Shifting the U.S. economy to one based on clean energy will improve economic growth, energy independence, and the country’s health and well-being. By focusing on the Biden Administration’s priorities to cut emissions, create jobs, and promote energy justice, EERE serves the federal government’s mandate to reduce costs for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, including solar and wind. EERE also provides insight into working alongside industry partners in geothermal, offshore wind, hydrogen, and more.

As one of the Applied Energy offices within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) along with the Office of Electricity, the Office of Nuclear Energy, and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, EERE invests in the vast majority of the technologies driving the clean energy transition.

“We work in three primary sectors: renewable energy generation production, sustainable transportation, and buildings and industry,” says Alejandro Moreno, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Our mission is to ensure American leadership in clean energy technologies and throughout the clean energy transition.”

DOE has 17 national laboratories with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado stewarded by EERE. Together, they cover a wide range of clean energy technologies—including wind, solar, geothermal, water power, electric vehicles and batteries, building technologies, advanced materials and manufacturing, bioenergy, hydrogen and fuel cells, and industrial efficiency—with successes driven in large part by EERE research, but also by technologies on the cusp of transforming the energy sector. For example, we currently use hydrogen as an industrial fuel for heavy-duty or long-range transport, or sustainable aviation fuels.

“Many of the commitments coming out of the airline industry right now are pledging to transform the fuels they use and transform their fleet to be low carbon,” says Moreno. “That’s primarily through fuels derived from bioenergy. EERE’s bioenergy program is working on the research to support this.”

EERE also does a tremendous amount of work to help reduce the carbon footprint of industrial processes, ranging from chemical production to cement and steel, which are some of the hardest areas to decarbonize in today’s economy as they require extremely heat-intensive processes.

“Not everything can be electrified the way vehicles can,” Moreno says. “Not all those processes can use electricity, as it doesn’t always generate enough heat. We need to either find new processes that accomplish the same thing with less heat or find new fuels that produce that level of heat without the same level of greenhouse gas emissions.”

During its decades of tenure, EERE has had impressive successes, including The SunShot Initiative, reducing the cost of solar photovoltaics by 75 percent to six cents per kilowatt hour, a goal accomplished three years ahead of schedule.

Similarly, EERE’s aim of having wind supply five percent of U.S. electricity by 2020 saw it reach seven to eight percent of the country’s electricity by that year. And in the last decade alone, the cost of lithium-ion battery storage has fallen about 90 percent, in large part driven by research from EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Office.

“That’s one of the key reasons you see the proliferation of electric vehicles on the roads today,” Moreno says. “Manufacturers can make commitments to have a certain percentage of their fleet be electric by 2030 or 2035 because we know we can do so in a way that’s affordable and meets consumer needs.”

There’s no time to waste when it comes to meeting these goals across numerous industrial sectors. The current administration has made it clear that their goal is to fully decarbonize the electricity sector by 2035, and to have a fully Net Zero economy, meaning all energy on balance produces zero emissions, by 2050.

Much of the reduction in emissions from transportation and from industry and buildings depends on the reduction of emissions in the power sector, adds Moreno. If you drive an electric vehicle but charge that vehicle with electricity that’s heavily fossil-fuel dominated, you’re not necessarily reducing emissions as much as if that electricity were fully clean.

“In the power sector, there’s an urgency to move very quickly,” says Moreno. “You’re seeing that not just in the United States. The International Energy Agency, which historically has been very focused on fossil fuels and oil, came out with a global target of getting to Net Zero by 2050 globally, which also requires a fully clean power sector.”

Evidence shows the speed at which greenhouse gases are beginning to concentrate and build up in the atmosphere, meaning there is limited time to act, he adds. Industries need to start dramatically reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere now to first slow down the increases and then stabilize the overall amount of gases such that any increase in atmospheric temperature will not be greater than is manageable.

Under the Biden Administration, the recent Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, allowed the DOE to implement $62 billion for large programs that demonstrate major new technologies at scale and focus on creating jobs for all Americans and revenue for communities across the country.

Additionally, the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act had many provisions that codified incentives for a wide range of clean energy technologies—not just for the development of the technologies themselves, but for development in a way that ensures the benefits of the Clean Energy Transition are durable and meet the needs of ordinary Americans.

“This includes increased incentives for using domestic content, for providing good-paying jobs, and for providing and locating projects in communities that are either low-income or that have historically played a huge role in driving the abundance of low-cost energy in the United States and have been critical to the economic success of this country as a whole,” Moreno says.

“It recognizes those communities still have a huge role to play in the clean energy transition, even as the technologies themselves change. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act are squarely focused on ensuring that happens, and that those communities continue to play an important role.”

Across the board, most companies are aware of the real role they play in the transition, but executing that will be easier for some than others. For those companies, communities, and individuals for whom that adaptation is especially challenging, EERE provides support.

There are huge opportunities, for instance, to use the equipment, expertise, and skills that underpin conventional energy in cleaner sectors, such as geothermal. “Geothermal drilling and production have a lot in common with oil and gas, particularly with offshore oil and gas drilling,” says Moreno. “It’s not exactly the same, but a lot of the equipment and skills are directly relevant and transferable.”

The DOE has created GEODE—Geothermal Energy from Oil and gas Demonstrated Engineering —to award up to $165 million over five years to expand geothermal energy deployment specifically by leveraging expertise and equipment previously used in the offshore oil and gas sector.

Opportunities also abound to use existing infrastructure such as connections to the grid from existing fossil fuel facilities, connections that are extremely valuable for the utility expertise and broader power sector expertise held by those who work in those facilities.

There are also tremendous opportunities across the board for clean energy to provide jobs and revenue to communities. One of the distinguishing factors of renewables is that many of the best resources are in rural communities, which not only have an opportunity to reap some of the revenue but also have real ownership over the infrastructure.

“This,” says Moreno, “has always been a key element of the fossil fuel and energy industry in the U.S.—the pride that communities have in providing resources that make the country run and are critical to the success of the country. Those communities still have the same opportunity to do that.”

When it comes to examples of how homeowners themselves can help, retrofitting homes to reduce overall energy consumption is one of the best and easiest ways to save money, as well as being vital for the climate, says Moreno. “The less energy we use overall, the less new energy generation we need to create, and the less new infrastructure we need to build.”

DOE has also created several programs that help businesses understand how to reduce emissions and save money. Energy Savings Hub, an online portal that provides direct access to the tools to dramatically cut energy costs.

In terms of milestones, EERE has several it is aiming to reach. “Our primary mission is research and technology development, and there are still a number of technologies we know will be vital in reaching our 2050 decarbonization and clean energy goals in the most reliable and most affordable way possible,” Moreno says.

One of these focuses on reducing the cost of hydrogen to $1 per kilowatt hour, which would be 80 percent below current rates. The second is related to long-duration storage. As more wind and solar power come onto the grid, being able to store that energy as it’s generated and release it when demand is highest will become more important, particularly over longer periods.

Geothermal is another focus. Even though in many locations it is commercially competitive with gas for heating, it currently satisfies a small percentage of the country’s overall consumption of electricity. With advances in both drilling technology and technologies that enable management of underground reservoirs in conditions of higher temperatures and higher pressures, the potential for geothermal is roughly equivalent to the output of today’s nuclear fleet, a substantial resource.

“And geothermal is spread across wide swaths of the country,” says Moreno. “It also has vast potential for direct heating for small communities looking to reduce their dependence on natural gas.”

While land-based wind is one of the cheapest sources of electricity in many parts of the country, there is immense potential for offshore wind energy. However, in half of the potential sites where floating turbines would be most effectively deployed, the water is too deep to attach them directly to the seabed. Most of the East Coast has shallow water, but on the Pacific coasts and in parts of the Gulf of Maine, the water gets deep very fast and close to shore, requiring turbines that flood—a technology still under development.

“We are committed to driving down the costs of floating offshore wind to $45 a megawatt hour by 2035, which would make it broadly competitive with commercial electricity today,” says Moreno. “This supports the current administration’s ambitious goals and would also allow us to take leadership in the U.S. of the manufacturing and supply chain of an entirely new clean energy industry, one where the manufacturing could take place anywhere in the country but relies heavily on port facilities, which will need to expand and can create numerous logistics jobs as well as operational maintenance jobs for ports and the communities based by them and out of them.”

Whether it is transitioning to wind, solar, or geothermal power, reducing the country’s carbon footprint allows us to generate the energy needed without the greenhouse gas emissions and negative environmental effects that come with fossil fuels, in turn helping to reduce climate change and making the world a better place for all.

The post Going Green and Clean with Earth-Friendly Energy<p class="company">Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

An industry leader in the custom fabrication of flexible cellular and plastic materials, Federal Foam serves clients in agriculture, construction, power sports, medical, retail and consumer products, and other sectors. While doing so, Federal Foam has acquired considerable business assets, completed a 100,000-square-foot warehouse expansion, earned an EcoVadis Silver Sustainability Rating, purchased additional industrial property, invested in machinery, and became a certified women-owned business.

