The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative. This initiative is about both manufacturing clean energy products and manufacturing using advanced techniques to drive energy efficiency. Both will help make American companies more competitive in the world economy.
At the Energy Blog, David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy explains, Energy Department Launches Bold New Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative,
The Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative aims to:
- Increase U.S. competitiveness in the production of clean energy products — a key economic opportunity for America to innovate, compete and lead the way in a growing global marketplace.
- Increase manufacturing competitiveness by increasing energy productivity in the U.S. manufacturing sector. This includes the use of advanced manufacturing technologies, implementation of energy efficiency measures, the capture of combined heat and power opportunities and taking advantage of low-cost natural gas to help American manufacturers across the board compete in the global marketplace.
Helping U.S. manufacturers succeed in the global marketplace is one of my top priorities here at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. During the State of the Union last month, President Obama re-emphasized the Administration’s commitment to American manufacturing, declaring that “Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.” The clean energy sector represents one of the most promising areas for the United States to re-invigorate its manufacturing base and create good paying American jobs.
… To learn more about the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, I encourage you to check out our website at: eere.energy.gov/energymanufacturing.
As part of this initiative DOE “announced five new innovative research and development projects focused on reducing energy use and costs for U.S. manufacturers, while helping to boost product output and improve companies’ bottom lines.” See the list at the Earth Techling blog, in Energy-Efficient Manufacturing Sees New Investments. They include,
- Ford Motor Company will lead a project to develop a highly flexible energy-efficient sheet metal forming tool that can simultaneously create features on both sides of sheet metal.
- A team led by University of Texas at Austin will develop a tool that integrates performance metrics, models and simulations with real-time plant energy data.
- Colorado School of Mines will work with industry partners to develop a new manufacturing process that replaces hot stamping (typically 1650°F) for making advanced high-strength, lightweight steels with a room-temperature stamping technique.
- Ithaca, New York-based Novomer will head up a project that converts waste CO2 from industrial sources and ethane-derivatives from shale gas into valuable chemical intermediates that are used in applications such as paints, coatings, textiles, diapers and plastic polymers.
- TIAX LLC, based in Lexington, Massachusetts, will develop a new technology that converts waste heat from manufacturing and industrial processes to electric power.