Industry Program

With industry accounting for more than one-fourth of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, its decarbonization is essential for combating climate change. This will not only slash emissions but also reduce costs, boost U.S. competitiveness, and protect and grow the United States’ 20 million industry jobs.  

Yet this decarbonization (cutting GHG emissions from industrial processes) is a major challenge. It will require a transformation in the goods we make and how we make them. Industry is complex and broad. It has highly integrated supply chains, generally small profit margins, and equipment that is expensive and infrequently changed.   

ACEEE has a proven track record in the industrial space. For decades, it has worked to make industry more energy efficient. It helped deliver dramatic improvements in the energy and carbon intensity of manufacturing. And it focused early on the need to reduce planet-warming emissions, releasing an overview report and launching an Decarbonize Industry Initiative in 2020.  

Accomplishments

• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021
  ACEEE contributed proposals on energy and carbon efficiency programs, rallied peer organizations to support passage of the bill, and provided guidance to agencies to pursue transformative paths for industrial decarbonization.
• Energy Act of 2020
  ACEEE advocated to expand provisions for industrial RD&D and carbon reduction options, including carbon capture and utilization, and storage (CCUS) and green hydrogen.
• House Report on the Climate Crisis (2019)
  ACEEE hosted several sessions with industrial stakeholders to provide input and advised congressional staff throughout the report’s development.
• Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
  ACEEE worked with the motor industry to further refine and expand electric motor standards.
• Energy Policy Act of 2005
  ACEEE helped expand electric motor and motor-driven equipment standards, coordinating efforts of the Department of Energy (DOE)’s industrial programs and its Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program.
• Farm Bill 2002
  ACEEE advocated for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in rural small businesses, ranches, and farms.
• Energy Policy Act of 1992
  ACEEE helped develop a provision that established energy efficiency
  performance standards for electric motors and motor-driven equipment.

Key Topics

Strategies

• Lower Hurdles for Adoption of Low-Carbon Technologies 
  Our research lowers hurdles (technical, informational, economic) for implementing low-carbon technologies by showing starting points for deployment, spurring pilots, and highlighting energy and nonenergy benefits to bolster business cases.  
• Drive Energy and Carbon Management Across Industry 
  We engage corporations and support investors in promoting aggressive commitments to energy and carbon management, including science-based targets, optimization of production, strategic energy management (SEM), and deployment of smart manufacturing.   
• Develop, Propose, and Implement Policies for Decarbonization 
  ACEEE hosts a convening of 60+ organizations to identify needs for industrial decarbonization, encourage government support, develop policy options, and work with legislators (federal, state, local) and government agencies to accelerate industrial energy and greenhouse gas reductions.    
• Facilitate Difficult Conversations and Partnerships to Spur Action
  We bring together diverse stakeholders to find common ground on critical policy and market challenges. Our convenings include the biennial Industrial Summer Study, which brings together hundreds of experts and publishes dozens of peer-reviewed research reports.

History

ACEEE launched its industrial energy efficiency work in the early 1990s with a focus on advancing equipment efficiency, particularly for motors. It explored how utility energy efficiency programs could reduce industrial energy use. To hone policy outreach, it began building partnerships across trade associations, industry, and labor organizations. Working with partners, ACEEE has had a major impact in multiple industrial areas.    

Program Timeline

• 1990s
  • As the result of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. government enacted motor energy efficiency standards.
  • Utilities launched industrial energy efficiency programs.
  • Clinton Climate Initiative debuted, setting the first federal commitments for industrial carbon reduction.
  • Department of Energy (DOE) began Industries of the Future, an intensive program involving research on energy use and environmental effects. .
  • Many utilities launched industrial energy efficiency programs.
  • ACEEE launched the biennial Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry.
• 2000s
  • In response to the 2002 Farm Bill, USDA established the Rural Energy for America Program to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in rural businesses, including industry.
  • Industry worked with ACEEE, other advocates, utilities, and DOE to develop voluntary energy efficiency labeling of motor systems, which use almost half of industrial electricity. DOE updated and expanded standards, and utilities began using the labels.
  • In response to Hurricane Katrina’s disruption of natural gas production, DOE initiated Save Energy Now, providing technical assistance to help industrial facilities reduce their gas usage.
  • ACEEE worked with the National Academies and companies to promote smart manufacturing to improve energy efficiency and competitiveness.
• 2010s
  • Utilities expanded support for energy efficiency programs, spending $12.2 billion in 2016-2020.
  • ACEEE encouraged expansion, in scope and geographic coverage, of DOE’s successful Industrial Assessment Centers program.
  • ACEEE convened companies, trade associations, labor, and NGOs to advocate for industrial energy efficiency policies and funding that expanded the scope of DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.
  • ACEEE worked with stakeholders to launch and host the North American Strategic Energy Management Collaborative (NASEMC).
  • Nonprofit CESMII (Smart Manufacturing Institute), funded by DOE, opened.
• 2020s
  • ACEEE shifted its industrial work to focus on decarbonization. 
  • ACEEE served as the principal subcontractor to develop DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap which is being used to drive research, investments, and deployment of low-carbon technologies.
  • As interest in electrification grew, ACEEE spurred a revitalization in RD&D and adoption of industrial heat pumps. 
  • ACEEE facilitated efforts between environmental advocates and manufacturers to estimate, label, and reduce the embodied carbon in construction materials.  
  • NASEMC hosted annual SEM summits and released SEM impact studies. 
  • ACEEE coordinated efforts among NGOs and industry to develop legislative proposals, several enacted into law, that support RD&D and implementation of industrial energy efficiency and carbon reduction technologies. 
  • ACEEE developed legislative proposals, introduced in the 117th Congress, to boost funding for DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office, develop industrial clusters, promote  industrial heat pumps, speed the commercialization of low-carbon technologies, and deploy clean industrial facilities.