Everything Green | Metropolitan Industries

September 14, 2012

Energy-independent facility a win-win for Metropolitan

Metropolitan’s MetroGreen energy-independent facility features the latest advancements in Green technology.

At Metropolitan we’ve always said we’re committed to developing “Green” technologies, but nothing demonstrates this dedication more than our MetroGreen energy-independent facility. Located on-site at our headquarters in Romeoville, Ill., MetroGreen serves as a facility where both Metropolitan employees and visitors can learn basic and advanced concepts of Green technologies.

“We conceived the idea to develop MetroGreen around three years, with the end goal of not just educating visitors, but ourselves as well,” said Metropolitan’s Dick Harned. “We discussed acquiring Green products from some of our distributors via donations to use in the facility, and the idea was well received. Just a few months after we constructed the idea, everything was in place and we were conducting tours.”

Some of the energy-independent features of our MetroGreen site include:

Rainwater harvesting system: Water from the gutter system fills a 1500-gallon harvest tank needed for storage. A booster pump runs on either AC power or solar power depending on the homeowner’s preference. The system also includes a filter system, which removes 99.9 percent of contaminants before entering MetroGreen.

Solar and/or wind powered water well: Water well operates by using either wind or solar power, completely off the electric grid. Water well is only used when rainwater is not available.

Wastewater treatment system: A 500-gallon per day, three-step treatment system:

• Step one: Waste moves through trash tank for removal of any non-biodegradable materials.

• Step two: Tank allows for 3.5 CFM of diffused air that promotes the growth of aerobic bacteria that breaks down waste.

• Step three: Pump tanks to drip irrigation system located in field for release – drip line allows ½ gallons per hour into soil about 8 inches to 10 inches below the surface.

The wastewater treatment system feeds directly into the drip irrigation system.

Solar heating system: Solar bulbs turn sunlight into usable energy to heat water. Solar system heats water tank for distribution to fixtures and radiant floor heating system, if needed.

Standby natural gas boiler: Backup system for radiant flooring and domestic hot water heater. Boiler is high-efficiency, condensing-type and provides supplemental heat to solar system.

Automatic charging sink and fixture: When motion is sensed, sink will run and automatically charge battery that runs the motion sensor. Sink saves hundreds of gallons of water per year. Water-saving toilet uses less than 1.6 gallons of water per flush.

Sump and Sewage Backup System: Powered by SUMPRO® backup system.

In addition to these products, we have recently added new features MetroGreen, including a solar-heated hot tub, LED lighting and products from our Ion|StormPro® product line.

Harned said the recent addition of products reflects the changing nature of the Green market and that alternations will continue to be made to MetroGreen as new technologies are introduced.

“From the time we developed the concept to present day, this project has always been a work in progress in learning about Green products,” said Harned. “As new innovations are commenced, we will continue to update MetroGreen as a training module for the Metropolitan family and for our customer partners.”

While this development has been a monumental commitment for Metropolitan, it has given our employees a plethora of knowledge of Green products to work with, allowing us to expand our product base and expertise into new areas to better serve our customer partners.

“Our employees have certainly been big beneficiaries as MetroGreen’s development has progressed along the years,” said Harned. “We’ve been able to attain a great deal of knowledge regarding Green products, which has assisted us in developing a product line of applications designed to save energy and utilize renewable sources of energy.”

The other primary beneficiaries have been our customer partners and visitors.

“Many of the visitors we’ve had taking tours have a knowledge base of Green technology that only scratches the surface,” said Harned. “Our facility and sales staff can help visitors leave more informed and may ultimately assist them in deciding what Green products to invest in. It has been a win, win project for us.”

Full tours of our MetroGreen energy-independent facility will be available during our Open House on October 11, 2012.

For more information regarding MetroGreen, facility tours and Metropolitan’s Green products, please contact 815-886-9200 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

August 23, 2012

SUMPRO® Battery Backup, Because Flooding is Not an Option

Continuing our residential flood control series, the name SUMPRO® has been synonymous with dependability for over 20 years. UL recognized and a favorite among contractors, plumbers and homeowners around the country, the SUMPRO® battery backup system is the premier fully-automatic auxiliary power source available.

Performance tested for optimal functionality, SUMPRO® systems can be used in conjunction with pumps of the published horsepower ratings.

“What makes SUMPRO® such a high-end piece of equipment is its ability to take DC battery power and convert it into 115 VAC power,” said Metropolitan salesperson Brian Drafke. “This allows users to eliminate unreliable 12 VDC powered pumps and continuing using a standard 115 VAC pump without any modifications or piping changes.”

SUMPRO® systems install in minutes as users simply plug units into a standard wall outlet. Once detected, SUMPRO® will continue to use utility power until a power failure is detected. When a power failure is detected, SUMPRO® will instantaneously begin to supply standard household electricity to any connected appliances. Once utility power is restored, SUMPRO® automatically switches your appliance back to utility power and immediately begins to recharge its internal batteries in anticipation of the next power failure.

“Unlike some uninterrupted power supplies, SUMPRO® is designed to handle inrush power demanded by pumps,” said Drafke. “With our proprietary programming, SUMPRO® can start pumps even in long power outages when the battery power has diminished. The testing we’ve conducted has shown significant additional run times due to this feature.”

The typical installation of a SUMPRO® battery backup system.

SUMPRO® has input levels of 60 Hz, 120 VAC and 12 AMP, and output levels of 120 VAC and 15 AMP at a .80 service factor. Units can be shipped anywhere and come with a full one-year guarantee.

For premier performance, SUMPRO® can be combined with Metropolitan’s maintenance-free AGM Power+ batteries. By adding an extra set of Power+ batteries, users can double or triple their run times.

In addition to SUMPRO®, Metropolitan’s residential division offers full packages which include battery backup systems, pumps, float switches and pump controllers needed for complete flood protection.

For more information regarding the SUMPRO® battery backup system and our residential division, please visit the official website of SUMPRO® or call 800-323-1665.

July 30, 2010

What about Green?

AquaHarvest puts technology to work for every system we build. We use state-of-the-art control technologies and techniques to control all functions of the water harvesting systems.

Company raises green awareness

As energy prices rise and our limited resources such as water continue to dwindle, our Federal and State governments are considering many new technologies to reduce consumption such as rain water harvesting, gray water recycling and solar domestic hot water heating.

According to an article on Forbes.com, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on July 9, 2010, announced rules that will finally allow developers of wind, solar and other green energy projects to apply for a total of $3 billion in federal grants to cover upfront project costs. The article states that under Treasury Department guidelines, the Department of Energy will disburse cash grants worth 30% of upfront costs for projects that start construction by the end of 2010. This funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be critical to boosting the demand for these technologies.

As a system supplier of wind, solar, water harvesting and gray water recycling systems, Metropolitan Industries has taken a leadership role by educating and helping contractors, plumbers, engineers and inspectors navigate their way through this new frontier of opportunity.

Of course, it is up to each individual state, not the inspectors, to adopt a code but the spread of awareness is effective, given the fact that technology is outpacing regulation. Currently, only four states have published guidelines regarding water harvesting and gray water recycling. Those states are Virginia, Texas, Oregon and Hawaii.

Engineers, Architects and Contractors working in the United States without official code to regulate gray water reuse and water harvesting/reuse only have informal guidelines to guide them as published in the Uniform Plumbing Code of 2009, International Plumbing Code of 2009, The American Water Works Association for reclaimed water and the American Society of Plumbing Engineers in regards to gray water reuse systems.

As these water re-use applications gain more and more popularity, the states will eventually catch up with some type of code to regulate their installations. Metropolitan Industries will continue to be an advocate for education and awareness.