Industrial Assessment Center
![]() Seal of the Department of Energy | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1976 |
Preceding agency | |
Headquarters | Newark, New Jersey |
Website | Rutgers |
Currently there are 26 Industrial Assessment Centers in the United States. These centers are located at particular universities across the US, and are funded by the Department of Energy as a means to spread ideas relating to industrial energy conservation.
The centers conduct research into energy conservation techniques for industrial applications. This is accomplished by performing energy audits or assessments at manufacturers near the particular center. The IAC program has achieved of over $4.5 billion of implemented energy cost savings since its inception.[1]
History
Industrial Assessment Centers (formerly called the Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center (EADC) program) were created by the Department of Commerce in 1976, and later moved to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The IAC program is currently administered through the Industrial Technologies Program under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Centers were created to help small and medium-sized manufacturing facilities cut back on unnecessary costs from inefficient energy use, ineffective production procedures, excess waste production, and other production-related problems. [2] Later, according to instructions from U.S. Department of Energy, the centers are only required to focus on reducing wasted energy and increasing energy efficiency, but still regularly recommend waste reductions and productivity improvements.
Other Benefits
In addition to providing technical support to small to mid-sized manufacturers through energy assessments, the IAC program offers several other important benefits. Apart from the routine energy audits which cover a broad scope of industrial settings and subsystems, the IACs provide technical material and workshops promoting energy efficiency.
IAC Database
Rutgers University maintains a large databases of energy efficiency projects in the industrial sector. The database contains recommendations from every audit completed by an IAC dating back to 1980. As of June 2009, the IAC program had finished 14,000 assessments and made over 106,000 recommendations.[3] The database is free and open to the public.
IAC Alumni
The IAC program helps train the next generation of energy efficiency engineers. Hundreds of students participate in the program every year[4], and over 56% of those students pursue careers in energy or energy efficiency. [5]
Participating Universities
West | Midwest | Mid-Atlantic | Central | North East | South East |
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References
- ^ Nimbalkar, Presentation to the Industrial Energy Technology Conference, May 15, 2009
- ^ OSU IAC History
- ^ DOE EERE Industrial Assessment Center
- ^ IAC Program Metrics
- ^ IAC Alumni Fact Sheet