West Virginia University

Energy for Industry: Too Valuable to Waste!
By Carl Irwin

Waste energy has been termed the nation’s largest source of available energy. Corporations have recognized this – ABB’s two-page ad in a recent issue of Atlantic Monthly says, “We help customers use less energy to be more productive!”
U.S. Department of Energy sources say that approximately 60% of U.S. primary energy (i.e. the BTU content of coal, natural gas, oil, and other primary fuels) is lost to waste or rejected heat. In particular, U.S. electricity generation uses about 40% of primary energy of which 70% is wasted through thermal losses, transmission and distribution line losses, and inefficient end uses including manufacturing processes that throw away 20% to 50% of energy purchased or self-generated.
Through the Industries of the Future – West Virginia (IOF-WV) program, WVU research and assessment groups have worked with industry partners to help the State’s manufacturing companies save millions of dollars through energy efficiency measures. IOF-WV teams are conducting exciting new projects that will create energy advantages for West Virginia companies in the future – for example:
  • Recovery and reuse of waste energy (heat, pressure drops, flared gas, etc.) in manufacturing processes – for preheating intake air, producing steam, or generating electricity that can be used in-house or sold to a utility. Recycled energy is completely clean – the environmental price has already been paid!
  • Assessment of economic and technical feasibility of co-locating multi-product power plants near clusters of energy-intensive industries to supply electricity, heat, steam, syngas, and chemical feedstocks to industrial users. Co-location of multi-product power plants with industrial users is a winning strategy for minimizing production costs and energy losses due to long-distance transmission of electricity, heat, steam, and chemical feedstocks.
  • Development of alternatives to natural gas for industrial fuels and chemical feedstocks, e.g. syngas from co-gasification of coal, biomass, and agricultural waste materials.
    West Virginia companies enjoy low electricity prices at the present time, but no one knows how long this advantage will endure, and there are no such advantages for natural gas prices. It makes good economic and business sense for West Virginia businesses to use our energy resources as efficiently as possible.
    Energy for Industry – too valuable to waste!