Did some free air permitting consulting for the local elementary school district
 

My wife works in the Admin office of the local elementary school district. At their Cinco De Mayo party on Wednesday, the Superintendent approached me, my wife reminded him that I worked as an air quality consultant for about 25 years. It seems that the local air pollution control district has a rule with a time line to retrofit diesel standby generators with particulate traps. They have four such generators and the cost quote was $30,000 each, or about $120,000 for all of them. This is a very small elementary school district; for them to replace their one 10 y/o stake bed truck with a new one is a big financial deal (the state of CA is more than broke).

The generators are emergency backup for telephones, computer systems and a few critical lights.

So I looked at the permits, convinced the air pollution agency that the newest generator is compliant with the rule, and developed a plan recommending they sell the three non-compliant 80 HP diesel generators to an out of state entity (CA diesel rules are crazy), and buy 2 40-45 HP natural gas/propane backup generators which don't require a permit (less than 50 HP); and a combination of getting UPS backups for the phones and computers. My solution will not only save them the $130,000 on retrofits, but may actually make them some net money, especially over the long term when you include not having to pay any more annual permit and emissions fees.

I did it for free, they couldn't be happier, and it helps my wife's career. Annually she saves them several times her salary as she is the Purchasing Manager for the school district. She is so much better than the person she replaced five years ago.

That's good for an attaboy in my book.
Good thinking on your part.

Great!! It'd be amazing to see what kind of results could be achieved if more consultants from the private sector had a look at the local systems. I'd be willing to bet they could get back in black in no time at all.

I'm not even gonna start on the Federal systems.

That's great Hugh. I often wondered why schools and local governments didn't reach out to parents and residences who have expertise in certain fields for volunteer consulting. I see engineering budgets or bids for the village, and I'm amazed at the prices the board is willing to pay. There are liability issues, but some things are pretty simple and regulated well enough that the liability is minimized or eliminated. Engineers with a PE volunteering their time to help their community - a win for all.

Again, nice job Hugh.

Good for you. I used to work for SCAQMD and put in 20 years with the Santa Barbara agency....if you ever need help in NV or other states, let me know.

I'm on the board of my kids' school. Parents with useful skills and willingness/time to volunteer are quite scarce, actually.

Good for you Hugh!

This world would be a better place if more people took the time to go that extra mile.

You might have been at the SCAQMD when I was there in the early 80's, I was with Enforcement and then the Air Toxics group. I left because they had an interview process for four promotions to Supervisor, about 30 people applied and on the exam I placed No. 2, and got passed over for women and minorities they were then under a court order to advance women and "people of color". I could see that I couldn't get promoted for at least ten years, so I left for the consulting business. Pity, in retrospect I could have retired by now. But I made a whole lot more money in consulting than I ever would have made at the District.

Kudos to you, Hugh...saving the taxpayers some bucks. Oh...don't expect this to show on your property tax bill. ;)