In This Issue

 
Featured Articles
Partners in the Spotlight
AMO and Industry News

Welcome Message

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Happy New Year! 2014 was a wonderful year for AMO. I was pleased to reconnect with old friends and meet new colleagues at organizations in D.C., West Virginia, and South Carolina, among others.

A highlight in early 2014 was the announcement of Power America, a National Network Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NNMI) focused on using wide-band gap semiconductors for power electronics. Reducing emissions from natural gas production is a growing issue and I attended a D.C. meeting of the Process Gas Consumers Group, a national trade association of industrial natural gas consumers. We had a spirited conversation and I hope we can find new ways to engage as a group or one-on-one in the next year. In September, AMO’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with Cincinnati Incorporated – a 115 year-old manufacturing machine company – and Local Motors from Arizona to build the world’s first operating 3D printed electric car. Visit the AMO website for more details.

I made a quick trip to Morgantown, West Virginia, for the 3rd Annual TransTech Energy (TTE) Business Development Conference in November. Companies pitched their clean tech ideas like the television show Shark Tank (a personal favorite) and I was happy to have an audience of entrepreneurs to hear my own pitch on the opportunities for start-ups in advanced manufacturing.

In December, I toured Clemson University’s SCE&G Energy Innovation Center, which is becoming a growing hub for clean energy manufacturing. The wind turbine testing facility has the capability to test huge drivetrains for offshore wind farms electrically as well as mechanically – before units are installed offshore. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is also manufactured in Charleston. Boeing South Carolina’s facility fabricates, assembles, and installs systems for rear fuselage sections of the 787 and joins and integrates mid-body fuselage sections.

Innovative manufacturing is taking place across the United States and it was great seeing some of it unfold last year. Thank you for supporting AMO in 2014 – we plan to make 2015 even better.

Best,

Mark Johnson, Director – Advanced Manufacturing Office

Featured Articles

Expert Panel Releases Final Report on Strengthening Advanced Manufacturing in America

The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee (AMP 2.0) released its final report, “Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing,” at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. late last year. AMP 2.0 is a presidential advisory council of 19 leaders in industry, academia, and labor co-chaired by Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow, and Dr. Rafael Reif, President of MIT. The Committee already made an impact – its first report in 2012 helped make the case for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) and defined three pillars to advance U.S. manufacturing: enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline, and improving the business climate.

The Committee’s final report draws from the expertise of more than 100 industry, academic, and labor group experts to identify additional opportunities to strengthen U.S. advanced manufacturing. The report’s recommendations build upon the three pillars: 

  • Enabling Innovation – The report calls for a standing university-industry consortium to provide ongoing technical dialogue with federal policymakers, additional public-private manufacturing research and development infrastructure, improved standards and processes to enable interoperability of manufacturing technologies, and a governance structure to continue to grow the NNMI. AMP2.0 also pilots a process for developing a national strategy focused on developing three emerging technologies of national importance: advanced sensing, controls, and platforms for manufacturing; visualization, informatics, and digital manufacturing; and advanced materials manufacturing.

  • Securing the Talent Pipeline – As highly-skilled workers are essential to the manufacturing sector, the report calls for nationally recognized, portable, and stackable skill certifications and more federal support for training, accreditation, and apprenticeship programs. The report also recommends a national campaign to modernize the image of manufacturing, better communicate the values of careers in the industry to youth, and recruit the next generation of workers.

  • Improving the Business Climate – To improve the business climate, especially for small- and medium-sized manufacturers, the AMP 2.0 final report recommends greater information flow about technologies, markets, and supply chains. The report also supports reducing the risk associated with the scale-up of advanced manufacturing. Recommendations include improving access to capital and tax incentives.

The National Economic Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy have 60 days from the AMP 2.0 report roll-out to submit an implementation strategy for its recommendations to the President. The report has already spurred the Administration to take action, including investing $300 million in emerging manufacturing technologies. For more information, contact Megan Brewster.

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3D Printed Shelby Cobra Demonstrates Further Advances in Additive Manufacturing

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AMO and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) unveiled a 3D printed Shelby Cobra at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, January 12-15. The car showcases significant improvements in additive manufacturing since the development of the first 3D printed car just months ago. It also honors the timeless Shelby Cobra 427 design and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the only vehicle model to be voted a national monument.

The Shelby was printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL using the Cincinnati, Inc. BAAM (Big Area Additive Manufacturing) machine with support from AMO. The sports car was printed using carbon fiber reinforced-polymer material. The design is intended as a “plug-n-play” laboratory on wheels that allows integrated components to be tested and enhanced in real time, improving the use of sustainable, digital manufacturing solutions in the automotive industry. The ORNL booth at the Auto Show highlighted additional research and development activities in manufacturing and vehicle technologies, including displays on composite tooling, printed power electronics, and connected vehicles.

