The summertime heat is on—but GAR Laboratories, which is located in Riverside, CA, is ensuring that production of its hair and skin care products continue to flow.

GAR's president, Tom Raffy, was recently interviewed by the southern California-based newspaper, The Press-Enterprise, for the article, Power Rangers: How Businesses Help Lower Load During Heat Waves.

Raffy says that GAR is prepared to shut down its chiller for a day, if necessary. This will slow production a bit, but will ensure that manufacturing continues uninterrrupted. GAR's chiller is a 40-ton unit that cools 10,000 gallons of water — the amount it takes to make a 3,000-gallon batch of product, such as shampoo or conditioner, so that it is ready for packaging. Shutting it down will conserve 200 kilowatts of energy.

GAR is a member of Riverside Public Utilities' Power Partner Program. Participating businesses have agreed to shut off high-energy usage equipment if the need arises, to help the city avoid a blackout or brownout. These companies will receive a warning the day before, if power needs to be cut — depending upon weather forecasts and predicted energy use. 

Photo above by The Press Enterprise.
Tom Raffy, president, GAR Labs, standing near some of the company's high energy-use equipment that chills products before packaging.