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Candian Meat Business: Eliminating Hog Farm Emissions
http://www.meatbusiness.ca/archives/CMB47_MayJun_10_lo-res.pdf
By Alan MacKenzie
He was a winner on the hit reality TV show Dancing with the Stars in 2005. Until earlier this year he was the fifth host of the popular game show Family Feud. And, of course, John O’Hurley is probably best known for his fictionalized portrayal of fashion catalogue guru J. Peterman on the beloved comedy series Seinfeld.
But, O’Hurley is more than just an entertainer. He’s also a successful businessman, and co-founder of a company that has developed a technology that has the ability to almost completely cut harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various polluters, including hog farms.
“I am a private venture capitalist and what I would call a
solutions-driven investor,” he told Canadian Meat Business. “I look for things that solve extraordinary problems and that have a great story.”
Energy-Inc.
O’Hurley and Kim Kirkendall (president and CEO) co- founded Energy-Inc. about two years ago. The company focuses on renewable energy and waste management solutions, and recently signed a multimillion dollar contract with North Carolina-based High Ridge Farm to implement a state-of-the-art plant to process the waste from the farm’s 3,000 hogs and cleanly convert it to electricity while reducing unpleasant odours and air pollution. “(Energy-Inc.) has an extraordinary story,” O’Hurley said.
“When I spoke about this on Capitol Hill last year as we were starting this company up, every congressman’s jaw dropped – they had no idea this technology existed.”
The company will install its advanced thermal conversion technology at the High Ridge Farm plant to treat animal waste through a systematic process that results in nominal emissions and requires no incineration.
“I look for things that solve extraordinary problems and that have a great story.”
– John O’Hurley
O’Hurley noted the company is currently in the process of signing contracts with a wide range of industries for its waste- to-energy platform to cut emissions in such areas as medical waste, municipal solid waste and even landfills. Any waste with a Btu value can transform into an asset using the technology, he added.
He said the process is a gasification technology, where waste is “super-heated” without the presence of oxygen to produce a synthetic gas with “near-zero” emissions. “Additionally it is a closed-system, so whatever residual char is left over is also recyclable,” he said, noting that in the cases of hog farms the result will be a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
Changing the template
O’Hurley said he believes the technology can completely change the business template for High Ridge Farm, because it will eliminate all odours and effluent and turn the waste into an asset instead of a liability.
“With about 12 tons of dry manure a day they will be able to supply all of the energy needs of the farm, plus they’ll have residual energy that they will be able to sell back onto the grid as green energy, which comes at a higher price – so they will actually make money,” he said.
O’Hurley noted that most of the company’s units are about the size of a storage container that would sit on the back of an 18-wheel truck. They can be used inside or out and run in the neighbourhood of $3.5 million, with a return-on-investment of three to five years.
“This is very exciting for us, because as you’re aware hog farms have been signalled out not only by the New York Times, but by the U.S. government as the worst polluters in the U.S. – and I’m sure Canada is in a similar situation,” he said. “This process gets rid of all the lagoons, it gets rid of all the spraying they’ve been doing – all of that stuff, and (hog farms) go from being the worst polluter in the country to neighbourhood- friendly businesses.”
“Your car that you drove that day will produce more emissions than this plant will,” he added.
The technology, O’Hurley noted, requires little-to-no renovation and can be up and running in three to five months. “If you have a flow system, the flow system goes right into the energy plant – so there is only trace emissions,” he said.
He added that the process works on the same basic principles in each application it is used in. Soon, he noted, the company hopes to expand the technology to other aspects of the agriculture industry, including poultry and cattle production.
“Hog manure is the most difficult of the manures to process,” he said. “So the nice thing is that we have attacked this problem, solved it – all of the difficulties in what is the most difficult style. It is also applicable to beef and dairy farms – that is an easier style of manure and requires fewer head to do it – and even something like chicken and turkey farms. The applications are enormous in the agricultural industry.”
The next stage of the High Ridge Farms project, he noted, will involve taking the extra hot air that is produced and re-funneling it back into the facility to provide a consistent 72- degree Fahrenheit environment for the hogs, reducing stress for the animals.
“Stress kills and stress also depletes the size of a hog,” O’Hurley said, noting that hog industry representatives tell Energy-Inc. they can increase their occupancy rate by 20 per cent from a climate controlled environment. “A happy hog is a 72 degree hog.”
Always J. Peterman
O’Hurley is a partner in six firms in total, but somehow he manages to balance that with his busy acting schedule (he recently wrapped up a production of Monty Python’s Spamalot in Las Vegas and is touring the U.S. with Chicago: The Musical, which takes him back to Broadway this summer). Of his
various business ventures, the story behind one of them would delight any fan of J. Peterman, the Seinfeld character he’ll always be remembered for.
While the popular sitcom was a case of art imitating life – as it was based loosely on the real life of comedian Jerry Seinfeld – one of O’Hurley’s businesses is a case of life imitating art, because in 2001 he became part owner of the actual J. Peterman Company.
“Shortly after Seinfeld ended I bought it with the real J. Peterman. It’s the worst case of identity theft ever recorded,” he said with a laugh.
Of course, we couldn’t help but ask O’Hurley how the J.Peterman character – known for his long, exotic catalogue entries – would describe the origins of Energy-Inc. His response: “I was standing in the amber waters of the River Ganges, elbow to elbow with the fish wives of New Delhi and a thought occurred to me... this water smells.”
In all seriousness the actor is very passionate about the businesses he’s in, and heading up Energy-Inc., he said, isn’t as much of a stretch as you might first imagine.
“I think of business as being very theatrical,” he said. “It’s the joy of putting up a project like this and seeing through to its successful conclusion. It has a great story to it with a beginning, a middle and – in this case – no end.”
To learn more about O’Hurley’s company, visit energy-inc.com.
Source: http://www.meatbusiness.ca/archives/CMB47_MayJun_10_lo-res.pdf