“To say that we’re experiencing growth is kind of an understatement,” says Todd R. Kidder, Federal Foam’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We’re expanding in many areas.”

Federal Foam’s roots trace back to the founding of Federal Paper Stock Company in 1914, which expanded into the polyurethane market in the late 1950s. Growing through a series of acquisitions and new business ventures over the decades, parent company Federal International Inc.’s family of companies today includes Federal Foam Technologies, Federal Recycling & Waste Solutions, and Federal Eco Foam.

“For over 75 years, we’ve been supplying our customers with millions of components of the highest quality foam, fiber, and plastic material in markets all over the world including agriculture, construction, power sports, truck/bus, medical, industrial, and retail/consumer products industries,” says President and CEO Wyman Smith. “The company has grown tremendously over the last few years with various acquisitions, investment in new equipment, and new talent brought in.”

To keep up with demand, Federal Foam recently purchased an industrial building and land near its New Richmond, Wisconsin facility. “As our company continues to grow its customer base, expanding our infrastructure allows us to extend our reach, enhance our offerings, and continue to build a robust team,” says Smith.

Kidder adds that, “This expansion is a testament to our continued success and growth as a company. With two locations near one another, we’re looking forward to reinforcing our state-of-the-art plant operations in New Richmond with additional space, capacity, and talent.” The 47,000-square-foot building on 4.3 acres will be converted and up and running this year.

Along with the building and land acquisition, Federal Foam constantly invests in making manufacturing more efficient. The company’s latest investments include a new vacuum former, robotic waterjet, and die press for its New Richmond facility, and a new CNC foam-cutting machine for its Ellsworth facility. The company is also upgrading processes at all its facilities over the next 12 to 24 months to further expand capacity, an investment of over $2 million.

These investments secure the future growth of Federal Foam, says Mark Siegfried, Director of Operations. “Part of it is having the capacity to meet our customers’ needs. Some of the equipment has newer technology than our older, legacy equipment, which will help us further enhance our processing capabilities and energy efficiency.”

Federal International, Inc. has been a private, family-owned business since 1914. In 2022, the ownership transitioned to fourth-generation women family members, which allowed the company to be certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) Midwest last year. To qualify, businesses must be at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women.

Federal Foam’s President Smith says there are many benefits to female ownership. It lets employees, suppliers, and customers know that this is a diverse, inclusive company. “We embrace all kinds of different people from all walks of life,” he says, “and it’s exciting. I’ve been with the company for almost 40 years, managing the Federal Foam business, and it’s been part of my nature to have a diverse team. Having a diverse staff and workforce brings a lot of different viewpoints into running the business. It also makes us more attractive in certain bid situations, and some of our customers are looking to have suppliers that have diverse ownership.”

Although the recent WBENC certification is a considerable milestone, Federal Foam has long been a company of inclusion, with many of the women within the company filling key roles. Two out of five executive staff members at Federal Foam are female, as are many working at management levels and on the production floor.

“We’re pretty diverse in our workforce,” adds Smith. “It’s not dominated by any one gender, race, or anything else. I only see us further increasing our workforce diversity.”

Satisfying the need for foam in markets as diverse as industrial, commercial vehicles, healthcare, fenestration, and crafts creates waste, and Federal Foam takes an active role in sustainability.

Federal Foam’s scrap urethane foam trim is 100 percent recycled, and some is baled and sold back into industries that create re-bond foam. Although Federal Foam doesn’t itself maintain the capabilities to re-process the material, the company uses re-bond foam for some of its products.

Products that cannot be re-processed into usable materials do not go to landfills but become waste-to-energy fuel. And outside of polyurethane foam, Federal Foam sends its plastics back to its plastics supplier.

“We take that scrap and interject it into our raw material because we can have a certain amount of what is called re-grind that goes into the raw materials,” Smith explains. “So how much we send them will depend on how much goes into our product. From that standpoint, it’s full-circle recycling for our plastics.”

Sustainability also runs throughout other branches of the Federal family of companies. Federal Recycling & Waste Solutions provides recycling and waste management services for commercial businesses, helping them develop more profitable, sustainable operations. For over half a century, Federal Eco Foam has led the way in recycling polyurethane foams into innovative, high-performing products for diverse applications and industries.

To keep up with changes in the industry, Federal Foam attends trade shows such as Foam Expo North America 2023, which was held in late June. At the Expo, the company also unveiled some of its recent marketing and new branding, which will accompany Federal Foam’s re-vamped website, launching in the coming months.

Many factors continue setting Federal Foam apart from the competition, from its diverse high-quality product and service offerings to its people. “We’ve got some high-caliber, qualified individuals in key areas, whether it be operations, engineering or sales, to make projects successful, not only for us but for the customer,” says Siegfried of the company’s 350+ strong staff. “Being transparent and innovative in our approach is one of our strongest attributes.”

Considerable growth over the years means Federal Foam is no mom-and-pop shop, but still structured in such a way that the company remains extremely flexible. Unlike some companies, there aren’t multiple layers of management to slow down approval processes.

“We’re pretty nimble in our ability to react, get feedback to customers, and make decisions,” says Smith. “That continues to be an asset to us.”

The post Investing in the Future<p class="company">Federal Foam Technologies</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

“The beauty of the case study for us was that it allowed us to prove on a scale what we had been calculating and saying for quite a while—that this technology is perfectly suited for small locations where size or layout might be a challenge,” states Seth Moore, Chief Operating Officer and Catalyst co-founder.

Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling technique in which water, sand, or chemicals are blasted into a wellbore under high pressure to break up rock formations so natural gas and oil can be extracted. Vortex Prime offers an alternative to conventional fracking fleets—the energy industry term for the rigs, trucks, vehicles, pumps, and other equipment needed for hydraulic fracturing. The Vortex Prime fracking fleet is the first of its type to use direct-drive turbine technology.

The pumps are directly connected to military-grade turbines fueled by natural gas. The self-contained system is compact, requiring six to eight pumps versus twenty for a conventional fleet, reducing onsite space by over 50 percent. It also offers big power, speedy set-up, fuel savings, and reduced emissions and maintenance.

“We have said all along, ‘Look at the fuel savings that this technology can achieve.’ We were able to prove that,” he says, pointing to Catalyst’s case study. “When all things were considered, we saved the customer substantial money.”

Released March 4, 2023, the case study concerns an assignment that the company carried out at a small, two-well pad in Howard County, Texas. At the customer’s request, a hybrid solution was implemented, with 75 percent of pumping done with Vortex Prime and the remainder done with conventional diesel-powered pumps.

The Vortex Prime system pumped for 261 hours over 17.2 days, with an average treating pressure of 8,110 psi and a maximum treating pressure of 8,465 psi. The system can reach nearly 15,000 psi depending on how it is configured. 92 percent pumping efficiency was achieved, carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 654 metric tons, and the client’s fuel costs were slashed by 41 percent, for a savings of $425,000.

“That fuel savings number could have been even higher than what it was if we had run all the turbines,” notes Moore.

In addition to taking up less space than a conventional fleet, the Vortex Prime system used in the case study required less maintenance, enhancing the safety of the fracking crew. Fewer pieces to transport meant less need for back-and-forth trips to the worksite. It offers other benefits as well, including a kill switch feature that cuts idle time. The system can be put back online in minutes, versus hours for a traditional fracking fleet. The company makes the Vortex Prime at its manufacturing facilities and also offers conventional fracking pump options.

There have been other big developments recently at Catalyst besides the case study. At the start of this year, the company announced a partnership with GD Energy Products (GDEP), a company that has been designing and manufacturing pump solutions for the oil and gas industry since the mid-19^th century. Under the terms of the agreement, Catalyst will be using GDEP’s Thunder 5000 quintuplex pump, capable of reaching 5,000 horsepower, in the Vortex Prime system.

“It’s a spinoff of their GD 3000 pump, which was a triplex pump—a three-plunger pump. This was a five-plunger pump. We went to them and gave them a challenge, and they partnered with us,” he says. “Both companies are working in a collaborative partnership.”

Catalyst was established in April 2018 by Moore and two co-founders, all of whom were imbued with a predilection for out-of-the-box thinking. Sadly, after we last spoke, company co-founder Michael Morgan passed away. Moore and fellow co-founder Bobby Chapman are determined to respect Morgan’s vision as they keep the company going.

“It was a sad passing, hard to comprehend. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. The employees who worked with him are touched by his loss. Bobby, Mike, and myself were here before the beginning of Catalyst, and our success is certainly due in part to his efforts and his knowledge and skill and experience,” Moore says, adding, “He would want us to go on.”

Part of this going forward involves remaining true to the company’s original mission, which was to be innovative and open-minded about new technology and processes. Indeed, for all of its success, remaining flexible and agile is the goal.

