Vernon contractor gets exclusive energy-saving distribution rights

VERNON - Motors that run air conditioning units, pumps and compressors typically require full power for very limited periods while energy is often wasted when they’re idling. Now, a Vernon contractor has obtained exclusive area rights to distribute an ‘intelligent’ controller that’s designed to monitor and reduce the power drawn by a motor to match its actual need. Phillips-Glenwood, Inc., a general contractor located on Church Street, recently began marketing the Powerboss to businesses within a 100-mile radius of New York City. “We’re starting to introduce this to local businesses,” said Jennifer Fitzgerald, a senior sales representative for Phillips-Glenwood. For instance, the company was scheduled to meet with managers at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm on March 15 to discuss how Powerboss controllers could potentially be used to reduce energy consumption for the compressors that are used to make ice at its rinks. Phillips-Glenwood has also marketed the Powerboss to Route 23 Honda in Pompton Plains and a Boar’s Head processing plant in The Bronx, said Terri Winters, a consultant who’s working for the distributor. Somar International, the Cornwall, U.K.-based company which manufacturers the Powerboss, lists multiple blue-chip companies in Europe as customers. These include Mattel, 3M, Ford Motor Co., Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. Fitzgerald said Powerboss is also being used in a handful of businesses in the U.S., including a supermarket chain in Texas that’s using the devices to lower its refrigeration costs. The Powerboss “is like a computer for a motor,” explained William Faustini, the president of Phillips-Glenwood who founded the contracting firm 25 years ago through a loan from his mother after graduating from high school. The devices contain software that monitors a motor and can tune itself to operate the motor at its optimal running point. So if a one-third horsepower motor is idling when a compressor isn’t in use, the Powerboss reduces the amount of electricity going to the motor, thus reducing energy consumption by up to 50 percent, he said. The device also facilitates a “slow draw” on power consumption when a machine is just starting, said Faustini. This ‘soft start’ feature eliminates unnecessary power surges to a motor while providing a smoother acceleration of power which dramatically reduces stress on mechanical transmissions. Phillips-Glenwood, which has built the post office branches located in West Milford, Highland Lakes, Stockholm and Pine Island, N.Y., also has an exclusive national distribution agreement for Somar’s products with the U.S. Postal Service, which Faustini himself oversees. “It’s not easy getting through to a government agency, but they appear to be willing to want to reduce their energy costs,” said Faustini, 42, who moved to Vernon from Bergen County in 2000. He said representatives from his company are hyping the two-year payback that the Powerboss can deliver through estimated energy reduction to prospective customers. “After that, it’s all savings,” said Faustini. Models of the Powerboss range in price from $1,100 to $28,000. U.S. EPA Energy Star and other tax rebate incentives can also be applied to reduce the sticker price, said Faustini. “I think we’re a year or two ahead of the curve, but I think people and businesses are going to need this,” said Faustini.