While in Chicago, I heard an interesting story about Frito Lay's new plant in California. They are using mirrors to deflect sunlight to create heat they can use in production. Here is an excerpt from the dedication, attended by company officials and the Governator, Arnold Schwartzenegger.
Here is an excerpt from Al Carey, who leads Frito Lay North America:
"Now, behind me you can see...five acres of solar concentrators, 54,000 square feet of concave mirrors, 192 solar concentrators and they superheat the water. So will everybody just look at that pipe that runs through there? It will superheat the water to over 500 degrees and then we use the steam from that to cook the oil to make SUNCHIPS... it's a significant reduction in natural gas for our plant, making a big difference in the environment... It's one of the largest solar panel fields in North America and it is reducing CO2 by 2 million pounds annually... In the state of Arizona we've begun work on our net zero plant, which means we will recycle 90 percent of the water, we will get off the electricity grid through solar panels and we'll use methane gas from a landfill to allow us to get off natural gas. So, we'll have almost a net zero plant in the state of Arizona."
One can only hope other companies join suit, and also that Frito Lay continues such efforts. As we continue on into the 21st century, we need such renewable energy sources to survive.
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