“I don’t consider us a start-up anymore, but we still have a lot of that start-up mentality. We go from concept to action pretty quickly. There are not a lot of layers for ideas to get bogged down in and shrivel on the vine,” he explains.

As proof, he points to the speed at which Catalyst can erect and dismantle its fracking operations. “We can move our pumps, set up, and be ready in twelve hours or less. My guys are telling me I can get it down to eight hours; I don’t know any system in the fracking world that does that,” Moore says.

Quick installation, of course, means more pumping time for clients. This dynamic approach also draws potential employees who want to break away from the more conservative mindset inherent in the conventional oil and gas sector.

“If people have ways of doing things better, faster, safer, more efficient, and profitable, we listen to those people. Sometimes, our meeting in the morning can result in action being taken after lunch. I think that appeals to a lot of people, and because of that, we’ve been able to get some really good talent,” states Moore. Current employment at Catalyst stands at approximately 185 individuals.

The company’s business model is centered on rentals. Instead of selling the Vortex Prime and other fracking solutions, Catalyst leases out equipment and crews. The firm remains focused on the Permian Basin—a region encompassing West Texas and Southeast New Mexico containing vast oil and natural gas deposits.

“There’s a lot of work in the Permian,” says Moore, “and we’ve had people reach out to us from outside the United States and areas outside the Permian Basin. Currently, we’re building capacity,” he explains. “At the moment, it seems to make the most sense to keep this technology operating as close to our home base as possible. We like the fact that we don’t have to fly in experts. We’ve partnered with people who have boots on the ground.”

Like other fracking companies in the Permian Basin, Catalyst has had to respond to certain industry trends, including simultaneous fracturing, aka simul-frac, and electric fracturing, or e-frac. Moore is a strong proponent of the former and not a huge fan of the latter.

While conventional fracking fleets use diesel-powered pumps, e-frac systems run on electricity. By using an e-frac fleet, energy companies can reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but it is hardly a perfect solution. Large-scale e-frac systems have such high energy needs that they cannot be plugged into an existing electrical grid, and this would not be a realistic option in much of the Permian Basin anyway.

The Texas electrical grid is independent of other state grids, leaving it highly vulnerable to unexpected surges in demand. A cold snap in the Lone Star State in early 2021 resulted in the near-collapse of the grid as Texans cranked their thermostats.

“When people say e-frac, they assume it’s easy and quick and clean; they don’t realize all that goes into it,” Moore says. Gas-powered generators are needed to create electricity for e-frac systems, a requirement that can be expensive and inconvenient.

He is considerably more enthusiastic about the emergence of simul-frac, a hydraulic fracturing process entailing the use of two horizontal wells at the same time. “We feel [our] technology is perfectly suited for simul-frac because it amplifies and multiplies that fuel saving,” he shares. The compact size of the Vortex Prime system also means it is a good fit for simul-frac operations.

When asked about the future, Moore anticipates expansion. “I think we’d like to be at eight fleets by the end of 2024. We should be adding our fourth fleet somewhere in Q4 of this year, so that’s a growth of four fleets next calendar year. We’ve talked about all kinds of options but, at the end of it all, we’re focused on making sure we grow in a [controlled] manner and that we maintain service quality and maintain safety. We feel like everything good that will happen, will happen as long as we manage those things.”

The post This Hydraulic Fracturing Pump Fleet Proves its Worth<p class="company">Catalyst Energy Services</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Fair to say that this most vital sector of the world’s economy is presently in a ferment, with numerous big questions arising, and none yet fully answered.

So, in its 55^th year, the Global Energy Show Exhibition & Conference should be unmissable. It’s the forum for attendees to engage, network, and learn about sustainability strategies, new cleantech initiatives and decarbonization; attend lively and engaging roundtable discussions and presentations by industry experts and influencers; and meet others to share global energy challenges and solutions.

Discussing this year’s upcoming show, Nick Samain leaves no doubt about how enthusiastic he is. As Senior Vice President for the Calgary location of global exhibitions and publishing company dmg events, Samain says the name of the upcoming exhibition was changed from the Global Petroleum Show to the Global Energy Show in 2020 in light of energy sector changes and the need for cleaner technology and reduced emissions.

“All that put together has transformed the show floor of the global energy show, and it’s done so in some important and exciting ways,” he says.

Driving discussion
The Global Energy Show Exhibition & Conference is North America’s only comprehensive, integrated energy event. Of the promise of this year’s show, dmg events says, “As no single source of energy can meet the increased global energy demand, the Global Energy Show is where Canada demonstrates its vision and leadership by bringing the right people together to meet global challenges with real-world solutions.”

Enormously proud of the representation of oil and gas at the event, the organizers are also aware that large petroleum-based producers with international operations are leaders in a changing industry, shifting their businesses and growth toward sustainable hydrocarbon production and lowering carbon emissions. In Canada, for example, the six largest oil-sands producers created Pathways Alliance (https://pathwaysalliance.ca/), committing themselves to both supplying global energy needs and achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

And it’s no coincidence that the Show is being held at Calgary’s BMO Centre at Stampede Park. Renowned for its oil and gas production, Alberta is also home to the 3,300-acre Travers Solar Project—the largest in Canada—and is seeing considerable investment in renewables.

“Overall, it speaks to the theme of the Global Energy Show,” says Samain, adding that the need to meet energy demands is no longer a “this” or “that” discussion about petroleum versus renewables. “I think we need to recognize that no single source of energy can meet the world’s demands. The world has changed a bit. Does LNG displace coal in other parts of the region, and can we make it as clean as possible in Canada? Yes, we can,” he says.

“And those are the types of debates and discussions that happen at the Global Energy Show, because they need to happen, and they need to happen face-to-face, so this event has an opportunity to influence things like policy and investment.”

With great power…
In Canada, we are fortunate to have an abundance of energy and resources, but the same cannot be said for many others around the globe. The country has a responsibility to be a leader in responsible power production, and the Global Energy Show is the ideal B2B exhibition and conference.

Welcoming representatives from over 111 countries, the event (from June 13-15) is a place to have conversations about Canadian energy and our supply chain with an international audience, and gain—and give—new perspectives that may lead to positive changes.

“It’s three days of really supercharging that industry and that’s how we plan the show, with a day-after approach,” says Samain.

“A year out, we get our governing body members together and say, ‘it’s the day after, let’s put our minds there right now. What’s happened? What were the important discussions? What’s that feeling I‘m going to get, walking the Global Energy Show?’ It’s the next 20 years of energy, and the greatest general moonshot opportunity that we’ve got.”

The entire value chain
Billed as North America’s only exhibition featuring the entire value chain, the Global Energy Show is the largest B2B exhibition and conference of its kind. It’s a place where energy industry pros gather and talk about the global energy transition, the role of all energy resources, and the latest innovations and technologies.

This year, the exhibition show floor will host over 600 exhibitors spread over five exhibition halls and an outdoor zone. Along with the exhibition, the event features a strategic and technical conference, and special presentations like the Global Energy Show Awards, the Plug and Play Innovation Theatre, the Emissions Reduction Theatre, and much more.

Over 30,000 participants are expected to attend, along with 22,500 companies doing business. The 2023 strategic conference will discuss topics such as the vital role of oil and gas in a functioning economy, cleantech investments and renewable energy, and the potential of hydrogen to power our lives. And experts and industry leaders at The Global Energy Technical Conference will discuss the future of energy and technology.

The Top 3 Strategic Conference Panels, meanwhile, will discuss Balancing the International Scales: Do Unsettling Geopolitical Situations Threaten the Energy Transition?; Nuclear, The Myth, The Legend; and The Great Carbon Capture Debate—A Real Solution or Another Way to Extend the Use of Fossil Fuels?

Moderated by industry experts, Interactive Roundtable Discussions will focus on a range of specific technical topics, such as Clean Energy Ecosystems: Is it Possible to Achieve Net Zero by 2035?; New Transformative Tech to Decarbonize the Energy Sector; Scaling and Growing the Hydrogen Market: The Challenges versus the Opportunities; and Challenges and Opportunities for CCUS [carbon capture, utilization and storage] Commercialization.

All sessions will be recorded, and full conference delegates will have access to the library for six months.

“There are two conferences,” explains Samain, “but at that main strategic conference, you can expect premiers to be speaking, international Ministers that regularly speak on the stage; real experts and leaders in industry such as presidents and CEOs of different international companies, as well as leaders here in energy like Dan Balaban, CEO of Greengate. The mix of speakers is back to that matrix of energy, no single source. All roads lead back to electricity.”

Back to in-person
Headquartered in Dubai, UAE since 1989, dmg events is behind 84 events in 24 countries, with some events drawing over 150,000 attendees. When COVID hit in March 2020, dmg, like many large event organizers, thought it was temporary.

In-person, face-to-face events—the foundation of the company—kept being pushed to later dates until 2022, which became the first full year that dmg could again mount all the events in its calendar. 2023 is the second year that dmg is operating on its regular cycle, which is vital for the Global Energy Show, since it attracts domestic and international visitors.

