Law and Taxation: See the Forest and the Trees
Assistant Professor Luis Rodriguez Jr. at Alfred University
Networking is an art and an important tool that is valuable. AU students joined the Career Development Center for an evening of networking, with guest speaker President Mark Zupan. Following President Zupan’s informative talk, AU students attended a small networking event with local employers, with hors d’oeuvres and networking exercises.
Mr. Bill Rice, President / CEO of CerX LLC spoke to Alfred University students today on the topic of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other international business topics.
He shared his international business experiences regarding the legal challenges of doing business in Europe, India, Russia, China, and other nations where the business and social cultures are very different from that of the United States.
AgriPower, Inc. was formed in 2004, is headquartered in Great Neck, New York, and custom designs and manufactures a unique and proprietary line of advanced technology, transportable, Waste-to-Energy, “Heat Only” and “Combined Heat and Power” (“CHP”) Systems and grinders. The Systems enable a wide variety of waste materials (all types of wood, cardboard, paper, agricultural and forest waste, manure, construction and demolition debris, sorted municipal solid waste and many types of plastic), with up to a 50% moisture content, that would normally be burned, buried or disposed of at a cost, to instead be used as free or low-cost fuel to produce on-site, base load, heat energy and electric power.
The Systems have a proven track record of reliable and low-cost operation; more than 60 Systems are currently in use, some for more than 12 years, primarily at schools, hospitals, prisons and factories. Their typical payback period is between 2.5 to 4 years and even less if diesel fuel is being displaced. The Systems are fully-automated, do not require any on-site technical personnel and can be remotely monitored by the customer or AgriPower.
The Company has developed a robust sales agent network in more than a dozen countries that is producing a rapidly expanding sales pipeline. It has signed Letters of Intent for numerous Systems in various African, South American and Asian countries. To expand sales of its proven, advanced, clean and renewable technology, it is seeking funding to set up a working CHP demo site in its plant in Pennsylvania and project finance funding, equity and ever-more deals.
The Systems utilize from 1 to 60 tons per day of waste to produce 500,000 BTU/hour of heat energy (heated air, hot water and/or steam) and can generate from 250 kW to 1.2 MW of electric power. They are pre-fabricated, modular and skid-mounted, making them easily transported to on-grid and remote off-grid locations such as small to mid-size communities, hotels, hospitals, military bases, industrial parks and colleges and universities.
Their unique dual combustion design enables them to comply with all applicable emissions requirements. The fuel burns so cleanly because, after the combustion takes place in the lower chamber, all of the resultant gases are directed into the upper chamber where they are completely combusted using AgriPower’s proprietary extended dwell time design. This enables problematic materials, such as paint on wood or plywood that contains glue, to be used as fuel.
AgriPower recently signed a broad agreement to use a recently introduced and new type of electric generator that enables the heat energy produced by the Systems to generate electricity. These generators are being manufactured for AgriPower by one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world, and its generators are substantially less costly than traditional Organic Rankine Cycle generators.
AgriPower is working actively with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank, the Africa Development Bank and USAID’s Power Africa program to deploy its Systems to provide renewable electricity in rural areas throughout that continent. One possibility is to combust the sawdust from lumber mills to generate the electricity needed to power their equipment, with the extra power going to nearby homes and businesses in accordance with various Feed-In Tariff programs. AgriPower is also exploring possibilities in urban areas where sorted municipal solid waste will be used as fuel.
Bios
Barry J. Berman is CEO of AgriPower, Inc. and has been actively involved in the Alternative and Renewable Energy fields since 1999. His primary areas of responsibility at AgriPower are in Business Development, Strategic Alliances and Finance.
Barry is an experienced entrepreneur. Prior to joining AgriPower, Barry founded several companies that ultimately were built up and then sold in the broker-dealer and telecommunications industries. Several such companies had more than 100 employees at the time of their sale.
Barry obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration from The College of Insurance and his Juris Doctor from Fordham University’s School of Law.
