It has been a whirlwind this past couple of months here at Inov8, and there are so many projects to talk about. A lot of time was spent conversing with the new owners and contractors involved installing and maintaining these new systems. Our customers have been very cooperative and the staff here at Inov8 unyielding.
These are some unique projects that we have taken on since my last posting. This is not a complete list, so please don't feel bad if you don't see your project on here, perhaps it is because it is similar to others.
* Waste Oil Recyclers, Modena PA. - Purchased a furnace to heat there facilitiy using vegetable oil collected for recycling, as fuel.
* Total Automotive, Bramton, Ontario - They are the first owners of our lates innovation, the dual fuel F240 furnace. The furnace is Inov8's "bread and Butter," and with this new burner, it is sure to be turning some heads. It has the capability of using either natural gas or propane or a waste oil product. They have it set up to burn waste auto oils and the propane as a back up. The world's first; Very cool. You'll see plenty more on the product line very soon.
* Alchemy Construction, Arcata, CA. - Stephen is installing one of our Viessman systems at a biofuel center. They will be using various vegetable oils and the bi-product "glycerine" to fuel the boiler for process heat.
* D-N-P Siteworks, Colebrook, NH. - I wanted to mention this one because David is a return customer, installing his second vegetable oil boiler system. Great Job!
* Harvest House Bakery, Brick, New Jersey - Talk about innovation. These guys are in the process of testing these burners to use them on industrial baking ovens, using recycled vegetable oil as fuel.
* Energy Wall, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories - This is way cool, and normally I wouldn't mention a typical waste oil boiler installation on this portion but it's so neat, I want to share. Manuel is so far up there that it would cost him over $300 per day to heat his facility conventionally. He has been a great customer of ours for many years and has told me personally that his survival depends on his burner working properly. Do to expansion, he has just purchased a third unit from us and is spreading the good word to others in his area.
I would like to write longer, but I have a choir concert to get to. I do want to mention real quick that I am very excited to say that we are close on the vegetable oil water heater product line. It is fully developed and we are going to be placing 5 units into service in the Midwest over the course of the next two months. This will give us time to reevaluate the sales process, iron out any installation oversights, collect data and gain refferals. I am looking forward to a full blown launch this spring, with a debute this March at the Wisconsin Restaurant Associations tradeshow.
If you've got a great idea, give me a call. 608-785-2879. It seams like whenever I think I've scene it all, someone calls in and makes me slap my head saying, "why didn't I think of that?" There are so many great ways to use this technology. I wonder what lies ahead this coming year. I'll do my best to keep you posted.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
July update
It was a busy month, resulting in some great projects. Here is a partial list of some interesting ones;
· Lynn Rabe – New Holstein, Wisconsin; Purchased and F125 furance to heat his shop, using glycerine and vegetable oil, from his bio-diesel process.
· Chris Ellis – Independence, Wisconsin; installing a boiler system to heat his farm shop and home with vegetable oil from several local sources.
· Portland Biodiesel – Olympia, Washington; Purchased a boiler for biodiesel process heat, utalizing glycerine and vegetable oil as fuel.
· Solarsa – Tampa, Florida; The Inov8 boiler system will act as a back up boiler to a solar powered air conditioning system and also provide domestic hot water for Estella’s Mexican Restaurant using the waste fryer oil as fuel.
· Roberts Construction – Clarkston, Washington; Installing boiler system to heat shop and piping the water in to heat his home utalizing vegetable oil as fuel.
· Robert Trapp – Columbus, Wisconsin; Robert grows sunflowers and is expelling the oil to use as fuel in an Inov8 F125 furnace. The heat generated will heat his calving barn.
“These are some great examples of some real grass roots efforts. Inov8 applauds these customers for their commitment to our environment, and is appreciative for their confidence in Inov8’s products.”
· Lynn Rabe – New Holstein, Wisconsin; Purchased and F125 furance to heat his shop, using glycerine and vegetable oil, from his bio-diesel process.