“We need people because we are different from many conference producers,” says Samain. “All of our events always have a large exhibition attached to them, and exhibitors want to see people, busy aisles, and qualified attendance, especially conference delegates. We say, ‘An educated buyer is an empowered buyer.’ So they go to conferences, learn about a new technology, a new market, or investment opportunities, and go into the exhibitions which are really a marketplace for sectors, whether that’s broader energy or something specific like carbon capture or hydrogen, and do business.”

The location of the show, Calgary, represents a new chapter in Canada’s energy sector. Alberta is the heart of the country’s energy sector although it has faced some challenges over the past few years. There is, however, a momentum now in the industry, one creating many dynamic opportunities.

“It’s not quite ground-level, but it’s exploding out here in a great way,” says Samain. “And for anybody who’s in a supply chain, whether it’s manufacturing or allied resources, technology, AI, or anything else, the energy sector has all of that and more, and it touches so many important Canadian industries in the supply chain. I would say, come out and see what it’s all about. It will be worth your while because we are booming in a new era for Canadian energy.”

The post What’s on Show? Just the Entire Energy Value Chain<p class="company">dmg events and The Global Energy Show & Conference</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

A growing topic in modern PPE use and design is ensuring that equipment matches the physical attributes of a diversifying workforce.

Robin Skillings, writing for OHS Canada magazine, purports that Canada is in the middle of a serious skilled trades shortage, a sentiment echoed by many employers and industry leaders today across a breadth of environments and locations. Exacerbating the issue, more than 250,000 Canadians are expected to enter retirement soon. These trends mean that more gender diversity will be seen in previously male-dominated industries and these recruits will be seen as assets while the old guard exits workplaces.

A report for REMI Network, a self-described “news and information source servicing the real estate management industry,” outlines that business sectors historically dominated by men, such as construction and other such trades, are seeing an increase in gender diversity. “Around 170,000 females, twenty-five percent of those in the industry, are employed in hands-on roles [in these sectors],” the report states. It notes that the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) fears that women entering these industries may find their PPE to be either uncomfortable or ill-fitting, which will mean that it cannot protect them to the extent that it should.

Skillings’ piece cites a 2016 study for the American Journal of Industrial Medicine which, much like the REMI Network report, found that “a majority of female construction workers reported fit problems with many types of PPE including gloves, harnesses, safety vests, and work boots.”

Steps are being taken by PPE outfitters to consider these factors when designing workplace equipment. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) blog post puts forth that truly equitable PPE “considers workers’ gender, race, age, shape, and size,” as well as factors like disability, occupational settings, and more.

In an article for occupational safety and health magazine EHS Today, Sayanti Basu reports that proper fit and comfort will ensure PPE is more widely adopted in trades and workplaces. “Incorporating flexible materials into mask production such as thermoplastic elastomers creates a final product that is soft to the touch and can stretch to fit different people.” This in turn minimizes discomfort. Basu also states that lightweight material can also aid in building higher filtration in breathing masks so that workers in trades where this protection is necessary can mitigate the build-up of carcinogens and heat in the material. Improvements like these go hand in hand with the notion that equitable PPE considers the bodies of all workers.

As part of its mandate to conduct research and recommend measures to prevent work-related injury and illness, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) looks at anthropometry, the study of the human body’s measurements and proportions, and how it relates to PPE. “It is important that anthropometry databases and other information used to develop PPE are based on measurements that are representative of current working populations,” the CDC blog post writes. Research by NIOSH has helped equipment manufacturers design PPE to provide better fit and comfort to today’s workforce.

NIOSH even goes a step further by holding competitions like ‘The NIOSH Protective Clothing Challenge,’ which takes submissions from workers and organizations industry-wide on solutions that “consider the broad spectrum of U.S. workers in relation to factors that may influence fit such as body size and shape, gender, race, ethnicity, religious or cultural practices, or specific work tasks.” For example, the 2022 competition yielded a top submission that created a self-conforming PPE gown with a contamination indicator. The gown is designed to fit a broad range of body types.

Progress extends beyond making equipment more comfortable or person-appropriate; in fact, future advancements will look to bring even more interesting and impressive improvements to what we currently think of as PPE. In a piece for Build Magazine, Evelyn Long highlights new moves in the field like investments in exosuits, wearable robotics that aim to prevent on-site injury to workers’ bodies by enhancing physical capabilities. Now in the early stages of adoption, exosuits reduce physical exertion significantly, supporting workers’ arms, shoulders, legs, and backs and allowing them to work under less physical strain and with potentially increased ability in lifting, weight management, and more.

Some exosuit technologies even sport built-in sensors that warn a user of an increased heart rate, temperature changes, machine overheating, and more. These come in the form of smart technology helmets, augmented reality (AR) glasses, or footwear with GPS technology.

Martin Banks for technology media site TechAeris reports that these are connected by the Internet of Things, which is increasingly becoming part of the modern workplace. IoT connectivity in PPE could allow for real-time updating of a worker’s condition and state of the equipment, allowing for dynamic problem-solving and avoidance of large-scale issues.

As exciting as these improvements in PPE technology are, Evelyn Long says that, while this segment of the industry is growing, this kind of equipment is expensive, especially in mass quantities and considering the economic fluctuations post-pandemic. Other innovations are not technologically advanced or expensive but face the issue of sustainability.

In his writing for TechAeris, Martin Banks says that disposable PPE is becoming common in modern companies. “While these are often affordable and convenient, they’re starting to fall out of fashion as environmental concerns rise.” This has led to a rise in biodegradable PPE, equipment made from material that can naturally break down as opposed to that made of plastic. The use of biodegradable materials allows companies to reduce their environmental footprint which can, in turn, be used as a marketing tool, as more consumers demand environmentally friendly solutions. These also have lower disposal costs. New PPE does not always have to do with technological leaps as much as the smarter use of available and recommended materials.

Sustainability, equity, and reducing the physical tolls on workers are issues that are as important to employees and labourers as they are for the creators of the PPE technology that looks to support them. As many countries seek to counter an ongoing labour shortage, focusing on how to best accommodate workers and keep them safe can be a way to tackle the problem. Just as workplace demographics are evolving, so too is public understanding of how cleanliness, greener initiatives, and comfort can affect a workplace. PPE must adapt along with it so that the challenges of today can lead to the better workplaces of tomorrow.

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“We manufacture electrical equipment for industries that are growing in demand,” says David Evdokimoff, Chief Executive Officer of Boundary Electric. “A large part of our business is transformers and switchgear distribution. We manufacture that for multiple industries: oil and gas, hopefully hydrogen, data centres, crypto, electrical utilities.” A data centre is a secure location where networked computer systems store, process, and/or distribute gargantuan amounts of digital information.

Boundary, which also serves municipalities, maintains two facilities in Grand Forks and one in Trail, British Columbia.

“We’re an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), so we manufacture a majority of our equipment. We have subcontractors and some items we outsource to keep costs down, but most is manufactured out of our Grand Forks and Trail facility,” Evdokimoff explains.

In addition to transformers and switchgear equipment, the company also designs and manufactures metering kiosks, substation components, splitters, portable power centres, and motors. It offers testing, inspection, maintenance, repairs, and electrical servicing and contracting as well. While the company primarily works in North America, it has shipped its wares as far afield as Egypt, Greenland, South America, and the Philippines. The firm also installs equipment within the British Columbia interior.

A few years ago, Boundary developed a new specialty working with the budding cryptocurrency scene. New crypto coins are created or ‘mined’ by powerful computers that solve complex math problems to validate transactions. Housed in data centres, these computers require a lot of electricity.

“We had a company call and they said they want to put fifty megawatts into a building. That’s the equivalent of putting the power that would go to a city into a building. It didn’t make any sense. We were like, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ So, that was our introduction to Bitcoin,” recalls Evdokimoff.

After supplying electrical equipment to this client, “Our phone rang off the hook. From that point on, we manufactured electrical equipment for a few other major players in the game,” he adds.

Boundary Electric was founded in 1947 by Allen Napoleon Docksteader and his son, Wes Docksteader, with a focus on manufacturing and distributing electrical transmission gear. The company remains a family business, with Allen’s great-grandson Justin Docksteader serving as Evdokimoff’s business partner. The plan is to keep Boundary a family firm going forward. At present, the company has approximately eighty employees across all branches.

“I think for us it’s creativity, and attitude,” Evdokimoff says, regarding what the company looks for in potential hires. “Skill set, we can teach. We’re looking for people who are able to work on the fly, able to take on problems that come at them and see the opportunity as opposed to roadblocks. We’re looking for people that work exceptionally well in a team, especially in tackling new things. If you’re getting into crypto, if you’re getting into hydrogen, if you’re getting into these new markets, you have to be willing to be a problem solver.”