“In a matter of six weeks, not only have we developed a car, we’ve developed new technology,” ORNL’s Lonnie Love observed, pointing to advances in quantifying the efficiency of the manufacturing process, improving surface finish and energy absorption, and the speed at which the project was completed. “I think you’ll see innovation explode when these tools are in the hands of typical designers.” For more information, watch the full video, visit ORNL’s webpage, or contact Blake Marshall.

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Partners in the Spotlight

Legrand Energy Marathon Leads to Big Savings

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Legrand, a Better Plants Challenge Partner, hosted an “Energy Marathon” in 18 facilities in October 2014 to reduce energy usage. The competition reduced total electricity usage by 15.4 percent company-wide from a September 2014 baseline. In less than a month, Legrand employees were able to save 588,540 kWh of electricity and close to $47,000. AMO Director Mark Johnson and several Legrand executives gathered at the company’s West Hartford, Connecticut, headquarters in December to recognize energy managers that participated. The winning site in Plano, Texas, achieved an energy reduction of 63.1 percent.

“By challenging employees to think creatively about energy efficiency, Legrand achieved remarkable, tangible savings,” Mark Johnson remarked. “The rest of the U.S. manufacturing sector now has some great best practices to emulate and I encourage other companies to conduct their own Energy Marathons.” For more information, contact Andre de Fontaine.

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Better Plants Welcomes First Five Wastewater Treatment Partners

The Better Plants Program is expanding and now partners with water and wastewater treatment plants. These facilities face unique challenges in managing energy use. Five organizations have signed on as part of this initiative with a pledge to reduce energy intensity by 25% over ten years: Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, Delta Diablo, Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, Narragansett Bay Commission, and the St. Petersburg Water Resources Department.

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Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority (VVWRA) treats almost 13 million gallons of wastewater daily for several communities in California’s Mojave Desert. The VVWRA facility cleans and purifies wastewater and returns it to the Mojave River, directing some of it for use in a cooling tower at a nearby power plant. The solid remnants are inserted into digesters and the resulting methane gas is used to power the VVWRA facility. The Authority’s goal is to produce 100% of its power from biogas by early 2015.

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Delta Diablo provides water recovery services for almost 200,000 people in 54 square miles of the California Bay Area. Its services include secondary treatment of wastewater, recycled water production and distribution, pollution prevention, energy recovery, beneficial reuse of biosolids, street sweeping, and household hazardous waste collection.

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Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department owns and operates nine water reclamation facilities (WRF) and associated conveyance systems, including two regional WRFs, seven sub-regional WRFs, 28 pump stations, and over 3,400 miles of sewer that serve approximately 1 million people in southern Arizona. Just last year, the Department completed a comprehensive expansion and upgrade of the county’s wastewater treatment infrastructure with a total program cost of $605 million. The Department has developed an Integrated Sustainability Program and is proactive in resource recovery and energy management.

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Narragansett Bay Commission provides wastewater collection and treatment services to ten Rhode Island communities including the capital city of Providence. Two years ago, the Commission began operating three 1.5 MW wind turbines at its Field’s Point facility and completed construction on a Silver LEED-Certified administration building that features green roofs, a grey water system, a rain garden, and numerous energy-saving technologies.

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St. Petersburg Water Resources Department provides potable water distribution, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, and reclaimed water for irrigation purposes for the City of St. Petersburg, Florida. Thanks in part to the Department’s water conservation efforts, daily potable water use in the city has fallen by about 32% since 1986 despite a growing population.

The Better Plants Program is a national initiative that works with industry to set and meet ambitious energy-saving targets. Better Plants will help these facilities develop energy performance plans, improve their energy management practices and save energy. While often publicly owned, water and wastewater treatment facilities resemble manufacturing plants in the way they consume energy. DOE plans to recruit several more partners from the water and wastewater treatment sectors in 2015 and work with them to understand and promote appropriate energy management metrics and practices. For more information on Better Plants, contact Andre de Fontaine.

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Third Volvo Facility Certified to Superior Energy Performance

Volvo Group Trucks marked the end of 2014 with an impressive achievement: its powertrain facility located in Hagerstown, Maryland became the third facility within the Volvo Group to be certified to the Superior Energy Performance® (SEP™) program and to ISO 50001.

The Hagerstown facility improved its energy performance by 20.9% over three years to achieve Platinum level SEP certification. It joins two other Volvo Group Truck Operations facilities at that certification level. The company’s Dublin, Virginia, facility improved its energy performance by 25.8% over three years to earn SEP certification in 2012. The following year, Mack Trucks, also part of the Volvo Group, achieved a 41.9% improvement over ten years at its facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania. To date, these three facilities have posted the highest energy performance improvements of all SEP certified plants.

To qualify for SEP, these facilities set up a robust energy management system, tracked improvements in energy performance, and had the results independently verified by an accredited SEP Verification Body. Certification to the ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems is an integral part of the SEP certification process. For more information about SEP, contact Paul Scheihing.

