Today (Nov. 3), Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the DoE is dedicating $155 million to improving efficiency under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The money is being used to subsidize new equipment in industry as well funding research. Currently the industrial sector uses more than 30 percent of energy in the US and contributes a similar percentage to US carbon emissions.

In other words, providing the manufacturing, printing and resource gathering companies with the means to reduce their energy usage will have a large impact on the overall US energy consumption.

One of the recommendations is using on-site power production, something Vanderbilt has been doing for years. The power plant on campus helps minimize the power needed to be obtained from the grid and uses the waste heat in the form of steam to perform other functions, primarily in the Medical Center. Since Vanderbilt uses higher quality coal than the TVA plants and recycles waste heat, the plant in effect reduces the schools carbon footprint dramatically.

Which leads to the question, if Vanderbilt can do it, why can’t other companies? One reason is that Vanderbilt has been in the same location for essentially 136 years, while many production facilities may only exist for a fifth of that time. Why spend money on something that will get torn down soon enough. There is also a significant initial cost to building a plant, so even if there is a long term cost benefit to the plants construction, funding the project can be difficult.

Ideally the DoE’s new funding will mitigate both concerns. The awards will provide some capital, decreasing the amount of outside funding companies will need to obtain to develop and implement energy saving measures. Also, the extra money will tip the long-term cost-benefit analysis in favor of the new measures.

It’s hard to predict what companies will do with the new funding, but it should help develop more sustainable companies and facilities in the future.