On September 19, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the 2022 Better Plants Progress Update. The report highlights the leadership of more than 270 manufacturers and water utilities who partner with DOE to increase energy and water efficiency. Collectively, these partners have saved $10.6 billion in energy costs, 2.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btus) of energy, and more than 130 million metric tons of CO2, according to DOE.
“Decarbonizing the industrial sector is one of our great challenges,” says Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency Carolyn Snyder in a press release from the agency. “Better Plants partners are rising to the challenge and showing leadership by prioritizing energy efficiency and sharing best practices with their peers. Industrial partners save energy and money while creating good-paying jobs, strengthening our economy and driving market innovation.”
Better Plants works with industrial partners to develop, implement and share technologies and best practices to increase energy and water efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing plants and other industrial facilities. Partners represent every major U.S. industrial sector, comprising 14% of the domestic manufacturing footprint and 3,600 facilities across the country. Better Plants partners voluntarily pledge to reduce portfolio-wide energy intensity by 25% over 10 years. DOE works with partners to meet their goals by providing technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning, technology validation and training and workforce development. To date, Better Plants partners reportedly have achieved more than 75 energy or water goals.
Better Plants is part of the Better Buildings Initiative, through which DOE partners with public and private sector organizations to make commercial, public, industrial and residential buildings more efficient, thereby saving energy and money while creating jobs. To date, more than 900 Better Buildings partners have shared their approaches and strategies for adopting energy efficient technologies.
Read the entire report.
