DOE awards more than $155 million for industrial energy efficiency projects
Funds will be used for industrial combined heat and power systems, district energy systems for industrial facilities, and grants to support technical and financial assistance to local industry.
David Greenfield -- Control Engineering, 11/4/2009
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently awarded more than $155 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to 41 industrial energy efficiency projects across the country. These awards include funding for industrial combined heat and power systems, district energy systems for industrial facilities, and grants to support technical and financial assistance to local industry. See details about where funds are going, below.
The industrial sector is a primary target for the DOE, as the U.S. industrial sector uses more than 30% of U.S. energy and is responsible for nearly 30% of U.S. carbon emissions.
Nine projects awarded a portion of these funds will promote the use of combined heat and power, district energy systems, waste energy recovery systems, and energy efficiency initiatives in hospitals, utilities, and industrial sites. Combined heat and power and district energy systems generate both the heat and power needed for industrial processes on-site, instead of using electricity from the grid, and, according to the DOE, can be nearly twice as efficient as conventional heat and power production. These 9 awards--totaling approximately $150 million--will be leveraged with $634 million in private industry cost share for a total project value of up to $785 million. These industrial efficiency projects will result in almost 14 trillion Btu in estimated energy savings.
The remaining 32 awards will provide local technical support for the industrial sector through university-based industrial assessment centers, state agencies, regional partnerships, and a national technical assistance provider. This funding will enable DOE's Industrial Technologies Program to provide technical and financial support for local businesses and manufacturing facilities to save energy and reduce their energy costs, obtain financing to realize significant gains in efficiency and productivity, and save and create manufacturing and industrial sector jobs across the country.
These 32 projects are an extension of DOE's Save Energy Now initiative, which provides plant energy assessments and technical assistance to energy intensive industrial facilities. Since the program's inception in 2006, more than 2,300 assessments have been completed. Of those 2,300 assessments, 1,500 industrial facilities have implemented the identified energy measures, saving $218 million, 35 trillion Btu and 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Projects receiving the DOE funds detailed above include:
Industrial Technologies ($149.3 million total)
- Texas Medical Center Central Heating and Cooling Services Company
- Seattle Steam Company
- Rhode Island LFG Genco, LLC
- Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
- Ridgewood Renewable Power
- ArcelorMittal USA
- Verso Paper Corporation
- The Dow Chemical Company
- Clean Tech Partners
Industrial Assessment Centers ($1.87 million total)
- Bradley University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Lehigh University
- Mississippi State University
- North Carolina State University
- Oklahoma State University
- San Diego State
- Tennessee Technological University
- Texas A&M University
- University of Alabama
- University of Dayton
- University of Delaware
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- University of Michigan
- West Virginia University
State Agencies ($3.84 million total, approximately
$350,000 awarded to each state)
- Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs
- Idaho Office of Energy Resources
- Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence
- Louisiana State Energy
- Maryland Energy Administration
- Minnesota Department of Commerce
- Mississippi Development Authority-Energy Division
- New Jersey Industrial Energy Program
- Ohio Energy Office, Ohio Department of Development
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
- Wisconsin's Office of Energy Independence
Regional Partnerships ($2.5 million total, $500,000
awarded per region)
- Energy Resources Division of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority along with Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina
- Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the University of Massachusetts (CEERE)
- Illinois State Energy Office
- Washington Department of Community Trade and Economic Development
- West Virginia Department of Energy
National Technical Assistance Provider ($1.4
million)
- Oak Ridge Partnership for Industrial Energy Efficiency
To learn more about industrial energy efficiency efforts at the DOE, visit the Industrial Technologies Program Web site.
Access other Control Engineering content related to DOE funding for sustainable manufacturing:
- CyboSoft wins DOE technology development research grants
- New DOE request has $2.3 billion for efficient, renewable energy-related technologies, research
- DOE to fund wind power initiatives
- Edited by David Greenfield, editorial director
Control Engineering Sustainable Engineering News Desk
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