· Chris Ellis – Independence, Wisconsin; installing a boiler system to heat his farm shop and home with vegetable oil from several local sources.
· Portland Biodiesel – Olympia, Washington; Purchased a boiler for biodiesel process heat, utalizing glycerine and vegetable oil as fuel.
· Solarsa – Tampa, Florida; The Inov8 boiler system will act as a back up boiler to a solar powered air conditioning system and also provide domestic hot water for Estella’s Mexican Restaurant using the waste fryer oil as fuel.
· Roberts Construction – Clarkston, Washington; Installing boiler system to heat shop and piping the water in to heat his home utalizing vegetable oil as fuel.
· Robert Trapp – Columbus, Wisconsin; Robert grows sunflowers and is expelling the oil to use as fuel in an Inov8 F125 furnace. The heat generated will heat his calving barn.
“These are some great examples of some real grass roots efforts. Inov8 applauds these customers for their commitment to our environment, and is appreciative for their confidence in Inov8’s products.”
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Recent Coverage
I would like to thank Dan Gibbard/Chicago Tribune, Tree Hugger,
Jeremy Jacquot/Los Angelos, Steve Cahalan/La Crosse Tribune, Lee Henschel/Blaire Press, and each of our local television newscast stations for picking up on this story. It's really flattering to see the hard work we've done here in Wisconsin shared with readers throughout the country. In addition without mentioning individual names, I would like to thank our local and state representatives for their support and endorsements, without their help this would be an even greater uphill struggle.
The reason why I think this recycling center is so cool and inovative, is that it provides residential and commercial consumers an alternative fuel source for heating.
Most conversation today, in regards to utalizing wvo, revolves around vehicles. While I feel that we should stay the course in exploring product development for the automobile industry, it is also important for each of us to consider utalizing this great source of fuel for stationary energy applications.
I would like to make a brief comment about ASTM certification. The certification of the fuel is primarily addressed for vehicles because of warranty. In the case of our company Inov8, we have tested and warrant all of our products for use with these alternative fuels. I believe that consumer demand and support of the use of these fuels can greatly impact the viability of these centers globally.
I will post again next week to provide an update on some of the new and exciting projects I have been presented with as a result of this great coverage.
Jeremy Jacquot/Los Angelos, Steve Cahalan/La Crosse Tribune, Lee Henschel/Blaire Press, and each of our local television newscast stations for picking up on this story. It's really flattering to see the hard work we've done here in Wisconsin shared with readers throughout the country. In addition without mentioning individual names, I would like to thank our local and state representatives for their support and endorsements, without their help this would be an even greater uphill struggle.
The reason why I think this recycling center is so cool and inovative, is that it provides residential and commercial consumers an alternative fuel source for heating.
Most conversation today, in regards to utalizing wvo, revolves around vehicles. While I feel that we should stay the course in exploring product development for the automobile industry, it is also important for each of us to consider utalizing this great source of fuel for stationary energy applications.
I would like to make a brief comment about ASTM certification. The certification of the fuel is primarily addressed for vehicles because of warranty. In the case of our company Inov8, we have tested and warrant all of our products for use with these alternative fuels. I believe that consumer demand and support of the use of these fuels can greatly impact the viability of these centers globally.
I will post again next week to provide an update on some of the new and exciting projects I have been presented with as a result of this great coverage.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Current Projects
Over the past several weeks I have been working one on one with new customers on projects and am excited about which ones will present themselves next.
A few recent projects from June include:
· The Hideway Bar and Restaurant – Chaseburg, Wisconsin; installing a boiler to provide domestic hot water and radiant heat using waste fyer oil as fuel.
· Joseph Cornelius – New Port, Vermont has purchased a boiler system for his new victorian home utalizing collected waste restaurant vegetable oil as fuel.
· Olson Hillview Greenhouse – La Crosse, Wisconsin; converting five boilers to use recycled waste vegetable oil, purchased from Coulee Region Bio-fuels LLC in Blaire, Wisconsin.
