OIT Times: Ohio's 'Outreach Teams' Focus on Four Industries
September 22, 2001
According to Robert Purgert of Energy Industries of Ohio, the nonprofit corporation leading that state IOF efforts, Ohio is 1 by the tonin metal casting, steel, and glass, and is a major U.S. producer of chemicals. Hence, these four industries have been the focus in Ohio early state IOF efforts.
To identify common, priority technology needs, Ohio has formed utreach Teamsto work with industrial organizations and visit plants in each industry. Outreach Teams are coordinated by Ohio universities: Kent State for steel and metal casting, Univ. of Akron for chemicals and polymers, and Cleveland State for glass.
Outreach Teams are also working closely with industry groups such as the American Foundry Society. or example, if there a problem with metal sticking in a die at one foundry and metal sticking in a ladle at another, we see the common need for a specialized coating solution,said Purgert. hese foundries wouldn normally speak to each other, and may not have knowledge of available technologies. Our role, with help from OIT States IOF, is to bring these parties together and identify an available technology or formulate a proposal and help them find R&D support to address the need./p>
Ohio IOF plans to use its latest SEP grant to expand Best Practices-related outreach. This will facilitate Ohio companiesaccess to tools, case studies, technical assistance and similar resources that can help them improve their energy efficiency immediately. Working with American Municipal Power of Ohio, an association of power companies, Ohio IOF group has helped organize several training sessions for members. In addition, a number of plant-wide assessments are underway.