ACEEE NEWS RELEASE

---

INDUSTRIAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES STILL "RIPE FOR THE PICKING"

April 25, 2006

Washington, D.C.-- While some claim that all energy waste has been wrung out of the industrial sector, a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) finds just as much energy savings potential today as 25 years ago. Ripe for the Picking: Have We Exhausted the Low-Hanging Fruit in the Industrial Sector? finds that cost-effective energy efficiency measures could save up to 18% of industrial electricity usage. It also notes that the nature of efficiency opportunities has shifted in the past quarter century, with fewer of the low-cost waste energy reduction options common in 1980 and more of the complex opportunities appearing in system optimization.

“Industry has learned a lot about how to be more efficient in the past 25 years,” said co-author Dr. Neal Elliott, ACEEE’s Industrial Program Director. “But the opportunities are still great, thanks to advances in energy-saving technologies. Most of these yield not only energy efficiency, but also productivity and product quality benefits as well.”

The report contrasts various data from the late 1970s and early 1980s with current industrial sector trends, including energy use and investment patterns. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) database, which provides results from plant surveys from the late 1970s to the present, was used to examine efficiency opportunities, including the costs and distribution of the recommendations. The report finds that while the costs of energy savings have increased since the early 1980s, savings are available in the same order of magnitude, and today’s efficiency potential is still very cost-effective.

“Energy efficiency opportunities are like fruit,” said Elliott. “Advances in technology and ‘learning by doing’ grow new crops of energy efficiency fruit over time. They also produce taller ‘ladders’ that we can use to harvest this new efficiency fruit.”

“This report shows how important it is that we keep industrial energy efficiency programs like the DOE’s IACs and Save Energy Now,” said Bill Prindle, ACEEE’s Deputy Director. “It is astonishing that the administration is trying to cut IAC funding by 50% now, since industry’s needs and efficiency opportunities have never been greater.”

DOE launched the Save Energy Now campaign last fall to help industry cope with soaring energy costs. Information on the program can be found at http://www.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow.

“Even beyond a company-wide effort that cut our energy use by 22% and saved our company over $4 billion dollars in the past 10 years, Save Energy Now enabled us to identify still more energy savings opportunities in our operations,” said Peter Molinaro, Vice-President for Federal and State Government Affairs with the Dow Chemical Company. “If a big company like Dow can find new energy savings with a program like this, smaller companies clearly can benefit from the tools and best practices that Save Energy Now and the IACs can provide.”

“Restoring IAC funding is one small, sane step the Administration could take to save American jobs and bolster our economy,” concluded Prindle.

Ripe for the Picking: Have We Exhausted the Low-Hanging Fruit in the Industrial Sector? is available for free download at www.aceee.org/pubs/ie061.htm or a hard copy can be purchased for $16 plus $5 postage and handling from ACEEE Publications, 529 14th Street, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045, phone: 202-507-4000, fax: 202-429-2248, e-mail: aceee_publications@aceee.org.

#####

About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security,  and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, contact ACEEE, 529 14th Street N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20045 or visit www.aceee.org.