DOE and Wisconsin Launch Industrial Efficiency Partnership

November 29, 2007

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Wisconsin have announced a voluntary collaboration to promote greater industrial energy efficiency throughout the state. DOE, Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy (Focus), and CleanTech Partners (CTP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster increased awareness and use of energy efficient practices and technologies by industries.

This partnership puts Wisconsin in the spotlight as the first state in the nation to adopt the Save Energy Now approach. It also marks an important first step for DOE to bring this initiative to all 50 states by leveraging each state’s own capabilities and local partnerships.

Since 2005, DOE-sponsored teams have identified potential energy cost savings of more than $658 million per year through Save Energy Now energy assessments. Those energy savings could potentially avoid 5.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

By combining Save Energy Now efforts with CTP’s effective technology deployment model and Focus’s successful industrial program, Wisconsin will support a variety of activities to assist the state’s manufacturing facilities. Among the activities, Wisconsin will work with DOE to:

Promote awareness, demonstration, and adoption of selected technologies funded by ITP
Train and certify 20 or more new DOE Qualified Specialists in the State of Wisconsin within the next year
Conduct 15 Save Energy Now energy assessments in 2007 and 100 similar assessments at Wisconsin facilities over the next three years
Support Save Energy Now outreach efforts in Wisconsin
Facilitate access by the partners to DOE software tools, training, and technical information

As part of the collaboration, DOE and the Wisconsin partners will share the cost of conducting up to six assessments at dry mill ethanol plants, which are among the fastest growing users of natural gas in the nation. See the EERE progress alert.

For more information, contact the EERE Information Center at 1-877-EERE-INF (1-877-337-3463).