October 15, 2007—The US Department of Energy (DOE) is recognizing 180 US manufacturers for making significant improvements to the way their plants use energy. Over the past year, these industrial plants have participated in and implemented recommendations from DOE’s “Save Energy Now” initiative to save 13.8 trillion Btu—worth over $73 million, says DOE.
Through the Save Energy Now initiative, DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) offers industrial plants the opportunity to work with a DOE energy expert or university-based team in assessing key industrial process systems. These assessments identify cost-effective opportunities and recommend actions plants may take to reduce their energy use and shrink their carbon footprint in the near term. In 2006, more than 700 plants applied for and received assessments.
The manufacturers to receive awards from DOE reported their results after six months and met the criteria in one of the following categories:
- Energy Saver Plant: more than 75,000 million Btu total energy savings or more than 7.5 percent total energy savings; or
- Energy Champion Plant: more than 250,000 million Btu total energy savings or more than 15 percent total energy savings.
DOE is honoring 115 plants as Energy Saver Plants, and 65 plants as Energy Champion Plants. All of the award-winning companies will be publicly recognized at major industry meetings or ITP events throughout the year and on the Save Energy Now Web site.
After another six months, DOE says it hopes that some of the plants assessed in 2006 will qualify as an Energy Champion Team. This designation requires a plant to achieve more than 10 percent total energy savings in the original plant and replication in two or more plants.
For more information about the program, or to see the list of the 2006 award recipients, visit the Save Energy Now Web site.
