore, through its use in onsite electricity generation, CHP may reduce transmission and distribution losses that occur when distributing centrally generated power, resulting in further efficiency gains.

Bonhag Associates is a CHP partner with the US EPA. As of December 2008, the EPA CHP Partnership has more than 265 Partners dedicated to promoting and installing CHP. The EPA established the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership in 2001 to encourage cost-effective CHP projects in the United States. The CHP Partnership is a voluntary program that promotes high-efficiency CHP technology, thereby reducing pollution created by less-efficient, large-scale utilities. The CHP Partnership promotes CHP by fostering cooperative relationships with the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other relevant stakeholders.

The EPA works with companies and organizations (see below) to promote the economic, environmental, and energy infrastructure benefits of CHP. In return, EPA provides tools and services that support Partners as they investigate and develop new CHP capacity.

Industry Partners include facilities in the industrial, commercial, district energy, and institutional sectors, as well as project developers and equipment suppliers.

State and Local Partners include state, local, and tribal energy, environmental and economic development agencies.

Other Relevant Stakeholders include end users of CHP technology, financiers, utilities, and other organizations that promote distributed generation.

The EPA CHP partnership accomplishments from 2001 to 2007 include:

• Assisting more than 335 CHP projects, representing 4,450 megawatts (MW) of new CHP capacity.
• On an annual basis, these projects will prevent the emission of more than 10.93 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• These emissions reductions are equivalent to 2.4 million acres of pine or fir forests storing carbon for one year or the emissions from 2.0 million passenger vehicles per year.

Bonhag Associates is currently working on the design of a Net Zero residential building in Richmond, Vermont. The Structure will be composed of four residential units made from special insulated concrete forms, sitting on a sloped environment in a beautiful field. Net Zero designates that over the course of a year, the building consumes no energy from the power grid. The building generates its own power through efficient wind turbine, photovoltaic solar power and solar domestic hot water as well as geothermal heat pump for very efficient heating and air conditioning.

Bonhag Associates recently completed the design and implementation of the first chilled beam and chilled ceiling facility designed and built within the State of Vermont for Middlebury College. Chilled ceiling technology is popular in Europe and consists of chilled water running though the ceiling panels to provide air conditioning. The college contracted with Bonhag Associates to evaluate various systems and then design this approach at their fitness area on campus. When compared to an air system, the water based chilled ceiling requires only 20% of the pumping power to maintain proper cooling levels in the space. Additionally, installing ductwork would have been extremely difficult for this retrofit project and would not meet the project time frame. The college benefited from Bonhag's hands-on experience in alternate technologies and is delighted with the real cost savings the chilled ceiling system offers.

Bonhag Associates re-engineered a 620 KW steam turbine at the Ethan Allen facility in Beecher Falls, Vermont, in order to meet the project deadline, system operational requirements, and overall grant requirements on this project, all of which was part of larger goal of maintaining jobs in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and Northern New Hampshire. In this biomass project, wood from the furniture sawmill, sawdust, scrap wood and some green wood is converted into high pressure steam which is manufactured from two existing wood fired steam boilers, and is then sent through a new 620 KW steam turbine. The electrical power from the steam turbine reduces the connected load for the plant, thereby reducing the connected electrical power from the grid. The exhaust steam from the turbine is then used for both heat and process at the plant as needed. The system is currently operating and doing what it was designed to do. Bonhag has now been commissioned for another phase of this project to implement an additional 700 KW biomass to steam electrical generating facility at the Orleans, Vermont, Ethan Allen plant as well as other energy improvements.

With over forty years of energy experience, Bonhag Associates brings to their projects extensive hands on experience, while at the same time bringing them in on time and at a lower cost than other engineering firms. Such savings are made possible by the distributed nature of the company, which includes an international assortment of experienced engineers capable of innovative, cost effective, and environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.

Bonhag Associates' innovative engineers work as mechanical, electrical, and energy engineering consultants for large commercial buildings, industrial, institutions, and government, providing:

• Planning and Programming
• MEP/FP Buildings Innovative Design
• Process Analysis and Design
• Energy Systems and Design
• Problem Solving and Trouble Shooting
• Code Review and Forensic Analysis

For more complete information on Bonhag Associates, call toll free: (888) 448-5180 or e-mail wbonhag@bonhagassociates.com.

