NAM Offers Efficiency Proposals
Lean and Green
By Stephanie Sims   
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
smc The National Association of Manufacturers has given Congress several proposals to maintain energy efficiency and security.
The National Association of Manufacturers has given Congress several proposals to maintain energy efficiency and security.
Energy efficiency is a hot-button topic in many industries, and the manufacturing sector is no exception. Manufacturers are directly affected by energy costs. But the good news, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), is that manufacturing is becoming more energy efficient at twice the rate of the rest of the economy (per unit of GDP) and producing more energy efficient consumer products.

But more must be done, and NAM has given Congress several proposals to maintain energy efficiency and security. During the past three decades, NAM says, the U.S. population grew by 40 percent while energy demands grew by 47 percent. Today, imports account for 60 percent of our petroleum consumption and 34 percent of our total energy consumption.

“The U.S. energy trade deficit is more than 25 percent of our total balance of payments,” NAM says. “In the next 25 years, this imbalance will worsen, as our energy consumption is forecast to grow by 34 percent, while domestic production will only increase by 27 percent.

“With domestic demand further outstripping domestic supply, energy prices can be expected to take a further toll on America’s competitiveness,” it says. “Already, higher energy costs have contributed to the loss of some 3 million American jobs [in the last couple of years].”

The rising natural gas prices have forced Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical producer, to take several steps to remain globally competitive. Headquartered in Midland, Mich., the company has closed U.S. plants and eliminated 15 percent of its work force. It shifted some production overseas where energy is more competitively priced. It also announced future investments outside the Untied States.

“These investment dollars could have gone into new plants and jobs in North America, but non-competitive U.S. energy and feedstock costs will instead force them to go to joint ventures in Oman, Kuwait and China,” NAM says.

If the NAM proposal had been in place years ago, it argues, Dow Chemical Co., as well as others, might not have been forced to close plants and relocate production overseas. If the United States had been more focused on creating lower-cost sources of energy and reducing its dependence on foreign energy, Dow might have been able to meet its financial and business goals without exporting its production.

NAM’s legislative proposal aims to further educate consumers about reducing energy; strengthen public-private research and development efforts; make existing statutes and regulations rational; increase domestic power generation; and increase domestic energy supply.

Several companies, however, have already begun to make strides in developing energy efficient products. “Bearing and bearing packages are used in the gearbox and main motor support of wind turbines,” NAM notes. “Timken’s anti-friction bearings do just that – reduce friction. And any time friction is reduced, energy is conserved.”

Caterpillar is another company working to reduce greenhouse gases. The company has reduced particulate emissions in on-highway diesel engines by 90 percent since 1988. NAM’s proposals could benefit manufacturing companies across the United States. The more clued-in companies are about the importance of energy efficiency and its effects on the future, the more likely we can reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources.
 
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