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Conference Focuses on Advantages of Energy Efficiency

Posted on: Monday, 12 May 2008, 03:00 CDT

By Kasey, Pam

MORGANTOWN - Energy-intensive industries could be far more efficient, increasing competitiveness and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

That was one theme of the April 9-10 Morgantown conference "Impacts of High and Volatile Energy Costs on Energy Intensive Industries," planned by Industries of the Future-West Virginia and West Virginia University's College of Business and Economics.

"While it is likely that all industries have been affected by rising energy costs, certain industries have been significantly impacted," said conference co-organizer Jack Fuller of WVU's College of Business and Economics. "It is our position that many industries are at risk, given energy price volatility."

The conference aimed to identify strategies for mitigating the cost of energy for at-risk industries, a fundamental concern of IOF programs across the nation.

A first day of panels was kicked off by one on energy supply. Kenneth Kern of the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory spoke of upward pressure on electricity prices.

The installation of new power generation has been slow, Kern said, displaying a graph that showed a two-decade "valley of inactivity" for coal and a three-decade valley for nuclear.

But harder to remedy than supply, he said, will be the expertise that has been lost during that period.

"This is one of the key issues behind the rise in cost that is intransigent," he said.

Yet higher energy prices might be part of the solution, according to Carnegie Mellon University economist Lester Lave - in fact, they may be the only thing that will really drive industry to greater efficiency.

Lave compared the energy efficiency of various industries in the U.S. with that of their counterparts around the world.

"Industry by industry, we are not very efficient with energy. Why is that?" he asked. "Because we have among the lowest energy prices in the world."

The best thing for energy efficiency. he said - and, it follows, for future competitiveness - would be for government to discontinue energy subsidies, allow prices to rise to their natural levels and let industry respond with appropriately energy-efficient design.

The industrial perspective brought by panelist Robert Bessette of CIBO supported Lave's argument.

Many industrial facilities could save energy and money by increasing efficiency, Bessette said.

But "energy is not - is not - the primary corporate pressure on the CEO today," he said with emphasis. He spoke not of the very most energy intensive industries but of the broad industrial spectrum that together accounts for significant energy use and waste.

Even efficiency projects that have quick paybacks may not take priority over pressures that include an aging work force and equipment, management of community relations and the implications of federal accounting and environmental regulations, he said.

But higher energy prices would raise the priority of efficiency, he said.

Additional panels addressed the manufacturing, materials and transportation industries. They were followed by dinner and a presentation by Douglas Kaempf of DOE's Industrial Technologies Program.

Thursday featured facilitated small-group sessions that looked at coping strategies, research priorities and policy recommendations, according to co-organizer and IOF-WV Coordinator Carl Irwin.

One observation was the need for an energy bill based on science and economics rather than on politics, Irwin said.

Another general observation was that most people aren't aware of the integral connections among energy efficiency, economic competitiveness and climate change mitigation. This led to a recommendation for policies that promote education from junior high on up.

The conference brought experts together who had not met before, Irwin said for example, Kaempf of the Industrial Technologies Program and representatives from some of the nation's 26 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation industry centers.

"They have not been put together for some reason, but we did it," Irwin said. "So some of the recommendations were to make this an annual event."

IOF-WV received support for the conference from the Sloan Foundation. the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners, the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at WVU, the DOE Industrial Technologies Program and the WVU College of Business and Economics.

Copyright State Journal Corporation Apr 18, 2008

(c) 2008 State Journal, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: State Journal, The

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