Industrial process cooling and temperature control equipment manufacturer Frigel North America (East Dundee, IL; www.frigel.com/na) was awarded the 2008 Illinois Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award, which honors companies for achievements in protecting the environment while creating economic benefits. To decrease the environmental impact of an estimated 45% of the earth’s clean water going to industry, and with inefficient cooling ranked as one of the top five wasters of industrial water, Frigel developed the Ecodry system. It is a closed-loop, dry-cooling alternative to traditional cooling towers that saves up to 95% of water consumption and energy bills. It also eliminates chemical evaporation into the atmosphere and discharge of chemically treated water into the wastewater stream. (For an initial report on this technology, click on imm.plasticstoday.com/?q=articles/11215.)

Steve Petrakis, president of Frigel NA, shared some of his company’s sustainable business practices at the Sustain08 conference in Chicago, stressing Frigel’s continued efforts to create and implement technology focused on environmental conservation. And though the Illinois government awarded Frigel’s efforts, Petrakis stressed that steps to minimize environmental impact should be taken far ahead of any regulations. “The government is not the answer,” said Petrakis. “We have to be sustainable in our own companies, and we need to help each other.”

Frigel completed a move to a new 40,000-ft² facility from its Lake Zurich location at the end of September. “With our new U.S. facility, we will be able to provide our customers with faster lead times and local availability of the intelligent process cooling equipment they look to for achieving a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace,” said Petrakis.