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. The industrial sector uses more than 30% of the US energy and is responsible for nearly 30% of the US carbon emissions.
Steven Chu, secretary of energy, the US, said: “To remain globally competitive, American industry needs to be energy efficient. The funding for industrial energy efficiency technologies announced today will support a robust American industrial sector and help to usher in a clean energy economy.
“Many companies already realize that improving efficiency saves money while helping the environment. These projects will make energy efficiency technologies more widely available, cutting energy use and reducing carbon pollution across the country.”
Nine projects 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.
These nine awards–totaling approximately $150m–will be leveraged with $634m in private industry cost share for a total project value of up to $785m. These industrial efficiency projects will result in almost 14 trillion Btu in estimated energy savings, which is equivalent to over 112 million gallons of gasoline per year.
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 Programme to provide technical and financial support for local businesses and manufacturing facilities to save energy and reduce their energy costs, and obtain financing to realize gains in efficiency and productivity.
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 programme’s inception in 2006, more than 2,300 assessments have been completed. Over 1,500 industrial facilities implemented the identified energy measures, which have saved $218m, 35 trillion Btu and 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
DOE said that the projects are selections for financial award. The final details for each project award are subject to final contract negotiations between DOE and the grantee.
