Houwelings Tomatoes, a world class model for sustainable agriculture, opened its third greenhouse farm located in Mona, Utah. The 28.3 acre farm was built adjacent to an existing Rocky Mountain Power plant with an agreement allowing them to capture flue gases from the power plant stack and utilize the heat and CO2 contained to grow tomatoes year round.

This environmentally-friendly tomato farm is believed to be the first commercial-scale operation in the world that pulls both heat and carbon dioxide directly from a power provider. This Ultra Climate Greenhouse System built by Kubo is incredibly green with the only water leaving this site contained in the tomatoes. The Houwelings Tomatoes heat recovery system inside its energy building connects to a 10-foot-diameter, 475-foot-long duct from the Currant Creek Power Plant to the greenhouse. The 10-foot-diameter duct stands 25 to 30 feet above the ground suspended by hot-dip galvanized pipe supports.

The pipeline was a major component to facilitate delivery of heat to warm the greenhouse and CO2 to fertilize the tomatoes. A key factor in selecting a corrosion protection system for the supports was choosing one which would stand the test of time. Because of Houweling's positive experience with hot-dip galvanizing's decades of maintenance-free corrosion performance at their tomato farms located in Delta, British Columbia and Camarillo, California, it was an easy choice to pick hot-dip galvanizing again.

Pacificorp Energy is the owner/operator of the Currant Creek Power Plant, and Rocky Mountain Power supplies the electricity for Houwelings operations. This natural gas fired, electrical generation facility enables Houwelings to operate with a very low carbon footprint by utilizing the exhaust to heat their greenhouse and reduce CO2 emissions into the environment.

This innovative and sustainable approach to food production allows Houweling's to proudly grow and harvest fresh, tasty, Utah Grown tomatoes in excess of 500,000 pounds weekly, year-round without any negative impact to efficiency or cost of power production at the Currant Creek plant. Utilizing hot-dip galvanizing for corrosion resistance provides maintenance-free performance, allowing Houwelings to focus on growing tomatoes for years to come.