December 11, 2006—The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program began accepting applications in October for the second round of energy assessments under its Save Energy Now campaign. DOE plans to conduct 250 industrial energy assessments in 2007. Applications will be accepted until January 19, 2007, or until the target of 250 assessments is reached, whichever comes first.
The purpose of the assessments is to identify immediate opportunities to save energy and money, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems. These processes consume nearly 80% of the energy used by US industry, explains DOE.
According to DOE, the first 138 energy assessments have identified 35 trillion Btu per year in potential energy savings, equivalent to the natural gas consumed by 480,000 typical US homes. In 2007, pump, fan, or compressed air systems may also be assessed for potential savings.
