WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that a three-day Industrial Energy Saving Assessment (ESA) is taking place at the U.S. Steel facility in Gary, Indiana.  This is part of the comprehensive national energy efficiency effort undertaken by the Bush administration.  Through no-cost assessments, DOE is working with major manufacturing facilities to identify energy- and money-saving opportunities, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems.

“President Bush has called on all Americans to be more energy efficient.  Private industry is joining the federal government to take a leading role in this effort,” Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said.  “DOE’s Energy Saving Teams have played, and will continue to play, a key role in assessing and recommending energy efficiency strategies for some of the largest industrial facilities across the nation.”

Gary Works, U. S. Steel's largest manufacturing plant, operates steelmaking and finishing facilities that manufacture sheet products; hot strip mill plate products; tin products; and hot rolled, cold rolled, and galvanized sheet products for the automotive, metal building components, home construction and appliance markets.  Gary Works also produces electrolytic tinplate and black plate used in the manufacture of food and beverage containers, aerosol cans, paint cans and pails.  Gary Works has an annual raw steelmaking capability of 7.5 million tons. Gary Works also operates three coke batteries with annual production capacity of 1.6 million tons.

DOE’s Energy Saving Teams have completed 33 visits to large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 of the most energy-intensive manufacturing facilities in the United States as part of the national “Easy Ways to Save Energy” campaign launched by Secretary Bodman on October 3, 2005.

The first 113 ESAs have identified, in aggregate, $282 million per year in potential energy cost savings and could reduce natural gas consumption by over 31 trillion Btu per year; equivalent to the natural gas consumed over 430,000 typical homes.  The potential natural gas and electricity savings are equivalent to reducing over 0.48 million tons of carbon emissions.

Six months after receiving an ESA, eight plants have reported implementing nearly $12.9 million per year in energy savings, reducing natural gas consumption by nearly 1.4 trillion Btu per year.  In addition, four of the eight report replicating the result of the ESA in other plants, adding savings of over $2.5 million and 0.25 trillion Btu per year.

Companies interested in accessing DOE energy saving resources can get more details at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/ and request brochures detailing “15 Tips to Help Your Plant Save Energy.” 

For tips on easy, inexpensive steps consumers can take to lower their energy bills this summer, please visit http://www.energysavers.gov/ or call DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Hotline at 1-877-337-3463.

Media contact(s):
Chris Kielich, (202) 586-5806