DOE Conducts an Energy Assessment at a Mississippi Chemical Plant

April 17, 2006

DOE launched an industrial Energy Saving Assessment at a chemical plant in Columbus, Mississippi, on April 17th. Owned by Eka Chemicals Inc., the plant produces sodium chlorate and hydrogen peroxide, which are used in the paper industry to bleach wood pulp. Through its free three-day energy assessments, DOE is working with major manufacturing facilities to identify energy-saving opportunities, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems. See the DOE press release.

DOE's Energy Saving Teams have completed visits to 29 large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 energy-intensive manufacturing facilities as part of the national "Easy Ways to Save Energy" campaign launched in October 2005. The first 22 industrial Energy Saving Assessments have identified a total of $78 million per year in potential energy cost savings. If implemented, these energy-saving measures could reduce natural gas consumption by more than 9 trillion Btu per year. See the results of many of these industrial Energy Saving Assessments on the "Save Energy Now" Web site, provided by DOE's Industrial Technologies Program.