Two Better Plants Challenge partners, Celanese Corporation and Eastman Chemical Company, and a Better Plants Program partner, The Dow Chemical Company, were recognized at the 2016 Industrial Energy Technology Conference (IETC) for their energy efficiency accomplishments. Representatives from all three companies were recognized in front of an audience of more than 100 of their industry peers during the May event. They were then able to present on some of their insights and best practices.

Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) Director Mark Johnson delivered keynote remarks on the first day of the conference. He emphasized the longstanding importance of the industrial sector to the United States, dating back to a letter to Congress from Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in the 1790s, while also expressing his optimism about the present-day rapid pace of innovation, especially in 3D printing.

Celanese and Owens Corning received IETC Energy Awards, which are presented annually to recognize industrial plants or organizations that have successfully applied energy conservation in their operations, or that have provided leadership to the industrial community to promote energy conservation. For example, as part of the Better Plants Challenge, Celanese has shared details on innovative, replicable energy efficiency solutions. Celanese’s newest solution highlights how they created Energy Dashboards to provide operators with access to real-time energy consumption measurements.

IETC also served as an opportunity for the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to honor Celanese, Dow, and Eastman for receiving awards under ACC’s Responsible Care program.  All three companies received multiple awards from ACC across different categories: Energy Efficiency Program, Significant Improvement in Manufacturing, Environmental Impact, and Non-Manufacturing Impact.

The conference included presentations relating to Better Plants, Superior Energy Performance and other complementary Technical Assistance programs and tools at the Department of Energy (DOE). For example, one session track was dedicated to Combined Heat and Power (CHP), also known as co-generation, and one session covered Better Plants’ recently published industrial water management primer. All the IETC presentations can be found here.

As in years past, the IETC served as a one-of-a kind conference that focused on energy in the industrial sector and complemented DOE’s mission of sponsoring various initiatives to build awareness about energy efficiency and clean energy topics.

For more information on Better Plants, please visit our new website on the Better Buildings Solutions Center.