U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office and Its Impacts

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), formerly the Industrial Technologies Program, has been working with industry since 1976 to encourage the development and adoption of new, energy-efficient technologies. AMO has helped industry not only use energy and materials more efficiently but also improve environ-mental performance, product quality, and productivity. To help AMO determine the impacts of its pro-grams, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) periodically reviews and analyzes AMO pro-gram benefits. PNNL contacts vendors and users of AMO-sponsored technologies that have been commercialized, estimates the number of units that have penetrated the market, conducts engineering analyses to estimate energy savings from the new technologies, and estimates air pollution and carbon emission reductions. This paper discusses the results of PNNL's most recent review (conducted in 2011). From 1976-2010, the commercialized technologies from AMO's research and development programs and other activities have cumulatively saved 10.7 quadrillion Btu, with a net cost savings of $56.5 billion.