The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the first U.S. industrial plants to be certified under the Superior Energy Performance program, a new market-based industrial energy efficiency program. The energy management certification program is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and will serve as a roadmap for industrial facilities to help continually improve their efficiency and maintain market competitiveness.

The industrial and manufacturing sectors, which account for roughly one-third of energy use in the U.S., have significant opportunities to improve the overall efficiency of their operations. By reducing the energy necessary for their industrial processes, companies can save money and energy, and help create new clean energy jobs.

The DOE presented three companies with awards during the World Energy Engineering Congress in Washington, D.C., recognizing their successful completion of the certification program and their place as some of the energy leaders within the U.S. manufacturing sector:

• Cook Composites and Polymers Co. (Houston, TX)
• Freescale Semiconductor Inc. (Austin, TX)
• Owens Corning (Waxahachie, TX)

These newly certified plants participated in the Superior Energy Performance program’s pilot, which began in 2008 as a partnership between the DOE and Texas Industries of the Future. A series of additional Energy Management Demonstration projects are now under way in other regions around the country to further test the Superior Energy Performance program.

For additional details, visit www.superiorenergyperformance.net/index.html.