Taconic Farms, Inc. Undertakes Major Green Initiative at Germantown, New York Site

Published: Feb 12, 2010

HUDSON, NY--(Marketwire - February 11, 2010) -

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Taconic announced it is undertaking significant equipment upgrades at its Germantown, New York facility as part of a company-wide initiative to reduce energy consumption and conserve natural resources. Taconic is installing a variety of new equipment designed to reduce the facility's environmental impact.

"Taconic is committed to ensuring that our processes are respectful of the environment," said Todd Little, Taconic President and CEO. "Company-wide, we take a diligent approach to reducing our use of natural resources through 'green' techniques wherever possible. Our most recent upgrades at the Germantown location are part of an ongoing commitment to serve as an environmentally conscious company."

Several eco-friendly projects currently underway at Taconic's Germantown facility will greatly reduce its water use, fuel use, and emissions. These projects include:

--  Installation of two 140-ton chillers to provide cooling water to the
    site's autoclaves (devices used to sterilize incoming equipment and
    supplies). The chillers will reduce the site's process water use by
    55,000 gallons a day, or more than 20 million gallons a year.
--  Installation of a heat recovery system in the facility's wash building.
    The system will employ a heat exchanger to preheat incoming clean water
    using hot discharge water, reducing fossil fuel use and emissions.
--  Installation of a flash tank in the wash building to recover condensed
    boiler steam, reducing fuel use and emissions.
--  Installation of a condensate recovery system for the site's autoclaves,
    enabling efficient recovery of hot water for reuse in boilers.

The newest projects in progress at the Germantown site complement a number of other green initiatives undertaken at the facility over the past two years, which include replacing boilers with more energy-efficient models, adding water meters and alarms on washers, monitoring electrical use more effectively, improving the inspection of steam traps to reduce water use, and evaluating alternative energy sources. This summer the site held a Trash to Treasure contest, encouraging employees to repurpose trash into functional items or works of art.

About Taconic

Taconic Farms, Inc. was founded in 1952 as a family-owned business in New York's Hudson River Valley. Since then, the company has become one of the largest laboratory rodent providers in the world with a reputation for consistently producing high quality, well-defined rats and mice. Taconic's expertise in the custom design and generation of genetically modified mice, mouse and rat breeding, barrier systems, genetics and animal health supports researchers focused on drug development using in vivo models. Taconic has six breeding facilities and three service laboratories in the USA and Europe, a staff of over 1,000, and a commitment to technological innovation. Additional information about Taconic is available through its corporate website, www.taconic.com.