DOE Conducts Energy Saving Assessment at Dairy Foods Plant

January 23, 2006

DOE announced on January 23rd that a three-day Industrial Energy Saving Assessment will take place at the nation's largest dairy processing facility, the Land O' Lakes Dairy Foods plant in Tulare, California. Through no-cost assessments, DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) 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 are visiting large federal facilities and 200 of the country's most energy-intensive manufacturing facilities as part of the national "Easy Ways to Save Energy" campaign launched last October. DOE's first six Industrial Energy Saving Assessments identified a total of $10 million per year in energy cost savings. On average, the energy-saving improvements at the six industrial plants will reduce their natural gas consumption by 6.7 percent. See the DOE press release and the "Easy Ways to Save Energy" Web site.

According to a recent "EERE Progress Alert," as of January 4th, DOE has selected 65 manufacturing plants for Industrial Energy Saving Assessments. The plants are among the largest energy users in the nation, consuming a total of nearly 527 trillion Btu annually, including 327 trillion Btu from natural gas, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of natural gas used in 4 million U.S. homes. The 65 plants represent many manufacturing sectors, including aerospace, aluminum, chemicals, electronics, food processing, forest products, glass, metal casting, and steel. For the full list of industrial plants, see the January 4th edition of the "EERE Progress Alert."