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The idea was to develop fast and easy ways for manufacturing facilities, factories and American businesses to address issues, assess problems and save energy while continuing to thrive during periods of increased costs and decreased supplies – caused in part by hurricane damage. The solution came in the form of the Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now program. This program is providing 200 free energy assessments for the nation’s largest energy consumers. Of the 15 completed assessments, $27 million in savings has already been identified, primarily in steam and processing heating system operations.
While the application phase of the Save Energy Now campaign has been closed, over 200 applications were received and for the remainder of the year 75 Energy Experts will continue to work with qualifying plants to identify what some people claim might be upwards of $2 billion in additional opportunities for energy savings across these industrial facilities. In addition to offering comprehensive energy assessments, each DOE Energy Expert conducts software-oriented training sessions for assessing systems and identifying immediate opportunities for energy-efficiency savings.
The Alliance to Save Energy is assisting the Save Energy Now program through a series of energy assessment best practice roundtable workshops. “The Alliance has found implementation rates for the Energy Experts suggestions traditionally hover between 30 to 40 percent,” says Alliance Industrial Sector Director Christopher Russell. “The goal of these roundtables is to encourage industry professionals to move that target closer to 70 percent.” As part of each assessment, the Department of Energy will conduct a series of 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up sessions to monitor implementation of the program.
For additional information about the roundtable, including questions and comments, please contact Christopher Russell by email or at 202-530-2225.
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