U.S. Manufacturing Partners Save $10.6B in Energy Costs Under ‘Better Plants’ Program

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the 2022 Better Plants Progress Update, a report highlighting more than 270 manufacturers and water utilities who partner with DOE to increase energy and water efficiency. Collectively, these partners have saved $10.6 billion in energy costs, 2.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btus) of energy, and more than 130 million metric tons of CO2.

“Decarbonizing the industrial sector is one of our great challenges,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency Carolyn Snyder. “Better Plants partners are rising to the challenge and showing leadership by prioritizing energy efficiency and sharing best practices with their peers. Industrial partners save energy and money while creating good-paying jobs, strengthening our economy, and driving market innovation.”

As part of the Better Buildings Initiative, the Better Plants program works with industrial partners to develop, implement, and share technologies and best practices to increase energy and water efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing plants and other industrial facilities. Partners represent every major U.S. industrial sector, comprising 14% of the domestic manufacturing footprint and 3,600 facilities across the country.

Better Plants partners voluntarily pledge to reduce portfolio-wide energy intensity by 25% over 10 years. DOE works with partners to meet their goals by providing technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning, technology validation and training, and workforce development. To date, Better Plants partners have achieved more than 75 energy or water goals.

Highlights from the 2022 Better Plants Progress Update include:

• Legrand North & Central America, Deschutes Brewery, Nestlé Health Science, and Intertape Polymer Group achieved their energy intensity reduction goals in the past year.
• More than 60 industrial organizations to date have joined DOE’s Better Climate Challenge, a national public-private partnership calling on organizations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 10 years and share their solutions with the market.

• Eleven new partners joined the Better Plants program:
  • Acuity Brands
  • Brose North America
  • DENSO Corporation
  • Entegris
  • The Hershey Company
  • Hollingsworth and Vose
  • Lopez-Dorada Foods
  • Michael Foods
  • Nestlé
  • Phoenix Closures
  • West Lafayette Water Resource Recovery Facility
• Seven new partners joined the Better Plants Challenge
  • ABB
  • BorgWarner
  • Brewery Vivant/Broad Leaf Brewery & Spirits
  • The Chemours Company
  • Emerson
  • Lear Corporation
  • Trane Technologies
• Partners hosted 13 peer exchanges on pressing topics in industrial decarbonization from carbon accounting and reporting to renewables, electrification, and more.
• DOE conducted Virtual In-Plant Trainings (VINPLTs) over the past two years to enable remote workforce learning opportunities during the pandemic. In just the past year, seven virtual in-plant trainings have resulted in 500 trained workers and the identification of more than $400 million worth of energy cost savings.
• Better Practice and Better Project Awards were presented to 17 partners to recognize their leadership in adopting innovative energy-efficiency solutions.

For more information, read the full 2022 Better Plants Progress Update.