Boundary offers “a competitive pension and benefits program” and continuous staff training, he says. Clearly, the company is doing something right, having been certified as a Great Place to Work in Canada. Great Place to Work certification, which is largely based on employee survey results, recognizes firms with positive workplace cultures and satisfied staff.

“There are two things we’ve done really well. We’ve always provided a quality product. That’s something internally we strive to do through our quality management systems and such, but it’s also something that has always been a staple of the company. Our name is on this, so we want this to be very good; that’s on the product side. On the market side… electricity is needed almost everywhere. We have followed the market trends. If oil and gas was doing well, we’re in oil and gas. If forestry was going really well, we’re doing forestry; we’re [now] doing data centres,” Evdokimoff shares.

As evidence of its commitment to quality, Boundary has ISO 9001:2015, Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certification. Maintaining these certifications entails constant vigilance and frequent audits, and Evdokimoff praises the company’s management group, which holds monthly meetings to discuss and “create action plans for continuous improvement within our company.”

Unlike a number of other companies, Boundary Electric came through the COVID pandemic in relatively good shape. COVID “had an interesting impact in a lot of ways,” notes Evdokimoff. Boundary took great care to keep its workers safe by introducing robust health and safety protocols. While some business with customers in the oil sands of Western Canada dropped off, business picked up in other areas.

“We were lucky, in a sense,” he says. “We were building data centres in the midst of all of this. That kept our business thriving, and we were hiring [while] a lot of places were actually decreasing employees. We also saw an increase locally, with our service and construction team, as a lot of people were doing household renovations and staying home.”

According to Evdokimoff, the company does its best to stay flexible and diversified. These attributes have been central to its success, he adds. As such, the company is keeping a very close eye on the emerging hydrogen sector, which has been touted as the next big thing in alternative energy.

As the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy states, “Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind. These qualities make it an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. It can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power, and in many more applications.”

Needless to say, all of this is very appealing and companies are eager to get in on any future hydrogen windfall. Boundary Electric representatives attended the second annual Canadian Hydrogen Convention, held this April in Edmonton. The conference featured dozens of speakers, thousands of visitors, and plenty of interest in hydrogen.

“We’re starting to see some steps taken in the [hydrogen] industry with regards to having projects that are starting to make their way across the line. We’re starting to see that with vehicles,” says Evdokimoff. “We know there will be a massive demand in that sector and we want to support it with core infrastructure such as transformers, distribution, and switchgear.”

He describes hydrogen as one in a series of technologies including electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data centres, that will be “the big drivers for the electrical industry in the next ten to fifteen years.”

Among the projects Boundary Electric has helped build for crypto clients, municipalities, and energy firms is a cryptocurrency mining site for DMG Blockchain in Christina Lake, BC. This project involved designing and manufacturing eighty-five-megawatt substations, twenty-four customized 2500 kVA substations, and a control centre, as well as cabling and wiring tasks.

The company also custom-built a series of 1,500 kVA substations for Access Pipeline in Redwater, Alberta and designed, provided, and tested a secondary unit substation for transportation network TransLink for the City of Surrey in British Columbia.

“The list of cool things we’ve supplied products for is big,” Evdokimoff wryly notes.

He is particularly proud of “the ability of our products and our transformers in reducing greenhouse gases in the world. That seems like an amazing thing, and that we can do this from the interior of British Columbia in small towns.”

As for the future, Boundary is looking around at other opportunities. “We’ll be starting on manufacturing liquid-immersed data centres for a customer out of the United States. That will be a little bit different than the air-cooled data centres we’ve been manufacturing to this point. We are also embarking on a panel program. We will be an OEM manufacturer of distribution panels that are five thousand amps and below,” he states.

Liquid immersion is a method of cooling servers and computer equipment at data centres and an alternative to more traditional air cooling.

“I think five years from now, our business will continue to be extremely strong,” adds Evdokimoff. “Whether that’s supplying utilities for traditional use or supplying commercial and industrial clients for their projects—i.e., crypto, data centres, hydrogen, electric vehicles—we know that for the products and services we have, demand is going to be very strong.”

The post Providing Power for Over 75 Years<p class="company">Boundary Electric</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Approaching 70 years in business, Archrock is distinctive for its fleet of natural gas compression equipment, certified technicians, unparalleled customer service, safety culture, and forward-thinking sustainability initiatives. Along with long-time partnerships with original equipment manufacturers and distributors, Archrock lives by its motto, “Our Time Is Your Uptime®.”

Superior services
Since its founding in 1954, Archrock has remained committed to providing its customers with the best natural gas compression services possible. Conducting itself with professionalism, honesty, and integrity, Archrock has grown to become America’s compression services leader, operating the largest fleet in the nation, consisting of more than three and a half million horsepower. “Moving gas is what we know,” states the company. “And as the leader in natural gas compression, it’s what we do best.”

Among the company’s many advantages are its decades of firsthand experience, says Eric W. Thode, Senior Vice President, Operations. Part of a dedicated leadership team, Thode’s experience with Archrock goes back to 2004. Serving in different commercial and operations roles, he was promoted to his current position in 2018. “Virtually all our competitors—especially our primary competitors in the industry—have all started since the year 2000,” says Thode. “No company has the decades of experience we have in the industry, and we have relationships with top customers that extend more than 20 years.”

As a compression services company, the bulk of Archrock’s more than 1,000 employees are operations-based, with over 700 of them in Thode’s organizational chart. From field service technicians skilled at working on engines and compressors on location, to shop mechanics getting units back into operations for customers, to supply chain and administrative staff, Archrock’s team can handle any challenges that may arise.

With a customer base that is the who’s who of the oil and gas space, Archrock works with the largest producers and midstream companies in America. As the leading provider of natural gas compression services in the oil and natural gas sector, Archrock focuses on the midstream segment of the market, with its large horsepower compressor stations primarily supporting natural gas gathering operations. Forming partnerships with leading manufacturers like CAT, Ariel, and Waukesha, Archrock serves customers across all major oil and gas plays in the U.S.

Respecting the environment
A good deal of oil and gas service companies talk about sustainable practices and respect for the environment, but Archrock puts those words into action. A great believer in giving back, the company is also investing in helping its customers reduce their environmental footprint.

In March, Archrock published its 2022 Sustainability Report, which detailed its ongoing commitment to the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. At the time of its release, President and Chief Executive Officer Brad Childers stated: “This sustainability report reflects our commitment to aligning our corporate strategy with our purpose to power a cleaner America. This includes maintaining robust governance practices and integrating quantifiable ESG goals into our compensation plans, connecting our employees’ actions to our pursuit of a sustainable future. As the leader in U.S. natural gas compression, we remain dedicated to our critical role in transporting affordable and cleaner energy for the benefit of America and the world, and to continue doing so in a safe and environmentally responsible way.”

Some of the highlights in the 45-page report include Archrock achieving “a 12 percent year-over-year reduction in 2021 Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂ emissions intensity,” investment in electric drive compression horsepower, developing a unique patent-pending methane capture technology, and securing minority investment in a methane-emissions monitoring company.

“For years, we’ve been doing the essentials, like recycling and things of that nature,” says Thode, “but an area where we can have a big impact is in electric motor drive packages.” Focusing on large horsepower compressors between 400 hp up to 5,500 hp electric motor drive packages, Archrock keeps adding to its fleet to keep up with customer demand.

In April of 2022, to further its commitment to sustainability, Archrock acquired a minority equity stake in ECOTEC International Holdings LLC (ECOTEC), a worldwide leader in methane notification, identification, and qualification (NIQ). The move will enable ECOTEC to get its products into the oil and gas arena. “They are the only company that has all three aspects of the NIQ,” states Thode. “A lot of companies are into notification, and some are into identification, but no one has a suite of products that deals with notification when there is an issue, identification of the issue, and then the ability to quantify how large the issue is.”

Archrock is investigating how to take methane leaks and put them back into the gas stream. The result is a patent-pending product—known as the Methane Mitigation Skid—that gathers up certain operational losses of methane and re-injects them back into the stream of gases being compressed. Customers can then sell the captured gas that would have otherwise been released into the environment, thereby realizing dual benefits. Additionally, Archrock is looking into CO₂ capture and sequestration.

Closer to home, the company is focused on other ways to preserve the environment. This includes reducing the amount of driving its fleet of vehicles through telematics. A combination of telecommunications and informatics, telematics technology gathers real-time data and uses GPS. Through telematics, Archrock can send the nearest vehicle to customer sites being provided compression services by the company, reducing drive time and saving gas. And through telematics on compression units, the Archrock team monitors pressure, temperature, and more, and can react immediately if there are any issues.

A strong team
In 2022, Archrock was named one of Houston’s Leading Companies in the Houston Chronicle 100, with good reason. Fostering a company culture of respect and work-life balance, Archrock believes in the “whole employee experience.” This includes Friday work from home days at the Houston office and various bonus programs.

