Wood Products Companies in Oregon Achieve Big Energy Savings

December 15, 2004

Three wood products companies in Oregon have proven that there are many routes to energy savings. Roseburg Forest Products installed a new "rolling screen" system to sort wood pieces for manufacturing particleboard, replacing steam-driven refiners and saving about 22 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Cascade Wood Products installed new systems for dust collection, air compression, and lighting, saving nearly 2 million kilowatt-hours per year. Both companies received financial incentives from the Energy Trust of Oregon and expect to receive Business Energy Tax Credits and other rebates from the State of Oregon. Weyerhaeuser Company also saved about 1.3 million kilowatt-hours per year at its sawmill in Coburg by upgrading the facility's compressed air system. That success story is documented in a BestPractices Case Study, produced by DOE's Industrial Technologies Program. See the Energy Trust of Oregon press release (PDF 34 KB) and the BestPractices Case Study (PDF 385 KB). Download Acrobat Reader.

With today's high cost of energy, all types of industries are pursuing energy-saving projects. For instance, the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is testing a gas-fired paper dryer at Liberty Paper Inc., a paper manufacturer in Minnesota. According to GTI, that technology could cut energy use at paper mills by 7 percent. Ohio recently presented its Awards for Excellence in Energy Efficiency, and included among the winners was Anheuser Busch, Inc., which is generating methane from its brewery wastewater and feeding it back into its boilers. In 2003, the system collected more than 200 million cubic feet of methane gas. Delphi Corporation also won an award for its plastic injection molding facility. By replacing its molding machines with all-electric models, it saved 11.7 million kilowatt-hours per year. See the press releases from GTI and the Ohio Department of Development.

Looking ahead, DOE's Industrial Technologies Program just selected six facilities for plant-wide assessments, which investigate energy-saving opportunities and projects. The facilities include a synthetic fiber plant in South Carolina, owned by Shaw Industries Group, Inc.; a cement plant in Arizona, owned by the California Portland Cement Company; a fiberglass plant in Ohio, owned by Johns Manville; a chemical plant in West Virginia, owned by PPG Industries; a chicken processing plant in Texas, owned by Pilgrim's Pride Corporation; and 10 die casting plants owned by eight companies. See the announcement from the Industrial Technologies Program.