HOUGH ASSOCIATES
PROJECTS
We handle an array of special projects for our clients with the same obsessive attention to detail. Below are a few.
COMPOSTING FACILITY
Funding and planning
We are the consultants for a four-municipality consortium in Bucks County, PA. When our client decided to open a composting facility, they asked us to create a plan. We researched the project and developed an equipment cost estimate $500,000. We approached PA DEP and submitted a grant application that covered all equipment costs as well as site preparation and grading, fencing, engineering costs, and signage. Our plan also addressed issues such as permit compliance, traffic, and hours of operation.
PAY AS YOU THROW PROGRAM
Increasing recycling rates
Douglass Township approached us to help them develop a plan to cut disposal costs and increase recycling rates. We worked with the Township to set up a Pay As You Throw program where residents pay for the disposal of waste by the bag, while recycling is offered as a free service. The result - one of the highest recycling rates in the state.
POLITICAL LOBBYING
Keeping things fair for our municipal clients
Sometimes the good intentions of our State government clash with what's happening on the ground. We work with the Legislature to that the environmental laws being passed in Harrisburg make sense on the municipal level. When several of our clients came to us and expressed their concern with leaf collection and disposal regulations, we set out to make it right. Our working relationships with several State Representatives and Senators allowed us to rewrite the law so that it was much more practical for our municipal clients.
HYDRO ELECTRICITY
Generating renewable energy
Hough Associates has over 20 years experience designing and building hydro electric generation sites. We've built sites in remote locations where hydro generation was the only option for electricity. With the increased national focus on renewable energy, wind and hydro generation has been pushed back into the spotlight as reliable sources of power. We are able to use our experience to develop efficient and reliable sources of renewable energy for out clients.
WASTE TO ENERGY
Turning trash into power
Hough Associates was approached to develop a Waste-to-Energy plant in Montgomery County, PA. We partnered with American Energy, a subsidiary of Potomac Electric Power Company, to provide the technology, design, and environmental permitting for the site while we acquired the development rights and zoning approval for a 750-ton-per-day facility.
WIND AND SOLAR
Solar Research Company
We were hired by Solar Research Company to evaluate the economic and financial feasibility of wind farm projects near Palm Springs, CA and geothermal projects near Clear Lake, California. Our findings helped Solar Research finalize plans for expanding their renewable energy holdings.
COAL FIRED COGENERATION
General Foods
Hough Associates evaluated the energy economics of a coal fired cogeneration project for General Foods. We forecast the fuel costs of the local municipal utility to determine the value of electric power produced by the project.
NATURAL GAS FIRED COGENERATION
Commercial facilities
Hough Associates worked with commercial facility owners to install packaged natural gas fired cogeneration units. The electricity generated would be sold the local utility with the heat captured from the units used for kitchen, laundry, and domestic hot water heating.
BIO-MASS TO ENERGY
Animal waste converted to energy
Hough Associates worked on several bio-mass to energy projects. The technologies included capturing methane gas flared at landfills, the anaerobic digestion of animal waste at feedlots and large dairy farms, and the use of forest wood wastes to fuel a large combustion turbine cogeneration project.