Federal Support for Industrial Process Efficiency: Save Energy Now Campaign

The US Department of Energy (DOE)s Save Energy Now campaign forms a part of the DOE Industrial Technologies Program, which seeks to reduce excessive energy use at US industrial facilities. As part of this campaign, the DOE has distributed Save Energy Now CD-ROMs containing energy-saving information and software to 3,500 large industrial plant managers across the nation. The CDs bring together "in a single product" a compendium of tip sheets, case studies, technical manuals and software tools to help plants assess energy-saving opportunities. Through this campaign, DOE also performs no-cost energy assessments, auditing 200 large industrial facilities energy systems in the first months of 2006. As an example of completed assessments initial savings, eight plants have reported a total of $1 million in immediate savings in the first 30 days of implementing DOE recommendations. The first 61 energy-saving assessments of industrial facilities have identified, in aggregate, nearly $200 million per year in potential energy cost savings and could reduce natural gas consumption by over 22 trillion Btu per year, equivalent to the natural gas consumed by more than 300,000 homes annually. Approximately 3,500 plants were contacted based on publicly available data that DOE used to identify the most energy-intensive plants in the United States. DOE offered another round of Energy Saving Assessments for industrial facilities during the fall of 2006. Energy Saving Teams visited selected large industrial facilities to assess their steam or process heating systems. As of December 2007, DOE had (since 2005) conducted more than 300 industrial energy assessments and identified more than USD 645 million in potential energy savings. Also, in December 2007, the DOE announced it would extend its Save Energy Now activities to the state level. To begin this transition, the program awarded USD950,000 to the State Energy Offices in 19 states, or about $50,000 per state. It is intended that those offices will pay subcontractors to perform a total of 96 energy audits at industrial facilities. Additionally, the DOE formed a voluntary partnership with the State of Wisconsin, which will train and certify 20 industrial energy assessors within the state to perform 100 energy assessments at Wisconsin industries over the next three years. DOE and Wisconsin will share the cost of six energy assessments at dry-mill ethanol plants, which typically use large amounts of natural gas. The Wisconsin partnership could serve as a model for other state-level efforts.

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