In support of the broader community, Archrock’s charitable initiatives include the Houston Food Bank, Toys for Tots, and employees maintaining a two-mile, highly trafficked stretch of a Farm to Market road near its headquarters through Texas’ Adopt-a-Highway program. “The family atmosphere and camaraderie that both garners participation in these charitable endeavors and that is exhibited during them means a lot,” comments Thode. “We always focus on our employees. Great ideas, including each of those employee-sourced charitable opportunities, percolate up from our employee base rather than originating or being mandated from on-high. At Archrock, opinions and ideas count and great ideas are put into action. Archrock employees recognize that and appreciate being a big part in moving the company forward.”

To help start all new field-based employees off on the right foot, Archrock provides a two-week orientation and technical training program before stepping into the field. All aspects of this training are infused with the Archrock safety culture and its Target Zero safety program. A source of pride for Thode, he tells each NAFO (North American Field Orientation) class that the only thing keeping him up at night is making sure that every employee goes home exactly the same way they arrived in the morning.

“Safety is more than a slogan or something we paint on a wall, talk about at a meeting, or put into an annual report,” he says. “I don’t want an employee to even [need to] get a Band-Aid; our Target Zero program is going to make sure we have the policies, procedures, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in place focused on keeping people safe. This includes staff, customers, customer locations, our equipment, our customers’ equipment—I want everything protected every day.”

Future goals
Not content to rest on its soon-to-be 70-year history, Archrock’s executive team continues to build a resilient business to ensure the company’s success in the years to come. This includes further embedding sustainability in the company’s corporate strategy and everything it does.

For customers, Archrock will continue adding electric motor drives to its fleet and evaluating ways to capture and sequester carbon and mitigate methane leaks.

“You can retrofit your current fleet to meet those needs, or you can continue to move into the electric motor drive direction,” explains Thode. “We’re currently exploring parallel paths, because you don’t just replace a billion-plus dollars’ worth of equipment overnight, so that has to be a gradual transition.”

Along with adding additional products and services to its existing contract compression and aftermarket service business, Archrock plans to keep building its team. “We are confident we are the most experienced, most financially sound compression services company in the business, and we intend to continue to build on that.”

The post Leading the Way<p class="company">Archrock</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

This synergy, fueled by unwavering commitment to excellence, offers clients a single source for all their contracting needs, whether it’s remediation, repair or new industrial development solutions. The Patrick Group of Companies stands as a testament to the transformative potential of collective expertise and shared dedication, setting a new standard for industry collaboration.

Comprising PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd., Patrick Mechanical Ltd. (PML), Greater City Concrete Works (GCCW), Bisschops Industries, Legend Mining Contracting, BadRiverBoats, One Source Home Services, and S2 Metal Fabricators, the group’s success lies in its commitment to quality service, workmanship, and dedication to employee engagement.

“Our strength lies in our diversity, and we celebrate the uniqueness of each member company, upholding their individual identities and areas of specialization,” says Emilia Pauze, Manager of Continuous Improvement.

From mechanical, oil and gas, concrete, buildings, and rehabilitation of dams and critical infrastructure, to fabrication, HVAC-R, metal works, mill expansion, new mine development, and more, the group’s services cover the industrial, institutional, and commercial markets. “We deliver a seamless, single-source approach to projects of any scale, tailored to your exact needs,” Pauze says. “Our arsenal of distinctive skills, strategic partnerships, vast experience, and unwavering dedication places us miles ahead of the competition.”

Patrick Mechanical Limited (PML)
Patrick Mechanical Limited (PML), established in 1989, is a pioneer in addressing the industrial, commercial, and institutional contracting requirements of diverse authorities, businesses, and sectors across the province of Ontario.

Based in Sudbury, Ontario, PML is staffed with more than 125 highly skilled workers, including engineers, craftspeople, and professionals working together to guarantee that every project is tackled and completed utilizing the highest calibre of knowledge and craftsmanship.

“For more than 30 years, Patrick Mechanical has been the leading company in Northern Ontario for large-scale construction, contracting, mining, and industrial projects,” says President Doug Patrick. “PML is a leader in meeting the industrial, commercial, and institutional contracting needs of governments, corporations, and mining industries across the province.”

In specialist disciplines and trades such as mechanical contracting, bespoke steel fabrication, plumbing, heating, and process piping, as well as millwrighting and allied services (with a completely equipped fabrication shop and fully qualified employees committed to offering the highest quality of workmanship available), PML is acknowledged as a leader.

Utilizing more than three decades of experience, the company has worked with clients from all over the province and nation to develop and effectively complete large-scale, exceedingly complex projects. In completing construction designs and strategies for its government, corporate, and industry partners, Patrick Mechanical is renowned for its in-house ability to grasp the complexity of a project, regardless of size or scale, and overcome any challenges, issues, or technical barriers.

PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd.
PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd. is one of the fastest-growing mechanical service providers in Northern Ontario, providing exemplary work and a superb reputation coupled with extensive experience in the mining, commercial, industrial, and institutional markets. Established in 2006, PSL has grown into one of the most highly regarded contractors in Ontario, offering its services both regional and globally.

“We are an ever-expanding and diversifying HVAC company with a record and reputation for steady customer growth and satisfaction,” says Scott Sprack, Owner and General Manager. “We focus on the use of the latest technologies and mechanical diversity,” providing innovative industrial energy solutions in mine ventilation, oil and gas, overhead garage doors, electrical, petroleum, indoor air quality, rental equipment, and its new division, generators.

PSL’s HVAC-R division has been exceeding the needs of Northern Ontario customers with a variety of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and rental HVAC equipment on a 24/7 schedule, offering services that range from planned maintenance—both preventative and full-coverageؙ—to inspections, diagnostic services, repairs, retrofits, and new installations for commercial and industrial mechanical systems.

Greater City Concrete Works (GCCW)
GCCW was founded in 2007 in Lively, Ontario, to deliver concrete forming and placing services to the local industrial, commercial, and institutional construction markets.

“Under a gradual growth plan, the group has expanded its capabilities into small scale earthworks and the company also offers general contracting and design-build services while retaining a focus and expertise in complex concrete sections’ forming and placement,” explains General Manager, Andre Auge.

“As we expand our service offer, we are better able to safely manage deliverables, control costs and consistency, and manage risks that are discovered through the life of projects for our clients. This is a critically important value proposition especially with supply chain and resource constraints on complex remote projects. As an example, dam rehabilitation projects we’re undertaking in remote areas in Northern Ontario require: fine-tuned plans; timely collaboration with our vendor partners, engineering consultants, and client representatives; and the assignment of a well-equipped, versatile, and creative workforce that can propose and safely execute solutions often resulting from the discovery of unexpected circumstances,” Auge explains.

Bisschops Industries
Bisschops Industries—founded in 2007 in Sudbury, Ontario as a sheet metal and HVAC contractor—has shown steady growth ever since and now provides refrigeration and air conditioning as well as electrical service and maintenance.

“Bisschops continually works to improve and upgrade existing mine ventilation systems,” says Jason Bisschops, Operations Manager. “We provide construction and maintenance service to all sectors of the mining industry, including surface buildings, process areas, and underground environments.”

Currently, “being a part of the single largest mine development site in Northern Ontario has allowed us to prove that we are capable of handling such projects of this capacity,” he says. “We’ve achieved a unique status in Northern Ontario serving the commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors and we proudly remain committed to our customers locally and across the North.”

S2 Metal Fabricators
Focusing on the industrial, institutional, and commercial structural steel segment has allowed the S2 Metal Fabricators staff to achieve expert status in those fields. With a total capacity per shift of 200,000 tons per year, this company participates in steel fabrication for mining, mineral refining, petrochemical, hydroelectric, private, and governmental environments.

“S2 Metal Fabricators can accommodate customized, heavy load structural steel for any application,” says General Manager Jeff Crump. “When it comes to industrial painting, we don’t just deliver paint; we deliver perfection,” he says. “With our specialized expertise in prepping industrial coatings, we’re not simply a service provider—we’re your strategic partner in achieving impeccable quality steel fabrication and finishes.”

BadRiverBoats
Founded in 2020 by the Patrick Group of Companies, BadRiverBoats was formed in response to a need for its workers to access remote worksites in Northern Ontario, Canada.

“We build custom, high-quality aluminum workboats for construction, Ministry, and commercial applications,” explains Guy Gallipeau, General Manager. “We specialize in aluminum boats, but we can take any customized orders, like carbon steel and more,” he explains.

“Our handcrafted aluminum boats embody the perfect blend of form and function, resulting in a stunning visual appeal that’s matched only by their practicality. Crafted for performance, their superior handling capabilities make them the ultimate solution, setting a new standard in versatility and reliability that no other option can rival.”

Eye on The Patrick Group
Of course, this dynamic and ever-evolving group of companies also focuses on promoting the many opportunities it offers, via recruiting efforts to maintain its growth, which includes hiring more welders.

“Our search for exceptional talent never stops,” says Pauze. “Whether it’s an experienced professional or a fresh face in the industry, we go beyond the ordinary to match a profile with the right role… we accommodate and support them based on their strengths.”

