Colson Caster, a market leader in tested caster and wheel products, received a $28,021 incentive check from the Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Commercial and Industrial Custom Program for installing insulating blankets on their injection molding machines.

“In addition to the energy savings, the installation of the insulating blankets helped to create a safer work environment for our employees by reducing the surface temperature from 450 degrees to 110 degrees,” said Plant Engineer Jack Birdno. “This one project also yielded enough incentive monies to allow us to do future upgrades to lighting and our air compressor system, which will greatly reduce our energy footprint at a cost of only 25 percent of the total out of pocket.”

The Entergy energy efficiency program helps businesses save energy and money by providing no-cost facility improvement recommendations and financial incentives based on the total amount of energy the improvements will save. The insulating blankets will save more than 1,080,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, equal to preventing the annual carbon dioxide emissions from more than 159 cars, according to Environmental Protection Agency calculations. The energy savings from this project are expected to pay for themselves in less than two months.

“Entergy Arkansas identified a real need for a program specifically designed to assist our industrial customers in finding and implementing savings opportunities via energy efficiency,” said Entergy Customer Service Manager Russell Harris. “We are pleased to be able to partner with Colson Caster on the energy savings projects implemented within their Monette facility.”