Headquartered in Holland, the family owned company employs more than 400 today, with 20 locations throughout Michigan. 

Louis Padnos' two sons, Seymour and Stuart Padnos grew up working in the family business and went on to lead the organization through a number of expansions. 

Third generation family members, Shelley and Mitch Padnos, daughter and son of Seymour, along with their cousins Doug and Jeff, sons of Stuart, now oversee the day-to-day operations. Most days you can still find Stuart and Seymour, now in their 80's, at the Holland offices.

Seymour Padnos describes the shift in attitudes and the evolution of their company this way, "My father was a junk man who founded the family business.  My brother and I followed into the business, but we were considered dealers in secondary materials.  Our children followed us and they promptly became recyclers."

"It goes to show how society as a whole has viewed the process." says Michael Ostrander, Account Executive and spokesperson for the Padnos organization. "Now recycling has a cool connotation, with a different feel and a different definition. As the terminology has evolved, so has our company."

Today the company's line of recycled materials includes a range of offerings, "We recycle non-ferrous metals, like stainless, copper, aluminum and brass," says Ostrander, "as well as ferrous metals, meaning they contain iron and steel. We're also hugely involved in a wide range of paper and plastics recycling."

The company also recycles appliances and electronics. "The electronics, or e-scrap, is a little different and somewhat new," says Ostrander, who stressed their company's regard for environmental safety, "Our main concern is that the material does not go overseas, where there may not be safeguards in place."

Earlier this year, the company unveiled a 636 panel solar system, covering the 15,000 square foot roof of their Wyoming warehouse.  The venture was done in partnership with Cascade Engineering.  Reported to be one of the largest solar installations of its kind in Michigan, the system is expected to provide significant cost-savings and greater self-sufficiency at the facility.

"This was done by the family to lead by example," says Ostrander, about the solar project, "They are constantly pushing in their commitment to the environment for future generations."

Ostrander said he thinks people would be surprised to learn how much technology plays a role in their organization.  "We have a business portal that allows our customers to see their material weighed in from anywhere in the country. They have secure access to a database here with their information."

Continuing family businesses from one generation to the next can be challenging.

"Statistics have shown that less than two-thirds of family businesses make the successful transfer to the second generation," says Barbara Draper, University of New Hampshire Center for Family Business, "and making a successful transfer gets harder with each succeeding generation."

With the succession from one generation to the next, the Padnos family has maintained, not only their commitment to values, family, growth and innovation, they have continued their commitment to the environment, as well.

To stay in touch with West Michigan Environmental News, subscribe to this section by clicking on SUBSCRIBE or the RSS feed button at the top of the page for the latest updates, moescorner@iserv.net 

Holland, MI — Holland-based Padnos Iron & Metal Co. is now operating the largest solar energy installation in Michigan, a facility dedicated Monday, and a project that company President Jeff Padnos said makes sense economically and environmentally.

Backing up that statement, a display panel on the wall at the Padnos recycling center in Wyoming showed the 636 solar panels on the roof generating some 70 kilowatts even on an overcast afternoon.

As part of Consumers Energy’s Experimental Advanced Renewable Program, the power company will buy back the generated power for 12 years at a preferred rate. After that, power will be fed directly into the building’s use.

And while the current panels don’t provide enough energy to alone power the massive plant, there’s plenty more room on the roof, Padnos said. He and a panel of energy experts on hand said they fully expect technology to improve and costs to come down, in part thanks to experimental projects like the Padnos project.

Those projects are necessary for Consumers to study the engineering and technology needed to better utilize renewable and distributive power systems, explained Jon Allan, executive director of environmental policy and intergovernmental affairs for Consumers.

Meanwhile, the Padnos company’s $1.27 million investment should be paid back in eight or nine years, Padnos said. Beyond that, he said, it’s important for government and industry to push ahead.

“This company has always been very committed to the best use of all resources,” Padnos said.
The project suited the facility at 500 44th St. SW because it has a large, flat roof and is near the power grid — and because while Holland has more wind, Grand Rapids has more sunshine, Padnos noted.


“This is a great example of an organization wanting to do something good and then figuring out a way to do it,” said Fred P. Keller, chairman and CEO of Cascade Engineering and its division, Cascade Renewable Energy, which handled the installation.


Padnos said the relationship between his family business and Keller’s, dating back 60 years, gave him the confidence to move ahead quickly.


State Sen. Patricia Birkholz, R-Saugatuck Township, talked about a long, hot summer spent in negotiations to pass P.A. 295 in 2008, also known as the Clean, Renewable, and Efficient Energy Act that mandates 10 percent renewable energy and other initiatives —  including incentives that helped attract the new battery plants to Holland.

Padnos pointed out that while his “conservative Republican” inclination, like Birkholz’s, is against government mandate, government can push for long-term benefits, including renewable energy.


