Company goes green to make green

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Towering over Milbank Manufacturing’s training center on Gardner Road is a 120 ft wind turbine. The company has installed KCMO’s first wind turbine.

“We need to be taking every opportunity that we have to be using renewable sources, whether it be wind, solar, geothermal,” said Milbank President Lavon Winkler.

The wind turbine produces enough energy to power 75-percent of the company's 65,000 square foot training center. The company is saving money off the machine, but they’re mostly making money off turbines. Milbank started selling wind turbines about a year ago.

Milbank's bread and butter used to making sockets for the meter on the side of a house, but a poor construction market had the company looking renewable energy.

“We wanted to grow at a faster rate, so we had to go into those areas that are growing at a faster rate,” said C.O.O. Eric Krichbaum.

The company is still in the process of setting up a nationwide dealer system. They want to sell the turbines to businesses and homeowners, but it could take some time for this trend to catch on.

The American Wind Energy Association Reports wind power installations in 2010 dropped more than 50 percent from 2009.

Milbank executives remain optimistic as prices of traditional sources of energy rise. They site gas an increase in gas prices as one example.

“Things are going to go up and these types of technologies, using renewable energy sources to provide us with the energy we need as a nation are going to be important for us,” said Krichbaum.