Fourth Industrial Energy
Efficiency Symposium and Exposition
Thank you and good morning. Welcome everyone to the Department of Energy's
Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium and Exposition. For many of you, this is
your fourth time attending Expo, and I am pleased that so many people benefit
so greatly from this event, especially because of the diversity of the attendees
here today. Already, I've had the pleasure of meeting private sector colleagues
representing key American industrial companies, major universities and vital
trade associations. And, of course, colleagues from Federal and State agencies
and DOE's National Laboratories.
This, of course, is my first Expo. When my boss, the President of the United States, recently honored me
by selecting me as his Secretary of Energy, we discussed a
number of things. Chief among them was our shared commitment to reducing our
nation's reliance on imported oil, and developing new, productivity-enhancing
technologies that conserve fossil fuels and reduce energy-related pollution.
Of course, we didn't have this event specifically in mind as we discussed
our common goals. But one of the reasons I so eagerly accepted the invitation
to speak here today was the extent to which you in this room have been working
to make these goals a reality. And, even more so, by the promise of the many,
many more and even greater successes that we will have together in the future,
many of them to be initiated and accelerated right here at Expo. I want to
thank you all for your dedication and continuing excellence. And, I'd like to
acknowledge the outstanding efforts of my colleagues in the Office of
Industrial Technologies for bringing this very important event to life.
Every day our economy grows more dependent on energy. As a result, our
continuing prosperity is directly linked to our ability to access adequate
energy supplies at reasonable cost. Recent developments in electric, natural
gas and oil markets have impacted just about all of us, both as consumers and
as business people, and provide compelling evidence of the importance of
developing a national energy policy that effectively promotes the dependable,
affordable, and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy.
The development of this national energy policy is of the highest priority
to the Administration. Due to its high priority, several agencies are
working diligently on the project. It is being managed by the Vice President’s Office, and the Department of Energy is playing a critical role. As the Secretary of Energy, I am deeply
committed to the development of this policy, which will increase domestic
production of energy in an environmentally responsible manner, decrease our
reliance on imported oil, increase our use of renewable energy, and develop new
technologies that conserve fossil fuels and reduce energy-related pollution.
The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
will continue to play a critical role in the national energy policy, based in
no small part upon its impressive record of developing successful cost-shared
partnerships with the private sector and the states.
As an initial step in the development of our national energy policy, an
assessment is now being conducted to learn more about the challenges currently
faced by the private sector, as well as state and local governments, in
ensuring that local and regional energy needs are being met. This assessment is evaluating areas
including: the impact of energy supply and cost on consumers and low-income
families, the impacts of energy supply and cost on the Nation’s economy, the
role of energy efficiency, impediments to the increased production of
traditional energy resources, and the effective of local and national energy
delivery infrastructure.
This initial step will provide a basis to begin the formulation of a
recommended national energy policy. As part of its development, we will be interacting and listening to the
insights of our partners, such as the experts in this room here today.
As the former Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Manufacturing and
Competitiveness, and having represented the industries of Michigan, I
understand first hand the vital role that industry plays in driving the
Nation’s economy. With the
industrial sector using 36 percent of the Nation’s energy, I understand the
need for adequate supplies of reasonably priced energy. This is particularly the case for the
energy-intensive industries that are part of Industries of the Future, which is
the focus of this Expo. Our
collaborative partnerships with industry under Industries of the Future is an
excellent example of the difference that advanced energy efficiency and
renewable energy technologies and the application of Best Practices can make to
the Nation’s energy, economic and environmental future.
As the largest users of energy, America's basic industries can benefit most
from strides in the development of leading-edge, energy-efficient technologies.
That's why I find the models of private-public sector industry partnerships
such as those represented here today so exciting and so important to our
nation's future.
As I noted, one of our overriding goals is working together to maximize the
energy efficiency of industrial operations. Right now, successful partnerships
between government and industry groups coordinated by the Department of Energy
are developing and deploying advanced, energy-efficient processing technologies
to conserve fossil fuels and reduce energy-related pollution in our most
energy-intensive basic industries, and boosting U.S. productivity and
competitiveness in world markets. You'll see many, many of these featured here
at Expo. They range from near-term, incremental advances that have been quickly
commercialized and are in use, to longer-term technology breakthroughs that
will truly revolutionize the way we operate.
