Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors
The EPA created this extensive, 200-page report to develop strategies to promote environmentally preferable outcomes with respect to energy consumption in 12 industrial manufacturing sectors, focusing particularly on reductions in energy-related air emissions through increased energy efficiency (which reduces fuel consumption and associated emissions) and/or transitioning to less emissions-intensive energy sources.
The sectors examined in this report are:
- Alumina and aluminum
- Cement
- Chemical manufacturing
- Food manufacturing
- Forest products
- Iron and steel
- Metal casting
- Metal finishing
- Motor vehicle manufacturing
- Motor vehicle parts manufacturing
- Petroleum refining
- Shipbuilding and ship repair
Across the 12 sectors, this analysis characterizes energy consumption within the context of recent and expected future energy trends and provides a broad overview of the environmental and economic context surrounding sector energy usage. Building on this overview, the analysis provides sector-specific “base case” and “best case” energy scenarios, identifying opportunities for promoting environmentally preferable energy outcomes as well as potential regulatory and nonregulatory barriers to improved environmental outcomes.
To address potential regulatory barriers to investment in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies in these sectors, this analysis proposes a number of policy options that EPA could pursue — both internally at EPA and externally in coordination with other agencies and stakeholders — to remove or reduce the barriers.