Over the next several weeks I will continue to follow up with the many wonderful contacts I have made in Wisconsin and beyond.
A few recent projects from June include:
· The Hideway Bar and Restaurant – Chaseburg, Wisconsin; installing a boiler to provide domestic hot water and radiant heat using waste fyer oil as fuel.
· Joseph Cornelius – New Port, Vermont has purchased a boiler system for his new victorian home utalizing collected waste restaurant vegetable oil as fuel.
· Olson Hillview Greenhouse – La Crosse, Wisconsin; converting five boilers to use recycled waste vegetable oil, purchased from Coulee Region Bio-fuels LLC in Blaire, Wisconsin.
Over the next several weeks I will continue to follow up with the many wonderful contacts I have made in Wisconsin and beyond.
Olson Hillview Greenhouse
INOV8 is working on this project currently. The greenhouse is located in La Crosse Wisconsin. We are replacing five natural gas boilers with Viessmann Vitola boilers and INOV8 burners. Joel will be purchasing filtered vegetable oil from Coulee Region bio-fuels. His estimated yearly amount needed as fuel is projected at 31,500 gallons. By making the change to this fuel his projected return on investment is 5 years, with an estimated annual savings of $9000.00 Joel wrote this for me to publish to share his logic behind his decision.
_________________________________________________
Wisconsin’s motto is forward for a good reason. It takes fortitude to see the goal and pursue the process without reservation to conclusion. The project that is proposed is a forward thinking mechanism to achieve the governor’s ambitious goal toward greater energy independence for the state of Wisconsin.
I have been in the greenhouse industry for twenty years now. During the hay day of bedding plant growers, we could factor in the rising cost of energy to our retail price. Ten years ago, I realized the “big box stores” were putting up retail superstores with a greenhouse attached. Adding the greenhouse instantly gave those companies instant legitimacy as garden centers. The customer will always have a problem accepting the local expert advice, experience, and product knowledge as part of the price of any product. The resulting effect is price points that local grower retailers could not compete with. This trade practice will eventually eliminate many growers and depress the local economies a bit more.
Like many growers, energy represents ten to twenty percent of our operating costs. For years, I have explored the alternative fuel saga with both interest and skepticism. Over the years, I have seen waste wood burners, pellet burners, corn stoves, to name a few, promising easy operation, reliability, and low cost fuel. Given time, all of these promises were proved unattainable.
The process of heating with oil has been available for many years with easy operation, reliability, and until a few years ago had affordable fuel costs. Using innovative technologies to burn used restaurant fryer oil is a smart use of an existing resource. Using waste restaurant oil locally is going to directly stimulate the local economies with job growth, capital investment on infrastructure, and reducing the dependence on imported fuels.
Our greenhouse is more than a hundred years old. The greenhouse like many of the era was built to grow food crops. Being in business means flexing to provide things people want. This past years food scares were the resultant errors of the industrial food complex. Again, Wisconsin shows why our motto is forward with Governor Doyle’s “EAT LOCAL WISCONSIN” program. Smaller growers like my family operation will use the heat from this renewable fuel source to produce organic tomatoes and salad greens for our local consumer. Many growers given the real time performance data and economics of using fryer oil could spur local investment and job growth in horticultural food crops returning reliability of wholesome fresh food to Wisconsin.
The utilization of this twice-used resource has broad prospects because of the historical acceptance of oil fuel technologies. Imagine the farm that grows low impact soybean crops for the local oil press. In return, from the family farms efforts they receive free heating fuel for the grain dryer, fuel for the bio-mass digester, high profit from the sale of excess oil, and bean cake having the enzymes converted from the pressing process to feed to all ruminates. The result would not be only sustainable but a positive economic catalyst.
The beginning of the organic movement was smirked at as an anarchist movement full of disillusioned “earth tones”. Today we know that FORWARD thinking farmers are glad they made the move. This restaurant waste oil technologies needs the support of a FORWARD thinking administration at the governor’s level. This move to waste oil technologies alone when fully utilized could contribute one to four percent toward Governor Doyle’s 20/20 energy independence goal. While alone waste oil fuel technologies will not solve all our energy problems, it is more importantly one of the ten good ideas it takes to solve any vexing problem.
