AMO Talks Partnerships, Tools, and Achievements at 2017 Better Buildings Summit

On May 15-17 over 1000 attendees congregated at the Washington Hilton for the 2017 Better Buildings Summit. This Summit is designed for partners and stakeholders to exchange best practices and highlight technical solutions with an emphasis on discussing future opportunities for greater energy efficiency in America’s homes, buildings, and manufacturing plants. The audience was a diverse mix of Better Buildings, Better Plants (Better Plants) program and Challenge partners, Department of Energy (DOE) experts, leaders from industry, and other stakeholders from many sectors of the economy. Attendees were there with the same mission: to share proven approaches to energy management through the use of technology, best practices, and partnerships.

DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) leads the Better Plants program that helps manufacturers save money and energy as a part of the broader DOE Better Buildings Initiative. Better Plants focuses on energy efficiency in manufacturing-scale organizations to drive competitiveness in America. The industrial partners of Better Plants build upon DOE’s foundational knowledge base to reduce costs, improve performance, and adopt new industrial-scale, energy-efficiency technologies. They work toward their energy savings goals by leveraging DOE's unique expertise and resources and while pursuing further research and development of energy technologies and practices. Nearly 200 leading manufacturers and water and wastewater treatment agencies, representing almost every manufacturing sector, have committed to improving energy efficiency at more than 2600 facilities across the country through the Better Plants program. Better Plants partners have reported more than $3 billion in cumulative energy cost savings through 2015. Because the partners represent such a diverse cross-section of manufacturing, their work in energy management also provides valuable feedback to AMO that can help drive future R&D efforts. Events like the Better Buildings Summit provide an opportunity for partners to share their experiences and inform others how to best implement innovative technologies explored as a result of partnerships. As part of the 3-day summit, Better Plants hosted a variety of events to facilitate knowledge exchange and provide support to Better Plants partners, including:

• "Ask the Expert" Booth – Expert professionals from the national laboratories and private sector offered information and insights on topics related to industrial energy and water efficiency. While conference sessions offered broader tips and best practices that could be applied across manufacturing sectors, attendees could do a deeper dive into more specific topics and questions at the "Ask the Expert" booth.
• Better Plants Awards – AMO leaders recognized partners for achieving their energy savings goals and the program also introduced two new award categories this year: Better Project and Better Practice. These new awards were important not only to recognize outstanding achievements but also to continue sharing and highlighting the most innovative ideas and best practices. Better Project and Better Practice awardees each gave an overview of their idea and how it was implemented. For a full list of awardees click here.
• Workshops and Panels – Representatives from AMO and industry partners led a variety of interactive panels and workshops to showcase the latest technologies, processes, and practices that could be implemented by Better Plants partners. These sessions covered everything from how to build a culture of enthusiasm for energy management to how to leverage other AMO partnerships like Superior Energy Performance and 50001 Ready.

The Better Buildings Progress Report 2017 was also released during the event, highlighting the progress made so far by partners and the program as a whole. Key Better Plants highlights include:

• Better Plants partners across all 50 states and Puerto Rico collectively represent an estimated 12% of the total U.S. manufacturing footprint, with 14 partners in the Fortune 100.
• In-Plant Trainings have trained nearly a thousand workers to identify, implement, and replicate savings projects in topics like process heating, steam, and compressed air. New trainings on water/wastewater treatment and industrial refrigeration will provide additional value.
• Better Plants partners have collectively reported an estimated cumulative energy savings of 600 TBtu and $3.1 billion in energy costs.
• The Better Plants program held the inaugural Technology Day at Oak Ridge National Laboratory earlier this year which enabled partners to learn about innovative, state-of-the-art R&D facilities, how to leverage the National Laboratories, and network with peers about industry success stories with technology transfer.

The Better Buildings Summit was an excellent opportunity for public and private-sector partners to come together to celebrate success and achievements, but also to share ideas about how to continue to foster collaboration and implement the most cutting-edge technologies and best practices to help save money on utility bills, create new jobs, and improve our global competitiveness. Better Plants partners left the Better Buildings Summit equipped with new ideas and the resources and support necessary to implement them.