Wayne T. Bonhag, PE, owner and principal officer of Bonhag Associates is proud of these achievements and continues pursuing CHP and other environmentally friendly engineering solutions for his international set of clients. With over forty years of energy experience, Bonhag Associates brings his projects in at nearly 30% less then other engineering firms. Such a large savings is made possible by the distributed nature of the company, which includes an international assortment of engineers capable of innovative and cost effective solutions. Bonhag is known for bringing in projects on time and below budget, while maintaining an environmentally friendly, sustainable approach.

Bonhag Associates' innovative engineers work as mechanical, electrical, and energy engineering consultants for large commercial buildings, industrial, institutions, and government, providing:

• Planning and Programming
• MEP/FP Buildings Innovative Design
• Process Analysis and Design
• Energy Systems and Design
• Problem Solving and Trouble Shooting
• Code Review and Forensic Analysis

For more complete information on Bonhag Associates, call toll free: (888) 448-5180 or e-mail wbonhag@bonhagassociates.com.

A CHP system is one that takes a single fuel and makes both electrical power and thermal for heating, domestic hot water, cooling, or process. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, based on the particular energy profile of the facility. Bonhag Associates selects systems and subsystems that are proven and apply innovative approaches that keep you on the cutting edge to achieve outstanding results. In this way, they are able to assist their clients in optimizing their energy expenditures appropriately. Bonhag Associates has vast experience in providing engineering, analysis, design, commissioning, and troubleshooting for a wide variety of CHP systems. As a design team, they select the correct type and size of system for each facility. Over forty years of experience in the mechanical, electrical, and energy fields allows them to integrate systems in such a way as to provide their clients with excellent, hands-on, practical results. Bonhag Associates assists with your professional planning, engineering, and project management.

The project goal is to reduce overall environmental impact, becoming a self-sustaining green community aiming to approach net zero net energy usage. This requires looking at the project as a total building design, including site orientation, use of passive and active systems, solar overhangs and fenestration, infiltration control through the use of excellent insulated exterior doors and low-e triple pane windows, careful selection of low electrical power usage, high efficiency HVAC systems, lighting, equipment, and Energy Star appliances. All residences shall be built to or exceed Vermont Build Greener/LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.

This award is presented to an ASHRAE member who demonstrates innovative, energy conscious and creative designs. The award recognizes successful applications of innovative design which incorporate ASHRAE standards for effective energy management, indoor air quality and good mechanical design. Awards are presented in seven different categories and cover a broad spectrum of commercial buildings including institutional, health care and industrial facilities, as well as residential buildings and alternative or renewable energy use.

Bonhag's award was for the innovative and energy conscious design of a new 82,000 square foot high tech manufacturing and office facility for Luminescent Systems, Inc. (LSI) in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Luminescent Systems, Inc. is a leading supplier of electroluminescent lamps, aviation lighting products, emergency egress lighting systems, cockpit lighting and electroluminescent lamps and ruggedized keyboards, keypad and data entry equipment for electronic systems. The success of this project was based on a select team working together from the inception. The team was made up of Luminescent System's Inc. in-house design team working along with the Construction Manager, Trumbull-Nelson Construction Co., the mechanical contractor, Economy Plumbing and Heating Inc., the electrical contractor, Cole Electric, Inc. with Bonhag Associates, PLLC, providing oversight and engineering design for the Mechanical, Electrical and Process design for the facility.

Construction of a new facility for LSI was necessary due to increased productivity requirements. The 82,000 square foot manufacturing facility was designed with energy efficiency and improved manufacturing standards in mind. The building utilizes many different individual methods to reduce its energy use, including earth berms to reduce the building heating and cooling requirements; energy efficient lighting; premium efficiency motors; a Variable Air Volume (VAV) air distribution system; a Facility Management System (FMS) to control all building equipment and variable frequency drives on large motors. One of the many innovations that was utilized in the design of the mechanical systems in the building was the use of integrated enthalpy-based economizers on the rooftop HVAC equipment. This allowed for free cooling and the use of rejected heat from some of the process equipment to obtain free heating. At the same time the entire building is air conditioned to 72 F and 50% relative humidity for improved Indoor Air Quality and maintains light levels in excess of 75-foot candles through the use of highly efficient lighting and task lighting.

Since this facility has large amounts of exhaust air, control of the exhaust from the conditioned space is a major energy saver. Grouping the exhaust systems and controlling flow through each of 103 exhaust connections throughout the plant accomplished this major reduction in energy consumption. The FMS control system is used to control these exhaust dampers. In addition the process systems in the facility, including some tightly environmentally controlled spaces, are integrated into the building systems to provide an optimum operating scenario for the owner. The unique method of integrating the various systems is the key to optimizing the overall energy savings in the facility.