Manufacturer Says He Supports Businesses Using Technology To Reduce Carbon Emissions

A Wisconsin manufacturer says he supports businesses using more energy-saving devices as a way to burn less coal at power plants and reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change.

Rick Kettler is president of the Wagner Companies, which makes metal handrails and other products in Milwaukee. He said a recently purchased fiber-optic laser is saving his firm energy and money,

“We’re using a quarter of a million kilowatt-hours less per year than we did two years ago,” said Kettler. “We measure our energy consumption per unit of manufacturing, and over the last seven or eight years we’ve reduced it 20 percent. That has to show up in the number of pounds of CO2 that go out and so forth.”

A city of Milwaukee sustainability program is helping the Wagner Companies.

Kettler gave a tour of his factory on Tuesday to U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Susan Hedman. Manufacturing groups and the state of Wisconsin have been criticizing a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants.