MnTAP helps businesses save $1.3 million

A MnTAP intern identifies energy-saving solutions for the exhaust system at a metal casting facility.

The pollution prevention and energy efficiency efforts of the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) helped state businesses save more than $1.3 million in 2010, reports the agency.

MnTAP’s experts worked with 120 Minnesota businesses on cost-saving solutions in the past year. The organizations that made changes based on MnTAP’s recommendations realized environmental reductions of 163,000 pounds of waste, 17 million gallons of water, 3.5 million kilowatt hours, and 307,000 therms of energy.

Over the past five years, MnTAP—which is housed in the SPH and funded primarily by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency— has helped new partners achieve more than $8 million in first-year savings. MnTAP offers assistance at no cost to state businesses.

“When we help Minnesota businesses reduce waste and cost, they save money that can be invested back into their organization. This helps them retain jobs, and improve the state’s overall economy, all while improving our environment,” says Laura Babcock, MnTAP director.

In 2010, MnTAP staff members conducted more than 330 site visits and eight student interns were placed with companies. The interns spent months researching pollution prevention and energy efficiency projects that are projected to save $1.7 million annually. MnTAP’s materials exchange program diverted some 82,000 pounds of waste from landfills in the past year.

Read MnTAP’s 2010 environmental benefits report