Concerns regarding the amount of energy that is consumed -and potentially wasted -by industrial facilities in the United States officially reached the highest levels of the federal government on Aug. 30, 2012, when President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order titled “Accelerating Investment in Industrial Energy Efficiency.” Noting that “the industrial sector accounts for (more than) 30 percent of all energy consumed in the United States,” the Executive Order lays out ways that increased industrial energy efficiency can provide benefits to manufacturers, utilities and consumers while, at the same time, improving the nation’s energy system, along with American manufacturing competitiveness and job creation.
The Executive Order acknowledges what the operators and managers of industrial manufacturing facilities have known for more than a decade: the modern-day definition of a successful industrial manufacturing operation is not one that only satisfactorily meets production quotas. Indeed, as utility costs have steadily risen and increasing environmental consciousness has moved front of mind, a successful industrial operation is now one that delivers the required production rates in the most cost- and energy-efficient, as well as environmentally friendly manner.