DESIGN PROJECT, EGEE 437, SPRING 2016

Solar Design for Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Lawrence, Kansas
Brendan T. Mooney, Nick DeMarino, Riley Fukuji, and Patrick Schulze
I. Introduction

ALLMARK Cards, Inc. is a privately owned American company based out of Kansas City, Missouri,
and it is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the
United States. The corporation is comprised of 7 facilities nationwide, two of which are located in the state of
Kansas.
The Lawrence Greetings Production Center in
Lawrence, Kansas opened in 1958. It is 650,000 square
feet, including 94,000 square feet of warehouse space,
being one of two primary U.S. manufacturing facilities
supporting Hallmark Cards, Inc. This facility specializes
in producing and packaging all of Hallmarks domestically
produced greeting cards and about 98% of all envelopes
for Hallmark North America. In fact, many Hallmark
greeting cards sold in North America contain up to 20%
recycled fiber, and the stock used for cores of roll wrapping
paper contains 100% recycled content. [1]
Since the 1940s, protecting the environment has been
of utmost importance to Hallmark Cards and its employees. However, in the mid-1990s, the company set ambitious
goals for energy-reduction and have worked continuously
to meet or exceed those objectives. Our energy effciency
and conservation efforts are focused on effcient lighting,
variable speed drives, more effective HVAC components,
production equipment efficiencies and employee behavioral
changes says Stephen S. DiGiacinto, Hallmarks Directore
of Risk Management Services. By the end of 2014, Hallmark had achieved its latest corporate goal of reducing
energy consumption by 35 percent compared to its base
year. During the same period, it also reduced greenhouse
gas emissions at their headquarters by 37 percent. Now,
Hallmark is working on its next goal of reducing energy
consumption by 50 percent by 2020.[2] With this target in
mind, the Lawrence, Kansas facility offers a great opportunity for Hallmark Cards, Inc. to continue pursuing their
conservation ideals.

B. T. Mooney is with the Department of Energy and Minieral

Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
16802. e-mail: btm5229@psu.edu
N. DeMarino is with the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
16802. e-mail: nad5260@psu.edu
R. Fukuji is with the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
e-mail: rqf5123@psu.edu
P. Schulze is with the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
e-mail: pcs5133@psu.edu

II. Background

HE state of Kansas is not unfamiliar with renewable

energy. Almost all of Kansass renewable net electricity generation comes from wind, and in 2014, the state
ranked among the top five states in the nation in electricity
generation from wind energy.[3] However, because of their
strong focus on wind potential, there has been minimal effort to invest in solar energy. Interestingly enough, Kansas
is among the 10 sunniest states in the country, and western
Kansas has areas that receive as much sun as parts of the
southwestern United States.[4] Presently, coal-fired power
plants supply about three-fifths of the net electricity generated in Kansas, but this control has gradually declined as
wind energys share has increased. Remarkably, net wind
generation produces more than one-fifth of the electricity
generated in Kansas.[5]
Although Kansas only produces about 1% of the nations natural gas, there are thirteen interstate natural gas
pipelines that cross Kansas.[6] In fact, The industrial sector in Kansas consumes almost half of the natural gas used
in the state, more than any other sector.[7] In terms of total energy consumption by sector, industries consume the
majority of the energy.
Fig. 1. Kansas Energy Consumption by End-Use Sector 2013

Being that Hallmark Cards is in this category, in order

for them to reach their goal of reducing energy consumption to 50%, they must substitute some portion of their
natural gas use. After speaking with Francisco Ruiz, the
Lawrence Greetings Production Centers Facility Manager,
we learned that the plant spends approximately $1,900,000
on electricity annually at $0.085/kWH. The industry average, according to the EIA, is $0.0737/kWH, so Hallmark
is paying at a relatively higher margin.

