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U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Industrial Facility Assessments

The FEMP Industrial Facilities Initiative (IFI) provides assessment assistance to Federal energy managers to optimize energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation at Federal industrial facilities. This assistance is provided by FEMP in the form of:

  • Comprehensive plant-wide assessments are conducted at industrial facilities by Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) engineering faculty and students. Following a multi-day site visit, IFI documents the assessment with a detailed report that includes an analysis of utility history (energy, water, and waste) and rate structure; maps of energy, waste, and production flows; recommendations for energy savings, waste reduction, and productivity enhancements (including engineering calculations and payback estimates); and other information.

  • System-specific assessments of steam, compressed air, process heat, and pumping systems are provided by the Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) BestPractices assessment teams. These assessments are conducted during multi-day site visits by professional engineering consultants (BestPractices Qualified Specialists). Assessed facilities receive detailed reports covering the status of the targeted systems and recommendations for saving energy and reducing operations and maintenance costs.

More information is available in the frequently asked questions document (PDF 106 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

Site Visits

BestPractices and Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) teams often work on assessments together. IAC teams often include a BestPractices Qualified Specialist for one or more systems (e.g., steam).

Once an industrial assessment scope of work is agreed upon, the site visit logistics can be arranged. The site visit duration can last a few days to a week depending on the processes and systems to be evaluated. The assessment team meets with various staff members (facility managers, facility engineers, operations and maintenance staff, process staff) to ask questions, collect data, and take short-term measurements.

Assessment Reports

The end product of the industrial assessment is a report identifying recommendations of potential energy and energy-related cost-saving measures as well as productivity improvements. The report also estimates the conceptual costs to implement the findings. The list of energy conservation measures (ECMs), which include productivity improvements, will be prioritized in an action plan for the site to consider for implementation.

Implementation

A follow-up call will be made a few months after the final report is issued to see if any ECMs have been implemented, are considered for implementation in a future project, need additional study or design in order to be considered, or are experiencing roadblocks preventing implementation.

Other FEMP services will also be discussed to assist the site with implementation, as will potential financing mechanisms.

Assessment Requests

Federal industrial facilities interested in conducting assessments should contact the IFI technical lead to request an industrial energy assessment and provide background information about industrial facilities, systems, processes, and/or components for consideration. Sites provide information about their process/system using the initial data form (Excel 25 KB), which will be reviewed by the FEMP technical Lead. A conference with the site contacts will help determine merit for the IFI assessment.