“Our focus is to seek out experienced individuals from different backgrounds and ethnicities who want to learn the trades while we provide opportunity, education, and training through government apprenticeships and programs,” agrees Bisschops.

The group of companies proudly embraces diversity, which is reflected in its multicultural workforce comprising individuals from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond, bringing a rich tapestry of perspectives and experiences, adds Pauze. “Our recruitment philosophy is about the long term,” she says. “We’re not just filling positions; we’re inviting them on a journey of growth within our group of companies.”

To that end, the group actively participates in a variety of events, not sitting and waiting for talent to come to them but seeking them out via job fairs and networking events, providing a platform for prospective candidates to engage with the team directly.

The hardest place to mine
“Our journey continues to be one of growth, innovation, and collaboration,” Pauze adds. “We are tremendously lucky as a group to cut our teeth in the eminent mining centre of the world. Since we have growth as a big team, we can go out of the Sudbury basin and bring value to mines. It’s a world-class mining centre, not only the best in the world but the hardest place to do mining.”

By taking on and succeeding in these challenges, the group of companies has forged a solid reputation in the industry, with an unyielding commitment to quality at the core of its operations.

“By aligning with the client’s standards, we earn the privilege of collaborating with anyone, regardless of the complexity of the task,” Pauze says. “Our reach extends to building a robust supply chain, capable of custom manufacturing that fuels innovation.”

Pushing the envelope
The client base the company services features major market shareholders including companies from Brazil, Switzerland, Africa, and the U.S. “As they continually push the envelope in health, safety, and quality, we’re entrusted with the task of meeting and exceeding their expectations,” says Patrick. “Working alongside industry trailblazers, we’re not just service providers; we’re collaborators in their pursuit of being the best in class.”

As with all companies in all industries over the past few years, this group experienced challenges during the pandemic but emerged successfully by joining forces, aligning its efforts, and growing its workforce.

“Over the years we’ve been part of many exciting and reputable projects in the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors,” says Pauze, “including a single largest mine development site in Northern Ontario that’s proof that we’re capable of handling large-scale projects.”

Other challenges include, as always, securing talent, particularly among the young workforce, and the industrial capacity of real property, going outside the regional marketplace. Moving forward, the companies look to continue to add employees, maintaining stability while growing sustainably, says Patrick.

Inspiring people
“We’ve shifted from an owner-operated to an employee-operated company,” he adds. “We have KPIs to support that movement, self-monitoring for the stakeholders, the most important ones being the employees.”

The companies are also focusing on improving and building efficiency within the organization to help them better market their strategic partnership while also growing their team and continuing to be the best companies to work for, says Pauze. “We want to inspire our people, and we’re always looking to secure more talent.”

“In the mining industry, success is a result of seamless coordination and strategic partnerships,” adds Crump. “We can coordinate and integrate strategic design and engineering partners.”

Patrick agrees: “A group movement is better than an individual movement.”

Maintaining its solid reputation in the industry is also vital, and will continue to help set the group apart from its competitors. “We have synergy within our internal strategic partners and the ability to work together to execute any project scale,” Patrick says. “Our reputation with our client base is one of delivering our promises, honouring and managing our own risk, bringing a problem-solving approach, and learning from our challenges.”

It is the result of that internal synergy, commitment to precision, an unshakable reputation, and a penchant for problem-solving that will keep the group of companies successful moving forward.

“We have a thirst for knowledge,” Patrick says. “We’re not just setting the standard; we’re raising it, and creating a legacy of excellence that’s truly unparalleled.”

The post Celebrating the Uniqueness of Each Member Company<p class="company">Patrick Mechanical Limited</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Supported by an extensive network of Certified Distributors, Labrie Environmental Group offers products and support for all customers, including field service representatives, a 24/7 customer support system, repairs, and service and parts through LabriePlus™.

For over 50 years, The Labrie Group has proudly distributed and supported its brands throughout the solid waste industry. These include Labrie™ side loaders, Leach™ rear loaders, and Wittke™ front loaders.

Decades of quality and service
The history of Labrie goes all the way back to 1930, when Equipement Labrie was founded. Wittke Iron Works started light manufacturing of farm implements in 1936. The legacy of Leach goes back even further to 1887, when Elmer Leach started producing logging tools at Oshkosh, under the Oshkosh Logging Tool Company.

Over the years, Labrie, Wittke and Leach introduced many innovative products to the market. In 1947, Leach unveiled the Leach Packmaster for waste collection. For Labrie, 1980 was one of the company’s biggest years on record, when it transitioned from distributor to manufacturer. The early 1980s saw Wittke enter the refuse body business with the Burro, a unique side-loader, followed by the Pegasus and Starlight front loaders about a decade later. And for Labrie, the 1980s and 1990s welcomed the Top Select™, the Labrie Expert 100 front loader, the Labrie 2000, and the Optimizer Front Loader, to name a few.

“Through innovation and timely acquisition, Labrie Environmental Group has built itself into a major force in the North American market, and sports its most advanced and diverse product line ever,” states the company.

When recycling started becoming popular in the early 1980s, the company created a curbside recycler. Used for manual and semi-automated residential recycling collection, the Top Select was the first ever recycling unit built, “and continues to be the most sold unit in its class in North America,” according to the company.

From there, the company continued creating trucks designed to transport solid waste and automated solid waste, primarily concentrating on side-loading vehicles, manual or automated with an arm. After manufacturing products for residential needs, Labrie started working on commercial trucks for refuse management companies, providing them with front loader solutions.

The years to come saw acquisitions of rear-loader brand Leach, and Wittke, known for its front loaders. By 2006, the company had amassed a whole portfolio of products—residential, commercial, side loader, rear loader, front loader—and soon acquired the after-sales division of Federal Signal Corp. (FSC). Stated the company at the time, the transition “positions Labrie as a top-tier North American leader in waste management equipment, in line with our corporate strategy to consolidate our offering within the solid waste management equipment industry.”

Other innovations soon followed, including an e-commerce parts purchasing portal and an online truck configuration tool. This enabled distributors to go online, configure, and order trucks. Shortly after, the company acquired Pendpac and the Pendulum Packer. With a unique ‘pendulum’ technology that moves from three o’clock to six o’clock, then back to three, it is designed to collect solid and organic waste. Unlike trucks from other manufacturers, it is designed so liquids from organic matter are contained inside the truck, instead of spilling onto streets.

“The pendulum is really good for food waste, because it is self-cleaning and watertight, since food waste can be really sloppy,” says Steve De George, Regional Sales Manager. It can be used for solid waste as well, but the watertight and self-cleaning ability is the big advantage. “The liquid content is very high, so you need a body that doesn’t leak.”

Not all trucks are created equal
Throughout its history in the solid waste industry, Labrie Environmental Group has earned a reputation for providing well-designed, long-lasting, and revolutionary products in its three brands, Labrie, Leach and Wittke.

“We are not selling companies, we are selling trucks,” says Marketing Manager François D’Amours of the company, which transitioned from distributor to manufacturer in 1980. “The idea is, we are selling Leach rear loaders, Labrie side loaders, and Wittke front loaders. They each have their own website, each have their own identity, and own brand penetration.”

Purchasing the chassis from other manufacturers, Labrie Environmental Group then manufactures truck bodies. Long before the two are married, modifications are made, including controls, packers, and arm mechanisms. And although some trucks used for hauling trash, compost, or recycling may appear similar, their features are different depending on where they are used and how. A truck navigating narrow alleys, for example, needs to be smaller and have a different type of arm than a truck intended for main roads.

Some municipalities prefer automated trucks, others manual. To make selection easier, The Group and its brands’ websites feature an Application checklist where customers can narrow down their choices by residential, commercials, organics, alleys and tight areas, electric vehicles (EV), compressed natural gas (CNG), and other criteria.

Along with style and vehicle type, there are other factors to consider, such as the truck’s size, and where it will be used. Depending on the location and requirements, truck construction varies. Sunny California is extremely environmentally and weight-conscious, and the state demands lighter-bodied trucks which put less wear and tear on roads. In the middle of the United States, trucks tend to be a bit heavier, and able to transport bigger loads of waste, compost and recyclables. Along the east coast and in cities like New York, where extreme temperatures are the norm, super duty trucks are designed and manufactured specifically for their environment. “It’s a different environment entirely,” explains De George.

Customers not only have individual needs for waste collection, but must also abide by regulations, be they state, provincial, municipal, or national. “We have to adhere to those,” says D’Amours.

Experienced and aware of rules and regulations, Labrie Environmental Group provides clients with a range of non-standard options tailored to their needs, another way in which The Group stands apart from the competition.

“That’s the difference between Labrie Environmental Group and others,” says D’Amours. “We meet the challenge and develop new ideas with our customers, and that creates an innovation cycle. It turns all the time, and it’s been like that since the company started in 1980. Research and development is not only a department here, it is our way of doing business, and sees us develop new innovations that are often copied.”

