There are 31 Industrial Assessment Centers in the United States as of November 2019. These centers are located at universities across the US, and are funded by the United States Department of Energy to spread ideas relating to industrial energy conservation. The centers conduct research into energy conservation techniques for industrial applications. This is accomplished by performing energy audits or assessments at manufacturers near the particular center. The IAC program has achieved over $4.5 billion of implemented energy cost savings since its inception.
History
Industrial Assessment Centers were created by the Department of Commerce in 1976 and later moved to the DOE. The IAC program is administered through the Advanced Manufacturing Office under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Centers were created to help small and medium-sized manufacturing facilities cut back on unnecessary costs from inefficient energy use, ineffective production procedures, excess waste production, and other production-related problems. According to instructions from DOE, currently the centers are only required to focus on reducing wasted energy and increasing energy efficiency. While this remains the primary focus of the assessments, waste reduction and productivity improvements are still commonly recommended.
Other Benefits
In addition to providing technical support to small to mid-sized manufacturers through energy assessments, the IAC program offers several other important benefits. Apart from the routine energy audits which cover a broad scope of industrial settings and subsystems, the IACs provide technical material and workshops promoting energy efficiency. IAC Database
Rutgers University maintains a large databases of energy efficiency projects in the industrial sector. The database contains recommendations from every audit completed by an IAC dating back to 1980. As of November 2019, the IAC program had finished 19,040 assessments and made over 143,700 recommendations. This database is free and open to the public. IAC Alumni
The IAC program helps train the next generation of energy efficiency engineers. Hundreds of students participate in the program each year, and over 56% of those students pursue careers in energy or energy efficiency.
