The Hermance Machine Company, a client of the Lock Haven SBDC, has taken advantage of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Small Business Advantage grant to install money saving energy efficient upgrades.
Joseph Strouse, a Williamsport native, bought the Hermance Machine Company in 1987. While Hermance Machine no longer manufactures mass quantities of woodworking machines, they still have a fully functional machine shop with updated milling capabilities. They provide a wide selection of quality industrial woodworking equipment and a large variety of quality machine parts and wood-crafting supplies from the U.S. and abroad. The 60,000 square foot warehouse and showroom, provides a vast setting for customers to view and select quality equipment. However, after numerous years of operating the century old business, Joe quickly realized that if Hermance was going to keep prices low, they would need to start taking action in reducing their utility bills.
In September 2005, Joseph and Claire Strouse contacted the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Environmental Management Assistance Program (EMAP) to help start cutting utility costs. EMAP did an energy assessment and made several recommendations on ways to reduce their energy costs. As recommended by EMAP, Hermance decided to replace the lighting in the office, sales rep area, and the warehouse with T8 and T5 fluorescent fixtures and bulbs including electrical ballasts. Additionally, EMAP informed Joe about the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Small Business Advantage Grant (SBAG) to help him fund his lighting project. The EMAP consultant guided him through the grant application process and Hermance was awarded $7,500 to upgrade their lighting project. The lighting upgrade resulted in saving Hermance Machine Company $3,959 (30,930 kWh) in the year following installation. Additionally, they reduced annual air emissions by approximately 40 tons! After seeing these results, Hermance Machine Company was keen on making their daily operations more energy efficient.
In 2008, they sought the help of the EMAP consultant again and applied for a second DEP SBAG. This time, they moved their focus to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. They applied for and were awarded a grant for $7,500 to install two (2) Energy Star® rated Ducane gas furnaces with an AFUE rating of 92.1%. The HVAC upgrade reduced Hermance’s annual natural gas heating costs by $704 (1,263 therms) and air emissions by approximately 13 tons.