Energy Analysis

	Read about energy use in the Supporting Industries Energy and Environmental Profile (PDF 923 KB) (includes heat treating, forging, welding, powder metallurgy, advanced ceramics, carbon products, and process heating). Download Adobe Reader.
	Many tools and publications are available to help plants save energy and improve performance today. For example, the Energy Savers Web site is available, and the ITP BestPractices Subprogram provides software tools and training.

Industrial Energy Systems—such as motors, steam, compressed air, pumps, fans, process heating, combustion, and combined heat and power—account for about 80% of industrial energy use. Due to inefficiencies, energy losses in these systems amount to several quadrillion Btus and billions of dollars in lost revenue each year. Improving the efficiency and performance of industrial energy systems can yield large energy and cost savings throughout U.S. manufacturing.

The Industrial Energy Systems Subprogram conducts energy use and loss analyses to identify opportunities for improved energy system efficiency plant-wide. Energy loss reduction and recovery can help U.S. companies reduce the costs of production and lower the demand for fossil fuel.

Chart reflecting manufacturing and Mining Unergy Use and Loss Distribution (in Trillion Btu) within Plant Boundaries. Facilities: 1405 TBtu, Steam Systems: 6201 TBtu, Fired Heating & Cooling: 7279 TBtu, Motor Systems: 2336 TBtu, Electrochemical: 362 TBtu, Other: 683 TBtu
Improvements in industrial energy systems can reduce energy losses and save trillions of Btus of energy.

The Energy Use and Loss Footprints map the flow of energy supply, demand, and losses in U.S. manufacturing industries. A more detailed analysis of opportunities for energy loss reduction and recovery is also available. The Energy Use, Loss, and Opportunities Analysis for U.S. Manufacturing and Mining, 2004, provides a thorough analysis of the energy consumption and losses associated with the top energy-intensive industries. This document also provides energy use rankings across industries; opportunities for reducing losses; and a detailed look at industrial energy systems, such as combustion, combined heat and power, motors, and others.

These analyses help manufacturing plants understand where energy losses can be reduced or recovered. Plants use these analyses to benchmark their energy use and loss, and to set priorities for improvement.

In addition, the assessments are used by ITP along with the Technology Roadmap for Energy Loss Reduction and Recovery in Industrial Energy Systems to identify R&D priorities for energy loss reduction and recovery, and to identify new software tools for development. The roadmap summarizes industry feedback on the top opportunities for R&D investments in energy systems, and the potential for national impacts on energy use and the environment. The focus is on widely used industrial systems in major applications such as fluid heating and boiling, melting, smelting, metal heating, agglomeration, drying, and calcining. These applications are used in some of the most energy-intensive industries, including chemicals, forest products, iron and steel, and petroleum refining.