Granny’s Goes Green
Jim Knisley
Features Profiles ResearchersManitoba’s Granny’s Poultry Co-operative greatly reduces its energy requirements by integrating new technologies
Manitoba’s Granny’s Poultry Co-operative greatly reduces its energy requirements by integrating new technologies
ENERGY MANAGEMENT Brian Walker says that Granny’s Poultry's new Winnipeg facility incorporates state-of-the-art energy management, where the need for traditional heating is virtually eliminated even on the coldest days. |
Granny’s Poultry Co-op has built and moved into the most energy-efficient hatchery and office complex on the planet.
Using a unique combination of geo-thermal energy, heat exchangers, a heat capture system in the hatchery itself and a state-of-the-art energy management control system Granny’s built a Winnipeg facility where the need for traditional heating is virtually eliminated even on the coldest days. By employing geothermal the system also cools the facility in summer, completely eliminating the need for traditional, energy-intensive air conditioning.
Brian Walker, director of business development and marketing, said: “A lot of the technology has been used elsewhere but we’re the first to integrate it.”
In addition to integrating the energy measures the company installed new Chickmaster single-stage incubators that will provide improved results over the two-stage system in the company’s old facility.
The new system will improve hatchability and result in larger, stronger chicks because the environment will be precisely what they need.
The heat recovery system utilizes the first air-to-air heat exchanger in a North American hatchery.
The impact and the energy savings generated by the integrated systems were clear the day Canadian Poultry magazine called.
Walker said the temperature in Winnipeg was minus 29 degrees that February day. The heat exchangers and the geo-thermal system raised the temperature in the building to a comfortable 19 degrees. Not quite warm enough for the hatchery so supplemental heat was turned on to raise the temperature there to 24 degrees.
While supplemental heat was needed on the very cold day, the temperature in the building had been raised 48 degrees without turning on the heat.
In the summer the process can be reversed with hot air in the building being moved from the building into the ground by the geo-thermal units.
The whole system is computer controlled, which maximizes the efficiency and minimizes the overall costs.
Walker said the system should pay for itself in one year and after that Granny’s will generate nothing but savings from its reduced energy consumption.
The new hatchery will produce 12 million broiler chicks per year for the co-op’s 81 broiler producer members. |
A pleasant, bright environment for company employees was a key consideration in the design. |
“In the long term this will be extremely beneficial to us,” he said.
The company has also installed a closed loop water/wastewater system that will reduce water usage by up to 82 per cent.
That will result in a significant reduction in the company’s water and sewer bills by hundreds of thousands per year.
For the employees the building offers as much natural light as possible through the expansive windows. Walker said that having a pleasant, bright environment for company employees was a key consideration in the design.
“We’re doing all we can to make it a pleasant environment for our employees,” he said.
The company even designed the outdoor plug-ins needed on cold winter days to keep car batteries from draining and anti-freeze from freezing to make optimal use of electricity. The improved design of that system will cut energy use by 50 per cent without reducing effectiveness.
The use of energy-efficient lighting in the building saves another 50 per cent, he said.
“We have substantially reduced our energy footprint,” he said.
Overall the new 36,000-square-foot building cost $10.5 million. It is double the size of the old hatchery, is on 7.6 acres of land allowing for expansion and has a much better location in the southeast end of the city near the Perimeter Highway.
The old location, which Granny’s moved into in 1988, is on the west side of the city, was landlocked and not large enough for both the hatchery and the sales office.
In 2000, the sales staff moved to another office, to allow for an expansion of the old hatchery.
The new hatchery will produce 12 million broiler chicks per year for the co-op’s 81 broiler producer members.
Granny’s Poultry Co-operative is Manitoba’s largest poultry processor and one of Manitoba’s fastest growing companies as demonstrated by a virtual doubling of sales in the past 10 years.
The company also operates a processing plant in Blumenort, Man., about half an hour southeast of Winnipeg. The 150,000-square-foot processing plant has 325 employees rising to 400 during peak periods.
The hatchery and sales staff total 40.
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