New Strategy Designed to Expand Role of Software Tools in Saving Energy

November 3, 2004

The Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) today released a strategy for enhancing its suite of software tools and increasing their use throughout industry. ITP maintains a suite of powerful, on-line tools that industrial facilities are successfully using to identify the best opportunities to save energy and costs. The Tool Strategy defines a plan to build on this success by improving the software and expanding industry's awareness of and access to them.

The Tool Strategy discusses the critical role of these tools in illuminating energy use and loss in manufacturing facilities, establishes a clear vision and goal, and sets forth objectives to encourage increased industry use of the tools to achieve plant-wide energy savings. To achieve these goals, ITP will focus on four key strategic pathways:

integrate the tools to unify the look and feel of each tool, and package them in an on-line tool suite to increase plant-wide awareness and use of the tools;
maintain, upgrade, and develop the tools to preserve their value over time and to maximize industrial energy savings;
develop and foster existing partnerships with industry and organizations to increase industry energy awareness and tool use; and
develop new methods to train tool users to maximize tool effectiveness and minimize the time required to learn each tool.

To read more, see the Tool Strategy on the website at http://www.eere.energy.gov/industry/energy_systems/tool_development.html