“The market left all by itself can be short-term oriented,” he said. “Government can help bridge that gap.”


Business, legislative, energy and Public Service Commission representatives all emphasized the need to look to the long-term, to push projects like the Padnos one to develop technology and bring down cost.


Meanwhile, above them on a cloudy day, 636 panels were cranking out kilowatts.


“It may seem a bit counterintuitive to launch a solar energy project in Michigan at a time of year when additional snowfall is still a distinct possibility,” said Keller. “The Cascade and Padnos teams agree this project illustrates both the year-round capability of today’s solar energy solutions and the real hope that renewable energy can offer the state’s struggling economy.”

Source: The Hollandsentinel.com

Prior to installing the solar panels, the facility’s roof was covered with a 30,000-square-foot white rubber membrane to allow for better heat reflection, a factor in maintaining optimal system performance year round.
 
“It may seem a bit counterintuitive to launch a solar energy project in Michigan at a time of year when additional snowfall is still a distinct possibility,” says Fred Keller, Cascade’s chairman and CEO, “The Cascade and Padnos teams agree this project illustrates both the year-round capability of today’s solar energy solutions and the real hope that renewable energy can offer the state’s struggling economy.”
 
The installation is intended to achieve significant cost savings and greater energy self sufficiency for Padnos over time, Keller adds.
 
Through work with the utility firm Consumers Energy, the companies developed a long-range plan that taps Consumers’ Experimental Advanced Renewable Program (EARP), a recently launched solar energy pilot initiative.
 
During the initial phase of Padnos’ contract with Consumers Energy, the utility will pay preferred rates for the energy produced at Padnos’ facility, offsetting the facility’s energy costs. After 12 years, the power generated at the facility will be connected to Padnos’ meter, reducing the building’s usage.
 
“Our new installation was facilitated by a beneficial solar incentive program, but it took a highly committed group of individuals from the Cascade and Padnos teams to develop something truly innovative on this scale,” says Jeff Padnos, president of Padnos Iron & Metal.
 
“Padnos has long excelled as a leader in the recycling industry through our environmental and quality systems, and we were able to bring this experience to bear in making this project a reality,” Padnos adds. “For example, some of the recycled aluminum used in the system was reclaimed and processed at one of our own facilities, extending its usefulness in a new and compelling way. Creating this first-of-its-size solar installation is an exciting expansion of our expertise and environmental commitment, and a path we hope many other businesses will emulate.”
 
“Cascade’s collaboration with Padnos is about the kind of innovation that can take place between two companies that share a long history of trust,” adds Keller. “Our partnership goes back to the business Jeff’s father conducted with my father more than 60 years ago. Having that relationship as our foundation has played an integral part in taking this opportunity to what it is today.”

Source: RecyclingToday.com

WYOMING — Jeff Padnos always paid attention to the weather. Now, the weather pays him back.
And if the sun shines as much Monday as it did a week ago, the 636 solar panels atop the Padnos Iron & Metal Co. recycling facility at 500 44th St. SW will be generating green.
At 15,000 square feet, the state’s largest solar energy project funneled 4,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity into the power grid during a six-day stretch of clear skies this month.
It has generated about 18,000 kilowatt-hours since its installation in December.

“One of the first rules of sustainability is to make a profit,” said Padnos, president of the Holland-based company. “We had a few days in a row where we were getting close to and over 800 (kilowatt-hours). Those sunny days are just perfect.”
Padnos on Monday will host a pair of state senators and several energy experts for a dedication of the rooftop solar project. A panel discussion about the future of renewable energy in Michigan also is planned.
The $1.27 million solar installation at Padnos is the first big solar job by Cascade Renewable Energy Solutions, a division of Cascade Engineering.
The electricity is sold to Consumers Energy Co., which launched a buyback for energy generated by solar power in response to a state requirement that public utilities by 2015 get 10 percent of their supply from alternative energy sources.
State property tax breaks and tax credits for alternative energy projects also have a role in giving the panels an estimated payback of eight years.
Fred Keller, Cascade chairman and chief executive, said solar energy “may not be the most economic thing to do in today’s world,” but those economics soon will change as the cost of generating electricity from fossil fuels increases and the price of solar technology declines.
Public policy favoring alternative energy helps manufacturers ramp up for the time when the market favors renewable sources, Keller said.
“Within five years we will see those numbers cross and, in the meantime, it’s important for government policy to foresee these coming down the pike,” he said.
“This is a classic example of government giving a clear signal to the market.”
The forecast for the market? Keller thinks it’s bright.
“Virtually all of the fuel that we buy comes from outside the state,” he said. “We have the capability to literally manufacture wind and solar power in this state and it changes dramatically the balance of payments,” he said.

