This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
February 21, 2006
DOE Conducts Energy Assessments at Four Industrial Plants
DOE launched Industrial Energy Saving Assessments at industries in four states on February 20th and 21st. The three-day energy assessments are being carried out at a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Texas, a chemical plant in West Virginia, a lumber and paper mill in Idaho, and a glassmaking plant in Pennsylvania. Through its free energy assessments, DOE is working with major manufacturing facilities to identify opportunities to save energy and money, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems. DOE's Energy Saving Teams have completed visits to 28 large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 of the most energy-intensive manufacturing facilities in the United States as part of the national "Easy Ways to Save Energy" campaign launched in October 2005.
The four Energy Saving Teams are visiting Lewiston, Idaho, where the Potlatch Corporation's lumber and paper mill manufactures more than 1,500 tons of paper products per day; Dallas, Texas, where Texas Instruments Incorporated operates four large semiconductor manufacturing facilities; South Charleston, West Virginia, where Union Carbide Corporation's chemical plant produces more than 500 different chemicals and plastics; and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where PPG Industries Inc. produces flat glass. PPG is already an industry leader in improving the efficiency of glassmaking operations, and is continuously working to reduce natural gas and electricity consumption in all of its manufacturing processes. At the Carlisle facility, these efforts have included the installation of new equipment on production lines, the use of automated controls, and continuous process improvements that result in lower energy use. See the DOE press releases on the Idaho, Texas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania visits and the description of the Union Carbide chemical plant on the Dow Chemical Company Web site.
