Toward energy-efficient industrial thermal systems for regional manufacturing facilities

Abstract

As large energy consumers, manufacturing facilities have considerable potential to increase their energy efficiency by improving processes and protocols. Energy audits can identify such opportunities that supply facilities with technical information and economic context for implementing a given improvement. This work utilized industrial energy-efficient thermal systems data achieved from 220 industrial energy auditing performed in the past ten years. Engineering models are developed to calculate the energy savings and emission reductions for each energy efficiency recommendations. In addition, economic and environmental benefits of the energy auditing program are presented not only at the factory level but also at the localities level by integrating a macro-economic model and the results from the engineering analysis. This article focuses on energy efficiency recommendations regarding thermal systems, encompassing such areas as heat reclamation and containment, steam systems, and chillers. It details several case studies of energy-efficient recommendations that represent a larger set of 93 recommendations made out of 343 thermal systems recommendations implemented during the period and quantifies the economic impacts of these implementations and corresponding investments through an economic input–output analysis. The results demonstrate that energy audits can be an effective means not only to save energy but to produce high-impact and high-value investments. The finding that the implemented recommendations created direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts whose benefits extended far beyond the cost of implementation has significant implications for the manufacturing industry and local, regional, and national policymakers. © 2021 The Authors