News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The ENERGYneering Solutions team operates out of an office at Sisters Airport. photo provided
All it takes is an airport and good Internet access - along with a lot of experience and expertise - for an innovative Sisters company to reach across the country for its work.
ENERGYneering Solutions Inc. (ESI) of Sisters manages some $30 million in renewable energy power plants in places as far flung as Texas, Florida and California - all out of an office at the Sisters Airport. The firm provides engineering and design for landfill gas (LFG) collection, biogas pretreatment systems, biogas-to-energy facilities, and biomass thermal facilities.
It is the latter that brought ENERGYneering Solutions into the spotlight in Sisters. The firm is proposing a biomass boiler at Sisters High School which could significantly reduce the school district's heating costs (see related story, page 1).
The company, founded in Sisters in 2007, is owned by Julie Benson and her husband, Benny, as president.
Like many migrants to Sisters, the Bensons were seeking a better quality of life.
Benny and Julie grew up in Colorado, and met in college studying mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.
Their careers in the engineering field took them first to Southern California, and then to Sisters.
"We wanted to get out of the rat race of Orange County.
The rats were winning," Julie said.
"We have also found we can better attract and retain high quality professionals because of the lifestyle," Benny observed.
In addition to the Bensons, ESI employs seven professional staff including engineers, programmers and mechanics.
The opportunity to move to Sisters came when Benny was working on the Dry Creek Landfill Project in Medford. The couple, who had been living in Huntington Beach, California, decided to put down roots in Oregon, and they chose Sisters. Benny continued to work on the Medford project. "I'm a pilot, so I commuted from Sisters by airplane," Benny explained. Soon, Julie and Benny, as two engineers, decided to start their own company, based in Sisters. ENERGYneering Solutions Inc. was born.
ESI also designs and develops SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems for power plants; handles construction management and oversight; provides facility operations and maintenance; and creates operational data management systems.
"We prefer to operate facilities we have designed and built ourselves. Then we know what went into them and if there is a problem, it's our responsibility. Our diverse practice areas complement and support each other," said Benny.
The founding of ESI was the culmination of a career that had always centered around making productive use out of a wasted resource.
"Julie and I both worked for an environmental consulting firm, so we worked on the environmental side of landfill management including gas emissions and water contamination," Benny said.
Working with landfill gas control eventually transitioned into fueling power generation. Julie is very creative and Benny has always been a hands-on guy, and that has helped them build a firm that has expertise not only in design but in construction and operations.
"I was really good in auto shop and I actually considered being a diesel mechanic," he said. "My dad said, 'You're going to be an engineer'."
Dad is Marvin Benson, who is well-known in Sisters for his Intarsia woodwork, which he is teaching to local kids through 4-H at his woodshop, also at the Sisters Airport, just downstairs from ESI's engineering office.
ESI has compiled an extensive portfolio of projects across the country. While the company specializes in turn-key power plant projects, they also recently completed an LFG-to-energy feasibility study working with Deschutes County at the Knott Landfill in Bend. The Deschutes County Solid Waste Department will be moving forward with a renewable energy pilot project based on ESI's study.
Having established a national reach, the Bensons hope to focus on smaller, local projects that can positively influence the way the region manages local resources, such as the forest in our own backyard.
Both Julie and Benny serve as advisors for the Sisters High School engineering academy.
"We hope that the proposed biomass project at SHS will reduce heating costs for our school district, as well as provide some hands-on educational opportunities for students interested in renewable power and energy management," Benny said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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