The production of castings mainly involve process heating operations that consume large amounts of fossil fuels and electricity. Process heating needs include metal melting, mold and core baking and curing, and heat treatment. Process heating accounts for more than 75% of the industry's total energy use. Other operations include mechanical cleaning and finishing steps, which rely mainly on electric motors as does material transport. Sand reclamation units rely on thermal energy to clean the individual grains within the sand mass so that the sand may be reused. [Bates 1997, DOE 1999]

Onsite electricity cogeneration in the metalcasting industry is negligible. The majority of foundries are small establishments; many larger establishments are "captive" foundries within automotive manufacturing facilities.

Generic Technologies
Computer control of processes is the most widely used technology to increase efficiency in the metalcasting




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