Background of CSU IAC
The Colorado State University Industrial Assessment
Center is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy as a part of a
national program to perform no-cost industrial assessments for small
to medium sized industries.
Industry Need
Increased productivity and competitiveness of small
and medium-sized manufacturing companies is extremely important
to the successful economic future of the United States. Since energy
costs are frequently in the range of ten percent of total manufacturing
and production costs, finding ways to make these small and medium-sized
manufacturers more energy efficient is one way to help them become
more productive and more competitive. However, few companies of
this size have the resources to provide a skilled energy manager
as part of the plant operational staff. Thus, there is a need to
help provide energy efficiency, pollution prevention, and productivity
improvement assistance to these companies.
DOE National IAC/EADC Program
The Industrial Assessment Center/ Energy Analysis
and Diagnostic Center (IAC/EADC) program, funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy and operated by the University City Science Center and
Rutgers University is a proven way to help improve the energy productivity
and energy cost control of small and medium-sized manufacturing
companies. The IAC/EADC's services are offered at no direct cost
to manufacturers. Since 1976, the IAC/EADC has:
- Served almost 3,200 manufacturing plants.
- Proposed 19,400 energy conservation opportunities.
- Identified 17,133 billion BTU per year of energy conservations.
- Recommended $116.0 million per year of cost savings.
The IAC Program has been a very successful and
cost-effective national effort, resulting in much greater benefits
in energy cost savings than the cost to operate the program.
Regional Centers
Industrial assessments are performed by engineering
faculty and students from local universities with officially accredited
engineering programs. They have the technical competence in process
energy efficiency improvement in particular, to help these companies.
Individual universities are responsible for the companies in the
regions around their physical locations. This is because there are
regional factors associated with energy supplies, energy costs,
and business operations that must be addressed on a geographically
distributed basis rather than through a single, national IAC.
Colorado State University IAC
The Colorado State University IAC continues this
successful record. The CSU IAC is committed to providing quality
services onsite for the companies involved and to providing the
necessary follow-up work and services to ensure the success of the
program.
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