One example of breakthrough technology: Our aluminum R&D partnerships
are pursuing several advanced aluminum cell technologies that promise to
revolutionize aluminum smelting. When completed, these technologies will reduce
energy requirements by 25% and completely eliminate cell-based carbon emissions.
In another industry area, superior exploration and resource characterization
techniques are currently being explored by some of DOE’s mining R&D
partnerships. These new technologies will help the industry to find and define
larger high-grade reserves with minimal environmental impact.
I invite you, while you are here, to discover more about these and other
colloboratively-developed technologies that will benefit your operations. I
would add that many industries also offer the opportunity to see these technologies
in use at future Technology Showcase Events, or more informal tours. I urge you
to learn more about these opportunities.
Other collaborative efforts are also helping to increase the efficiency
with which individual plants use energy and materials. Together, we are
discovering that there are simple, low-cost measures that can help a plant
reduce its energy costs and improve productivity, enhancing the bottom line
almost immediately. Department of Energy programs, such as Best Practices,
offer a variety of tools to help plants identify and benefit from these
opportunities in such energy-intensive areas as pumps, electric motor systems,
steam generation and more. Similarly, manufacturers who have received
assessments through DOE’s university-based Industrial Assessment Centers have
achieved an average of $20,700 in annual energy savings and $34,000 in annual
waste and productivity savings by making primarily no- or low-cost changes.
Another aspect of our work together revolves around increasing use of
energy from renewable sources. Here too, advanced technologies increase our
ability to utilize these renewable energy sources, and benefit from their cost
and environmental benefits. For example, thanks to emerging technologies, the
forest products industry currently derives more than half of the energy it uses
from biomass. We look forward to seeing these impressive gains become even more
impressive still; many aging recovery and power boilers in the forest products
industry are coming due for replacement or rebuilding. Our joint challenge is
to develop, demonstrate, and commercialize clean and efficient combined-cycle
gasification technologies that can use biomass and black liquor, and do it in
time to provide an economically feasible option before the industry’s older
recovery boilers need replacing. To make this goal a reality, The Department of
Energy is working in partnership with the industry to develop and demonstrate
the technology in real-world applications, integrated with other plant
operations. If successful, the technology could reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by over 30 million metric tons per year by 2020 and increase the forest product
industry’s power capacity by over 200%. At that point, they could sell power
back to the grid, and a former energy-intensive industry could actually become
a net energy supplier.
On the road toward meeting this goal, DOE recently awarded a project to
Georgia Pacific to demonstrate black liquor gasification at its Big Island mill
in Virginia. The company will be sharing the project's costs dollar for dollar,
some $66 million over its five year term.
DOE's R&D partnerships with the Agriculture and Forest Products
industries are also developing some exciting new technologies for producing
bio-based materials. Being developed through the Department’s Bioenergy
Initiative, these technologies will increase the technical and economic
feasibility of using crops, trees, and agricultural and forestry residues to
generate energy, as well as to make industrial chemicals and a host of everyday
consumer goods such as plastics, paints, and adhesives. Already, our
partnership with Cargill Dow Polymers and other companies has led to the
development of a new, environmentally benign plastic material made from corn.
The material, called PLA, can be used for a diversity of product applications,
and Cargill and Dow Chemical have formed a partnership to build and operate a
PLA plant in Blair Nebraska, strategically positioned right next to Cargill's
corn milling operation.
These are just a few of the efforts underway. You will learn about many
more of them in today's sessions and on the show floor. And, I have no doubt
that the interactions here today will lead to the initiation of many, many
more. As your Secretary of Energy, I look forward to the development of these
mutually beneficial partnership efforts with the industrial sector. Together, we can make a difference in
developing and implementing a national energy policy that can ensure prosperity
for future generations. I'm sure you
agree--the American people deserve nothing less than our best efforts, now and
in the future.
Thank you, and enjoy Expo.
|