 Source: mLive

The installation of the largest solar-power site in Michigan gives Cascade Engineering a solid foundation on which to further build a fledgling business.

The company’s alternative energy division, Cascade Renewable Energy, has two more “significant” solar projects in the pipeline in West Michigan that are slightly smaller than the 150-kilowatt site developed at Padnos Iron & Metal Co.’s plastic and paper recycling station on 44th Street in Wyoming.

The installation of solar panels at Padnos gives Cascade Renewable Energy a project to demonstrate its capabilities to other potential customers, said Michael Ford, manager of the renewable energy business unit that the Grand Rapids-based Cascade Engineering launched in 2007.

“Hopefully it’s a showcase project,” Ford said. “We are expecting this to be a very high-growth business within Cascade from a revenue and profitability standpoint.”

The $1.2 million Padnos project consists of 636 3-foot-by-5-foot solar panels that cover 15,000 square feet of the roof at the 450,000-square-foot Padnos recycling facility.

The project represents the latest result of Cascade Engineering’s strategy to diversify into alternative energy, a sector Chairman and CEO Fred Keller believes can help revitalize Michigan’s ailing manufacturing sector.

“We’re putting some major bets on renewable energy,” Keller said.

The solar project at Padnos “is a great example of an organization that wants to do good, then figuring out how to make it good business,” he said.

Padnos is selling all of the electricity generated by the solar panels directly to Consumers Energy Co. at 45 cents per kilowatt hour under the utility’s renewable energy incentive program that grants participants preferred rates for 12 years.

The Consumers Energy incentive “significantly helps the payback period” and will enable the project to pay for itself within seven and a half years, said Keith Noblett, director of facilities at Padnos.

After the 12-year-period, the electricity generated at the Padnos site will go directly to the company’s power meter, significantly reducing the recycling facility’s external power usage.

Across Michigan, there are presently 78 solar energy projects in operation and participating in an expanded net-metering program begun by the state in 2009, according to a January report from the Michigan Public Service Commission. Generally installed in residential settings, all of them generate less than 20 kilowatt hours of electricity.

The Holland-based Padnos, which has lengthy business ties to Cascade Engineering, views the project as furthering its environmental commitment.

“It fits well within our core business,” Noblett said.

Some of the aluminum used in the solar panels was recycled at a Padnos facility, “extending its usefulness in a new and compelling way,” company President Jeff Padnos said.

Padnos may consider similar projects at its other locations in West Michigan, Noblett said.

“We’re open to the possibility,” he said. “This is our first step in that direction.”

While not done as a pilot project, the Padnos installation did provide Cascade Renewable Energy some valuable lessons in streamlining the installation’s timeframe as well as in process engineering, logistics and component assembly, Ford said.

The Padnos project, which follows two much smaller residential installations, had enough scale to allow Cascade to focus more on making it go as efficiently as possible, he said.

Padnos will share performance data with Cascade, adding to the company’s knowledge base.

“We took more of a manufacturing approach to getting the project completed,” Ford said. “It was tons of learning, and we’re hopeful it’s the start of a lot more.”

Cascade Engineering is conducting research and development that could eventually lead the company to produce some of the components for solar energy systems, Ford said.

“It’s clearly in our strength,” he said. “That’s certainly in the long-term plans of Cascade Engineering.”

The company’s first commercial solar installation comes as Michigan is trying to diversify its electric generation under a Renewable Portfolio Standard lawmakers adopted in 2008 that requires 10 percent of electricity to eventually originate from renewable sources.

The RPS has given rise to business opportunities for companies like Cascade Engineering, Michigan Public Service Commissioner Greg White said. He cited the Padnos solar project and Cascade Engineering’s introduction last year of small wind turbines for residential and commercial uses as examples of innovation that can help the state meet the RPS and aid the economy.

“We’re just beginning to see the fruit being born,” White said during a panel discussion held March 15 at Padnos.

“These are all things Michigan can look forward to in the future. The energy economy is giving us opportunity to put Michigan back to where it needs to be” he said. “It does have that job-creating potential.”

Source: mLive

Students are encouraged to bring their resumes and dress appropriately.   [More Information (.pdf)]  www.grcc.edu/ses

Source: GRCC Today

The system was installed on top of the plant at 500 44th St. SW by Cascade Engineering's Renewable Energy division.

Read more about our Padnos Solar Panels

Source: Celebrifi via WZZM

WYOMING -- Biting wind and blowing snow could not chill the fervor for solar power at Padnos Iron & Metal Co. recycling, where the state's largest solar-panel installation goes on line this week.
Banks of solar panels -- 636 in all -- cover 15,000 square feet atop the Padnos recycling center at 500 44th St. SW.

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Source: Grand Rapids Family Tree

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