DESIGN PROJECT, EGEE 437, SPRING 2016

III. Locale/Feasibility
Utilizing data from Olathe Johnson Co Industrials
weather file in the System Advisory Model (SAM), discrete
analysis of the solar potential in Lawrence, Kansas is feasible. Situated at 37.767 N Latitude and -99.967 E Longitude, Kansas is one of the 10 sunniest states in the country,
and it averages more than 200 days of full or partial sunshine each year, giving Kansas significant solar energy resources.[8] Between the months of November and February,
Kansas experiences its lowest values of Global Horizontal
Irradiance, which includes both Direct Normal Irradiance
(DNI) and Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI). The lowest performance of the installed photovoltaics would occur.
In December at around noon, where Lawrence experiences
GHI values of 295 W/m2 /day. In the months of November, January, and February, the Global Horizontal Irradiance peaks at approximately 400 W/m2 /day. Given that
these are the winter months, the average day with sunlight will last between 9 and 10 hours. Despite this drawback, as the spring and summer months approach, irradiance values increase significantly, peaking in July at 904
W/m2 /day.Averaging the average daily peak irradiance
values in the summer months, between June and September, gives us a value of 794 W/m2 /day.
IV. Markets/Policies
Kansas state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) differs
from other state RPS in that it is based on gross generation capacity rather than total retail sales. Gross generation capacity is the amount owned or leased by a utility
minus the auxiliary power used to operate the facility. The
auxiliary power can be measured by performing a test of
each facility, but it may not be practical to perform the
test on a particular facility. If this is the case then the
nameplate net capacity of the facility will must be used.
In 2009, the Renewable Energy Standards Act (K.S.A. 661256) was adopted requiring the states investor-owned and
cooperative utilities to generate or purchase 10% of their
electricity from eligible renewable resources in the years
2011-2015, and increased to 15% in the years 2016-2019
and 20% by 2020 for the beginning of each calendar year.
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) can be used to comply with the Renewable Energy Standard by using the formulas in K.A.R. 82-16. Utilities can use RECs to meet
only a portion of their requirement for compliance years
2011, 2016, and 2020. Utilities may also purchase or sell
RECs without KCC approval, however each REC can only
be counted once. Any unused RECs can be valid for up
to 2 years from the date published. Any RECs remaining
after those 2 years will not be valid for any further use. If
a utility enters into a purchasing contract of 10 years or
more, the amount of capacity counted towards compliance
will be the nameplate capacity minus the auxiliary power
required to produce the capacity. If the purchase contract
is less than 10 years, then the capacity from the purchased
power will be calculated using the same formulas used to
calculate REC capacity.
According to the Kansas Property Tax incentive, Kansas

statute exempts renewable energy equipment from property taxes if an application for an exemption is filed for
the property on or before December 31, 2016.
There is also a federal Business Energy Investment Tax
Credit (ITC) which has a 30% tax incentive and has an
expiration date for solar technologies which is based on
when construction begins. From years 2017, 2018, 2019,
2020, 2021, 2022, and future years have a tax incentive of
30%, 30%, 30%, 26%, 22%, 10%, and 10% respectively. [9]
References
[1] Lawrence Production Center, http://corporate.hallmark.com/TopNews/FacilityInformation/Lawrence-Production-Center
[2] Hallmark Cards Corporate Headquarters Complex, Meeting and
Exceeding Energy Goals
https://kccityenergyproject.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/
hallmark final.pdf
[3] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power
Monthly (February 2015) Table 1.17.B.
[4] Government of Nebraska, Comparison of Solar Power Potential
by State (2006).
[5] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity, Detailed
State Data, Net Generation by State by Type of Producer by
Energy Source (EIA-906, EIA-920, and EIA-923), 1990-2014.
[6] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Kansas, Profile Data,
Distribution Marketing, accessed January 22, 2016.
[7] U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas
Consumption by End Use, Kansas, Annual, 2009-14.
[8] National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Photovoltaic Solar
Resource of the United States(September 19, 2012).
[9] Database of State Incentives for Renewables Efficiency, NC
Clean Energy Technology Center ,
http://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program?state=KS