Canadian Organic Maple moves toward carbon neutral

Located in Divide, New Brunswick, Canadian Organic Maple Co. Ltd. has around 138,000 taps and produces up to 200,000 litres of maple syrup annually. The company employs the equivalent of 25 full-time employees.

The owners of Canadian Organic Maple, Sandra and Gus Hargrove have ecological sustainability as a primary goal of their business. “We believe the responsible thing to do is emit less carbon. We’re committed to doing that personally and as a company,” said Gus Hargrove.

The Hargroves knew there could be improvements to the energy-intensive maple syrup production that their business depends on, so they approached NB Power for an initial feasibility study to determine and prioritize energy saving opportunities.

The $16,000 feasibility study, funded through the utility’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Program, revealed two key projects that would yield significant energy and greenhouse gas reductions.

Project 1: New Equipment

In the first project, innovative technology replaced a traditional system. The new technology uses reverse osmosis in the sap to syrup conversion process but maintains high brix evaporation to produce an excellent product. Normally, the Hargroves evaporated around 8 litres of sap for 1 litre of syrup; the upgrades reduced sap quantity required to 2.5 litres.

Project 2: Infrastructure upgrades

Power lines were extended to the facility, thus replacing approximately 100,000 litres of diesel fuel annually for generators and vacuum pumps.

The cost of both projects was $250,000 with incentives of $112,500 yielding a simple payback of 2.1 years and CO2eq of 270 metric tons annually. According to the Hargroves, the new equipment has not only reduced energy costs and GHG emissions but also cut maintenance time and costs, and improved productivity.

Additional information on incentives for small and medium businesses can be found at NB Power’s website - Industrial Energy Efficiency Program. More details on Canadian Organic Maple’s energy efficiency project are available at NB Power- Canadian Organic Maple.