Through its extensive distributor network—and direct sales in Québec—Labrie Environmental Group sells trucks across North America, and some to international customers. Orders can be for as little as a single truck or as many as 200. The Group’s many distributors also have the means to service trucks, and are supported by the company for training, parts, knowledge, and more. Some distributors have been part of the Labrie Environmental Group family since the 1980s, a testament to the company’s longevity and industry-wide reputation.

While many of the company’s trucks are powered by diesel or CNG, Labrie is seeing an increase in requests for EVs. No matter the type of truck, Labrie Environmental Group and its brands remain committed to meeting the waste collection needs of all customers. Says D’Amours: “Quality, fit, and finish is what we are known for, and a very strong service network behind that.”

The post Often Copied, Never Duplicated<p class="company">Labrie Environmental Group</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

A pioneer in the precast concrete sector, Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc. is renowned for its structural and architectural know-how, building innovation, and dedication to environmentally friendly business practices. With 17 sites across North America, Coreslab’s team of engineers, precast specialists, quality assurance specialists, and project managers guide the precast concrete design, construction, and installation process, ensuring exemplary service through broad expertise and experience.

The company’s projects include hotels, tornado shelters and safe rooms, parking garages, bridges, commercial buildings, education facilities, and more. In the past decade, Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc. has also completed 13 water treatment or wastewater treatment projects, primarily in the state of Oklahoma, which are the kind of projects eminently suited to the dependability, reliability, functionality, and economical solutions that precast concrete provides.

Certainly, precast concrete is a very adaptable product, quickly constructed, and yet strong enough to withstand tornadoes. But precast concrete sandwich panels with insulation can also provide a high R-value (the measure of a material’s insulating ability). This high R-value means that precast walls can be utilized without necessitating additional costly fireproofing or insulation.

Project Consultant Coleman Harrison outlines an additional benefit of precast: “In 2012 we manufactured and erected a total Precast Concrete water treatment facility in Broken Arrow, by Tulsa, and what sold them on precast concrete for that project was that they had a really long span inside the water treatment plant and we were able to provide Precast Prestressed Concrete Double Tees that spanned 127 feet,” he explains.

“That turned out to clear-span the entire center bay of the Membrane Building so they didn’t have additional columns and beamlines interrupting the workings of the mechanics inside the water treatment plant. That was a big selling point.”

Due to the critical infrastructure provided by plants for water or wastewater treatment, Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc. encourages clients to build them to FEMA or ICC 500 standards that can withstand direct hits from an EF5 tornado. While this is still a work in progress, along the way Coreslab has been able to incorporate some additional reinforcing and connections to beef up the structures, making them stronger than what is typically required by code.

“At the front end of these projects, some municipalities have done things in a certain way for many years,” says Harrison. “We’ve been slowly chipping away. Most of the water treatment plants had massive amounts of CMU (Concrete Masonry Units) and steel in them, and now we’ve finally worked our way to where most of the projects are coming in as total precast above grade on the larger structures, because municipalities know how quickly they go up.”

By way of design conversations and discussions held over the years with Coreslab, municipalities are gradually coming around to eliminating many of their old practices and becoming much more receptive to doing total precast structures above grade.

“What helped turn them around is the added value they get from the precast, prestressed members,” says Sean Morris, Engineering Manager. “We’re having to design the members to strip out of the forms without breaking or cracking; having to store them without cracking them; having to load them in trailers and ship them without cracking them,” he explains. “And then we need to hook them up to a crane at the job site and roll them over in the air or trip them in the air during erection. There are actually greater forces acting on the members during all those phases than they’re designed for in place.”

This means Coreslab’s design must ensure that the member doesn’t crack or fail during any of those other phases.

“The owner is actually getting added value out of the structural members that we make the building out of because we automatically exceed the standards they require of us,” says Morris. The structure is thus even more stormproof than it has to be by default.

“That’s important to these clients, as well as the fact that precast construction makes the smallest footprint at the job site. And with precast, we also have the shortest construction schedule of any construction type that I know of.”

Those factors all signal the welcome news of money saved for the owners, particularly with water treatment plants, as the cost of the building is but a fraction of the cost of the pieces of equipment inside.

“They are amazing, intricate machines and their owners want to protect them,” Morris says. “One of the treatment centres we worked on serviced 50 percent of the water needs of the entire city of Oklahoma City, so you really want to make sure that it’s going to function when a tornado or a major storm hits, that you’re not out of commission because the building fell down on top of the equipment.”

Along with the strength and stability, another major selling point for precast is the speed with which it’s erected, says Harrison. With components manufactured at the plant—instead of everything constructed out in the field, under field conditions—Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc. produces most of its products under one roof in a 150,000-square-foot facility, making conditions easier to control. Once the foundations or retaining walls are done, Coreslab moves in and starts erecting.

“The other major advantage that the precast, prestressed concrete members provide is the use of significantly less concrete for the span lengths we have to achieve compared to cast-in-place concrete or even post-tensioned concrete,” says Morris. “Because of their extremely thin shell concrete shapes, and because of the prestress forces we are able to apply to them, the Prestressed Precast Concrete Double Tee is a very efficient structural shape for the concrete to be cast into.”

This remarkable efficiency translates into many fewer cubic yards of concrete for each project, and the prestressing also allows a large reduction in the amount of mild reinforcing or rebar required.

“For each job, our carbon footprint is significantly less than it would be if it was cast in place,” Morris adds. “Also, the steel production that creates the rebar is inherently not good for the environment. The less rebar you use, the less of a carbon footprint. Both of these are wins for precast, prestress members.”

Coreslab aims to prestress many of its products for that very reason, he says, adding that there is actually a financial incentive for pre-casters to use prestress strands instead of conventionally reinforcing precast members with rebar.

“We can do it either way, but there’s an incentive to use prestress strands because the material costs of the actual strand are less than the cost of rebar per linear foot. Utilizing the prestress strand to prestress the concrete means it doesn’t require any of the additional reinforcing that would be needed without the prestressing. So there are a lot of advantages.”

Modifications or damage to a cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete member can actually cause a significant and sudden failure of the member. If a post-tensioned tendon is cut, the tendon can rip out of the concrete and buggy whip, causing severe damage and potentially, serious injury. On the other hand, if using plant precast, prestressed concrete members, from a plant-controlled environment, continuously bonded prestressed stands are utilized.

“If someone were to cut through one of those strands in the middle, or at the end, or anywhere along the length of the member, the structural capacity would be smaller for the member,” Morris explains, “but there’d be no catastrophic or sudden failure. In some cases, there is enough redundancy that if somebody were to cut through one or even two strands in certain locations of the member, it may still be structurally adequate to do the job as is.”

While the COVID pandemic and the inflation of material costs have caused numerous challenges for the company, and the industry as a whole, over the past few years, Coreslab has managed to weather the storm.

“Our business is such that we sell a job and then it’s actually erected maybe a year or two later,” says Morris. “When you have significant increases in material and labour costs over a very short period, it tends to make you underestimate some projects for at least a year or two. Luckily, we weren’t upside down on projects.”

Coreslab not only stayed busy but stayed in the black the whole time—a “major accomplishment,” adds Morris—all the while maintaining strong relationships with its customers. And it’s those clients that the company will continue to focus on.

“We’ve carved out a specialized niche for ourselves in the industry that not a lot of other pre-casters are familiar with, particularly when it comes to tornado shelters,” Morris shares. The company erects numerous tornado shelters and is thoroughly familiar with ICC 500 compliance for structures that may or may not be designated as actual storm shelter 500s, as well as being expert in all the complexities of creating a full-blown FEMA shelter.

“We’re capitalizing on that by offering clients structures that will be resilient in all the unpredictable weather patterns that the future holds for them,” says Morris.

Many of the company’s clients are looking at data centres in the south-central United States where land is available and inexpensive, but they still have to face concerns about the chance of tornado strikes that could put servers out of commission. Having hardened data centres (and hardened structures in general) is ideal, and Coreslab is also looking into incorporating tornado-proof residential construction, allowing everyday people to have their entire house made tornado-proof with the use of precast.

This attention to customer care runs throughout the company’s mandate, starting with front-end assistance given to sales, estimating, drafting, and engineering staff to glean a better idea of what customers are looking for, even when they’re in the schematic or design development stage. “We know that it’s public money, and we have to go out to bid,” says Harrison. “We’re not assured of the project, but we want to assure that it stays precast,” he emphasizes.

“So it’s in our favour, and it’s in our customers’ favour, for them to get that front-end assistance. We can help them out on sizes and maybe help them tweak dimensions to make it a little more friendly in production and also cheaper for the customer.”

Certainly, Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc. understands its field well. By going above and beyond, the company is helping its customers to future-proof their buildings for whatever may lie ahead.

The post Concrete Decision for Safer, Sturdier Structures<p class="company">Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc.</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.