The Industrial Energy Efficiency Coalition (IEEC) praised House passage of H.R. 6582, "American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act." The bill directs the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to establish collaborative research and development partnerships with other programs to support the use of innovative manufacturing processes and to support applied research for development, demonstration, and commercialization of new technologies and processes to improve industrial efficiency.
“There are huge gains in industrial energy efficiency that we are leaving on the table by not addressing the inefficiencies in many manufacturing and industrial processes,” said Paul Hamilton, chair of the IEEC. “Policies such as this are helping to understand and tackle these industrial energy efficiency opportunities. Ensuring that all industrial energy-saving technologies are fully incorporated into the Department of Energy’s activities is critical."
Energy intensive manufacturers have long been aware of the cost of inefficient energy use and have made major investments in sensors, controls, and automation to reduce their energy costs.
“The challenge now is to drive awareness and deployment of these energy-efficiency opportunities across the entire manufacturing sector, especially into the less energy intensive sites which represents some 150,000 facilities across the United States,” said Bruce Quinn, a founding member of the IEEC. “We also need to make sure future policies support the continued positive investment environment for industrial efficiency.”
Founding IEEC members ABB, Eaton Corp., GE, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, and Siemens are promoting policies that give proper attention to the efficiency gains that automation can contribute to any manufacturing facility or other industrial process.