It is time to support the innovative FORWARD thinking Wisconsin leadership has always provided the United States of America.
_________________________________________________
Wisconsin’s motto is forward for a good reason. It takes fortitude to see the goal and pursue the process without reservation to conclusion. The project that is proposed is a forward thinking mechanism to achieve the governor’s ambitious goal toward greater energy independence for the state of Wisconsin.
I have been in the greenhouse industry for twenty years now. During the hay day of bedding plant growers, we could factor in the rising cost of energy to our retail price. Ten years ago, I realized the “big box stores” were putting up retail superstores with a greenhouse attached. Adding the greenhouse instantly gave those companies instant legitimacy as garden centers. The customer will always have a problem accepting the local expert advice, experience, and product knowledge as part of the price of any product. The resulting effect is price points that local grower retailers could not compete with. This trade practice will eventually eliminate many growers and depress the local economies a bit more.
Like many growers, energy represents ten to twenty percent of our operating costs. For years, I have explored the alternative fuel saga with both interest and skepticism. Over the years, I have seen waste wood burners, pellet burners, corn stoves, to name a few, promising easy operation, reliability, and low cost fuel. Given time, all of these promises were proved unattainable.
The process of heating with oil has been available for many years with easy operation, reliability, and until a few years ago had affordable fuel costs. Using innovative technologies to burn used restaurant fryer oil is a smart use of an existing resource. Using waste restaurant oil locally is going to directly stimulate the local economies with job growth, capital investment on infrastructure, and reducing the dependence on imported fuels.
Our greenhouse is more than a hundred years old. The greenhouse like many of the era was built to grow food crops. Being in business means flexing to provide things people want. This past years food scares were the resultant errors of the industrial food complex. Again, Wisconsin shows why our motto is forward with Governor Doyle’s “EAT LOCAL WISCONSIN” program. Smaller growers like my family operation will use the heat from this renewable fuel source to produce organic tomatoes and salad greens for our local consumer. Many growers given the real time performance data and economics of using fryer oil could spur local investment and job growth in horticultural food crops returning reliability of wholesome fresh food to Wisconsin.
The utilization of this twice-used resource has broad prospects because of the historical acceptance of oil fuel technologies. Imagine the farm that grows low impact soybean crops for the local oil press. In return, from the family farms efforts they receive free heating fuel for the grain dryer, fuel for the bio-mass digester, high profit from the sale of excess oil, and bean cake having the enzymes converted from the pressing process to feed to all ruminates. The result would not be only sustainable but a positive economic catalyst.
The beginning of the organic movement was smirked at as an anarchist movement full of disillusioned “earth tones”. Today we know that FORWARD thinking farmers are glad they made the move. This restaurant waste oil technologies needs the support of a FORWARD thinking administration at the governor’s level. This move to waste oil technologies alone when fully utilized could contribute one to four percent toward Governor Doyle’s 20/20 energy independence goal. While alone waste oil fuel technologies will not solve all our energy problems, it is more importantly one of the ten good ideas it takes to solve any vexing problem.