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Honda Recognizes Bridgestone Facility with Three Environmental Achievement Awards

Honda Motor Company bestowed three Green Factor Environmental Achievement Recognitions to a manufacturing facility of its supplier, Better Plants Partner Bridgestone Americas, for energy reduction, natural resources, and pollution prevention, respectively. The Bridgestone facility in Wilson, North Carolina, produces more than 32,000 passenger tires daily and it earned the energy reduction award for achieving Superior Energy Performance certification. The certification process helped the facility achieve energy savings of 16.8 percent between 2001 and 2011 by spurring improvements such as shutting down equipment when not in use, quickly identifying and repairing steam and air leaks, and insulating piping. For more information, contact Paul Scheihing.

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AMO and Industry News

Save the Date for the 2015 Better Buildings Summit; AMO Peer Review to be Held Concurrently

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Save the date! The 2015 Better Buildings Summit will be in Washington, DC, on May 27-29. The Summit is a national meeting where leading organizations across key sectors showcase solutions to cut energy intensity in their buildings and plants portfolio-wide over the next ten years. This Summit is designed for partners and stakeholders to exchange best practices and highlight demonstrated market solutions, with an equal emphasis on discussing future opportunities for greater energy efficiency in America’s homes and buildings. The AMO Peer Review, which gives technology experts from the industrial and academic sectors an opportunity to review AMO's R&D portfolio, will be held concurrently at the same location.

The 2014 Better Buildings Summit drew more than 500 participants. Speakers from the commercial, industrial, public, and multifamily sectors shared how they draw on energy efficiency technologies, business practices, and partnerships to save money on utility bills, create new jobs, and improve their organization’s competitiveness. For more information, read the 2015 Summit agenda or contact Andre de Fontaine.

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Natural Gas Workshop Identifies Opportunities for Greater Infrastructure Efficiency

A November 12-13, 2014, workshop in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, helped identify strategies and technologies to reduce methane emissions from natural gas pipeline systems. The workshop was attended by a wide variety of industry experts from academia, DOE, the National Labs, and the private sector. Discussion topics included improving compressor system operational efficiency and detecting and monitoring fugitive emissions with advanced sensors. The workshop was co-hosted by AMO and the DOE Office of Fossil Energy. Feedback will help both offices with strategic planning for natural gas technology research and development and other activities to increase the operational efficiency of natural gas infrastructure. For more information, view workshop presentations or contact Steve Sikirica.

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Corporate Supply Chain Energy Efficiency Highlighted in Media

The efforts of three companies to improve supply chain energy efficiency – Johnson Controls, Legrand, and United Technologies Corporation (UTC) – are profiled in TriplePundit, an online news site focusing on the nexus of the economy, environment, and society. The article notes that more than 60 percent of a manufacturing company’s energy and carbon footprint can reside upstream, so there are significant energy efficiency opportunities in their supply chain.

For example, Johnson Controls now sends energy efficiency experts to supplier plants to provide training on low-cost and no-cost energy efficiency best practices, while Legrand developed a toolkit for its small- and medium-size suppliers to help them assess and determine energy saving opportunities. Similarly, UTC has begun to connect suppliers to DOE resources like energy management webinars and free energy audits from its Industrial Assessment Centers. Legrand and UTC also participate in the Better Plants Program Supply Chain Pilot, a new initiative that helps their suppliers collectively set, track, and meet energy savings goals. For more information, contact Andre de Fontaine.

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Field Demonstration Reveals Energy Saving Potential of High Efficiency Gas Heaters

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A field demonstration of high efficiency gas heaters resulted in a 20% reduction in gas consumption and a 15% reduction in seasonal utility costs over the monitoring period compared to existing unit heaters. The demonstration was conducted by DOE’s Better Buildings Alliance between October 2013 and March 2014 at a single-story warehouse with almost 42,000 square feet of heated space. The gas heaters employ 100% outside air and high discharge temperature heating and ventilation technology. The energy savings is attributed to improved thermal efficiency, reduced temperature stratification, and the higher discharge temperatures compared to standard, non-centralized unit heaters. For more information, view the field demonstration report or contact Clifton Yin.

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Updated Energy Performance Tracking Tool Can Help Users Improve Energy Management

Keeping up with an organization’s energy consumption and savings can be challenging for even the most capable energy manager. To help address this challenge, AMO has updated the Energy Performance Indicator (EnPI) tool to support users interested in tracking progress and moving toward a standardized, certified energy management system.

EnPI V4.0 is a regression analysis-based tool developed by DOE to help plant and corporate energy managers establish normalized baselines of energy consumption and track a variety of energy performance indicators.

This latest version of the tool, released in October 2014, includes several upgrades suggested by users since the last update in November 2012. The tool now processes energy cost data and calculates estimated energy cost savings. Users can also determine energy savings by fuel type rather than simply calculating overall energy savings. Additional changes include:

  • Improving the look and feel of the tool
  • Revising the results sheets to be more intuitive
  • Enhancing the overall performance of the tool.

EnPI is now a more nuanced application that enables energy managers and others to get a deeper look at energy consumption and savings opportunities. For more information, contact Paul Scheihing.

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