Alliance White Paper Discusses Energy Efficiency Code Opportunities in Industrial Facilities

The potential for energy efficiency codes and beyond-code programs to bring about better energy efficiency in industrial facilities is understated. In select industrial subsectors with high fractions of facility energy use that are unrelated to process energy use such codes could have an appreciable impact. This is the conclusion of a recent Alliance to Save Energy’s white paper that examines energy use in industrial facilities and explores the role that code and beyond code programs for such facilities. The paper, “Industrial Facility Energy Efficiency—Worth a Second Look,” was recently presented at the ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry in Niagara Falls, New York. The paper discusses energy use by facility-related applications within industrial plants (HVAC, lighting and appliances) and offers several strategies for applying code and beyond-code programs for such industrial facilities. 

Why Address Industrial Facility Energy Use?

Over the past two decades, U.S. industry has markedly enhanced energy efficiency to reduce production costs and boost its global competitiveness. Because manufacturing processes and cross-cutting systems account for approximately 95% of industrial energy use it’s not surprising that the primary focus of energy efficiency efforts have been on those applications. However, the balance of U.S. industrial energy consumption – the 5% represented by the facility-related applications in industrial facilities – is often overlooked as an energy efficiency opportunity. While the share of facility energy use is small in comparison to other industrial applications, efforts to improve facility energy efficiency can go a long way towards improving competitiveness for certain industrial sub-sectors with high fractions of facility energy use.

Industrial Facilities May Benefit from Tactics & Technologies used in the Commercial Sector

Energy codes have significantly improved commercial and residential building energy use in recent years. These codes are complemented by advances in building technologies and the impact of utility programs, voluntary ratings like LEED and Energy Star, and appliance standards. The paper highlights the fact that the facility-related applications that account for 5% of industrial energy use make up approximately 85% of commercial and residential energy use. The paper finds that because some industrial facilities rely more heavily on the same envelope construction and similar mechanical systems as their commercial counterparts, it’s possible for those facilities to benefit from the same types of code and beyond-code programs available to the commercial and residential sectors.

The authors examine policy and program options to advance energy efficiency and energy savings potential within U.S. industrial facilities. This study concludes by recommending the inclusion of industrial facilities in the broad energy efficiency efforts of U.S. industry; and includes targeted recommendations at the employee-, facility- and sector-levels.