Feb 18, 2012

James Greenhouses Joins Green Roof Distributor Network

Metrolina Greenhouses hosted Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at their Huntersville, N.C., facilities on June 25.

Vilsack spent two hours touring Metrolina’s greenhouses and had the opportunity to see some of the renewable energy projects that the company has implemented in recent years.

According to Metrolina president Abe Van Wingerden, among the highlights of Vilsack’s tour was seeing Metrolina’s wood/bio-mass boilers that the company purchased with the help of a government grant.

Vilsack also had the opportunity to see Metrolina’s water recycling system, automated transplanter as well as the company’s recycling center.

After the tour, Vilsack held a press conference in Metrolina’s shipping area. He told the Charlotte Observer,”I’m never, ever going to think of a greenhouse the same way again.”

During the press conference, Vilsack praised Metrolina’s sustainability efforts saying, “By embracing renewable energy they [Metrolina Greenhouses] essentially took themselves out of what the worry of what the cost of oil was going to be and what the cost of heating is going to be..they control their own destiny.”

Vilsack’s visit received heavy press coverage in the region in including.

Articles appeared in the Charlotte Observer along with a large on-line photo gallery. Vilsack’s tour was also the lead news story on local TV station WBTV and also on National Public Radio.