It is time to support the innovative FORWARD thinking Wisconsin leadership has always provided the United States of America.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Vegetable Oil Recycling and Distibution Center
The landmark Coulee Region Biofuels Recycling and Distribution Center in Blair, Wisconsin will hold an Open House and Product Demonstration on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. This open house will reveal a collaboration of three of the region’s leaders in biofuel technology. Taavi McMahon and David Dudley of the PrairieFire Biofuels Co-op and John Feyen of Arcade Pumping have formed an LLC named Coulee Region Biofuels. Matt Fisher, Project Manager at INOV8 International, has been instrumental in the development of the project because of INOV8’s role as a leader in alternate fuels combustion technology. John Feyen of Coulee Region Bio-Fuels is pleased to show the Coulee Region this new facility that will have the ability to collect, recycle and distribute an environmentally friendly alternate fuel source for businesses in the Coulee Region. There are two types of burners that have the ability to use this fuel and they both come from the Coulee Region corporation INOV8 International of La Crosse. One of the burners is the patented Multi-fuel burner capable of burning waste and straight vegetable oil and virtually any combustible oil that has BTU value. The other is the patent-pending Dual-fuel burner that truly burns two different fuels at the same time, a ground breaking, industry first. There will be demonstrations of the entire process from collection of the oil to the different appliances and burners that use it. Please take the time to come and see a new way to save as well as be environmentally friendly.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 – 10:00 AM
WHERE: Coulee Region Bio-Fuels Collection and Distribution Center
509 4th St., Blair, Wisconsin
(At the intersection of Highways 53 and 95)
SPEAKERS: John Feyen, Coulee Region Biofuels
Rebecca Faas, President and Owner, INOV8 International Inc.
Taavi McMahon, Board of Directors, PrairieFire Biofuels
BACKGROUND:
The desire to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and the ability to use readily available waste vegetable oil have been the driving factors in the organization of the PrairieFire Biofuels Co-op of Madison, of which Taavi McMahon and David Dudley are charter members. The need to reduce the costs of his trucking company led John Feyen of Arcade Pumping to begin collecting waste vegetable oil and processing it into biodiesel for his own use. At the same time, Matt Fisher of INOV8 International had just installed the first boiler fueled by waste vegetable oil at a restaurant to provide their hot water. INOV8 has been involved in alternate fuels combustion technology for over 19 years. McMahon, Dudley, Fayen, and Fisher discussed their passion for environmental awareness, and from this discussion emerged the innovation in biofuels you will see on May 23rd. This open house will be the culmination of the shared hopes and dreams of INOV8, PrairieFire Biofuels, and Coulee Region Biofuels – Dreams for a better America that is less dependant on fossil fuels and that is aware of the responsible ways a waste product can be utilized not only to fuel trucks and autos, but also for commercial heating and boiler operation. These gentlemen and the companies they represent all have a genuine desire to offer products and services that will allow people of the Coulee Region to have a real choice when it comes to purchasing fuel for their businesses.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 – 10:00 AM
WHERE: Coulee Region Bio-Fuels Collection and Distribution Center
509 4th St., Blair, Wisconsin
(At the intersection of Highways 53 and 95)
SPEAKERS: John Feyen, Coulee Region Biofuels
Rebecca Faas, President and Owner, INOV8 International Inc.
Taavi McMahon, Board of Directors, PrairieFire Biofuels
BACKGROUND:
The desire to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and the ability to use readily available waste vegetable oil have been the driving factors in the organization of the PrairieFire Biofuels Co-op of Madison, of which Taavi McMahon and David Dudley are charter members. The need to reduce the costs of his trucking company led John Feyen of Arcade Pumping to begin collecting waste vegetable oil and processing it into biodiesel for his own use. At the same time, Matt Fisher of INOV8 International had just installed the first boiler fueled by waste vegetable oil at a restaurant to provide their hot water. INOV8 has been involved in alternate fuels combustion technology for over 19 years. McMahon, Dudley, Fayen, and Fisher discussed their passion for environmental awareness, and from this discussion emerged the innovation in biofuels you will see on May 23rd. This open house will be the culmination of the shared hopes and dreams of INOV8, PrairieFire Biofuels, and Coulee Region Biofuels – Dreams for a better America that is less dependant on fossil fuels and that is aware of the responsible ways a waste product can be utilized not only to fuel trucks and autos, but also for commercial heating and boiler operation. These gentlemen and the companies they represent all have a genuine desire to offer products and services that will allow people of the Coulee Region to have a real choice when it comes to purchasing fuel for their businesses.
Trying new things
This should be a great site for everybody who wants to try new and unique ideas that will lead to reducing our dependance on fossil fuels and helps us to understand the alternate fuels and how they can be used.
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