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U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Manufacturing Energy and Carbon Footprints

Learn More About Energy and Carbon Footprints

Thumbnail image of manufacturing energy and carbon footprints for all sectors

Understanding Energy and Carbon FootprintsPDF
Learn how to read the footprints and understand energy use and carbon emissions in your industry sector.

Scope of FootprintsPDF
Details of the industry sectors included by NAICS code.

Definitions and AssumptionsPDF
A glossary of footprint terms and a listing of the footprint assumptions. Footprint assumptions include generation and end use equipment efficiencies, cogeneration efficiencies, process heating losses, steam distribution to end uses, and fuel combustion emission factors.

ReferencesPDF
The publications used as data sources for the footprints.


Energy and Carbon Footprints provide a mapping of energy from supply to end use in manufacturing. They show us where energy is used and lost—and where greenhouse gases (GHGs) are emitted. Footprints are available below for 15 manufacturing sectors (representing 94% of all manufacturing energy use) and for U.S. manufacturing as a whole.

Manufacturing Energy and Carbon Footprints

Each footprint visualizes the flow of energy (in the form of fuel, electricity or steam) to major end uses in manufacturing, including boilers, power generators, process heaters, process coolers, machine-driven equipment, facility HVAC, and lighting. The footprints present data at two levels of detail. The first page provides a high-level view of supply and end use, while the second page shows details of how energy is distributed to onsite end uses. The analysis is based on EIA's 2006 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) data (the latest year for which complete MECS data is available) and input from industry and subject matter experts.

Footprints show aggregate data for each sector, including:

  • Electricity and steam generated offsite and transferred to the facility, as well as electricity and steam generated onsite
  • Fuel, electricity, and steam consumed by major end uses in a manufacturing facility
  • Offsite and onsite energy losses due to generation, transmission and distribution, and equipment and system inefficiencies (some losses are not recoverable)
  • Greenhouse gas emissions released during the combustion of fuel

Footprints can help users to better understand the distribution of energy use in each industry and to compare the use, loss, and carbon emissions within and across sectors. Areas of high energy consumption or significant energy losses can indicate opportunities to improve efficiency by implementing energy management best practices, upgrading energy systems, or developing new technologies. The footprints provide a macro-scale benchmark from which to evaluate the benefits of improving energy efficiency and for prioritizing opportunity analysis.