S.C. Johnson's Waxdale facility running 100% on clean energy

File photo

S.C. Johnson installed three mini wind turbines on the roof of its headquarters in Racine earlier this year.

S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.?s largest global manufacturing facility will now run virtually 100 percent on clean energy with the installation of two wind turbines at the Mount Pleasant site, the company said Tuesday.

The two turbines started spinning Tuesday and will produce about 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually at the company?s Waxdale manufacturing facility, enough to power 700 homes for a year, the company said.

The combination of the wind turbines and two cogeneration turbines that have been in place since the mid-2000s will allow the facility to produce an average of 100 percent of its electrical energy on-site. The cogeneration systems use waste methane gas from a nearby public landfill and clean-burning natural gas to generate 85 percent of the facility?s electrical energy, the company said.

The 415-foot-tall wind turbines, with their 135-foot-long blades, will help reduce carbon emissions associated with powering the facility by 6,000 metric tons annually. The company said it?s the largest on-site, company-owned wind turbine manufacturing project in the Midwest.

The Racine-based consumer products company?s Waxdale facility makes brand products including Scrubbing Bubbles, Glade and Windex.

Jeff Engel is The Business Journal's reporter covering the manufacturing industry and technology.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_29/~3/UH_2heu_w50/sc-johnsons-waxdale-facility.html

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