Toyota, Schneider Electric, Other Manufacturing Plants Become Testbeds for Clean Energy Tech

Source: · ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER · | July 30, 2021

Source: Environmental Leader

Experts led by US National Laboratories will conduct on-site testing, measure and verify results, and draft field validation reports on clean, cutting-edge technologies in real-world conditions at five manufacturing plants; when these reports are made publicly available, C&I organizations can use them to inform their own future energy-saving innovations, says the Department of Energy.

Five companies — Ahlstrom-Munksjo, Cleveland Cliffs, Nissan North America, Schneider Electric, and Toyota North America — have received $300,000 each from the DOE to operate energy and water-treatment technologies in their facilities, which the National Laboratories experts will evaluate.

The DOE has announced it is investing in multiple projects meant to reduce the carbon emissions of the American manufacturing sector. In addition to the testing project mentioned above, the agency will offer $42.3 million in funding to support manufacturing innovations for high performance clean energy technologies and drive economy-wide reductions in carbon emissions. These include:

• Next-generation manufacturing processes that improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of energy-intensive industries;

• Development of novel materials that improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes and resulting products;

• Improving the systems and processes for how energy is stored, converted, and used, including manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries to support electric vehicles.

The investmentments will help reestablish US manufacturing leadership while scaling up the technologies needed to reduce the country’s collective carbon footprint and address climate change, says Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.