Corn wet milling is the most energy intensive industry within the food and kindred products group (SIC 20), using 15 percent of the energy in the entire food industry. After corn, energy is the second largest operating cost for corn wet millers in the United States. A typical corn wet milling plant in the United States spends approximately $20 to $30 million per year on energy, making energy efficiency improvement an important way to reduce costs and increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy-price volatility. This report shows energy efficiency opportunities available for wet corn millers. It begins with descriptions of the trends, structure and production of the corn wet milling industry and the energy used in the milling and refining process. Specific primary energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies of plants and references to technical literature are provided. If available, typical payback periods are also listed. The report draws upon the experiences of corn, wheat and other starch processing plants worldwide for energy efficiency measures. The findings suggest that given available resources and technology, there are opportunities to reduce energy consumption cost-effectively in the corn wet milling industry while maintaining the quality of the products manufactured. Further research on the economics of the measures, as well as the applicability of these to different wet milling practices, is needed to assess the feasibility of implementation of selected technologies at individual plants.

We review the relationship between energy efficiency improvement measures and productivity in industry. We propose a method to include productivity benefits in the economic assessment of the potential for energy efficiency improvement. The paper explores the implications of how this change in perspective might affect the evaluation of energy-efficient technologies for a study of the iron and steel industry in the U.S. It is found that including productivity benefits explicitly in the modeling parameters would double the cost-effective potential for energy efficiency improvement, compared to an analysis excluding those benefits. We provide suggestions for future research for this important area.

U.S. industry consumes approximately 37 percent of the nation's energy to produce 24 percent of the nation's GDP. Increasingly, society is confronted with the challenge of moving toward a cleaner, more sustainable path of production and consumption, while increasing global competitiveness. Technology is essential in achieving these challenges. We report on a recent analysis of emerging energy-efficient technologies for industry, focusing on over 50 selected technologies. The technologies are characterized with respect to energy efficiency, economics and environmental performance. This paper provides an overview of the results, demonstrating that we are not running out of technologies to improve energy efficiency, economic and environmental performance, and neither will we in the future. The study shows that many of the technologies have important non-energy benefits, ranging from reduced environmental impact to improved productivity, and reduced capital costs compared to current technologies.

U.S. industry consumes approximately 37 percent of the nation s energy to produce 24 percent of the nation s GDP. Increasingly, society is confronted with the challenge of moving toward a cleaner, more sustainable path of production and consumption, while increasing global competitiveness. Technology is essential in achieving these challenges. We report on a recent analysis of emerging energy-efficient technologies for industry, focusing on over 50 selected technologies. The technologies are characterized with respect to energy efficiency, economics and environmental performance. This paper provides an overview of the results, demonstrating that we are not running out of technologies to improve energy efficiency, economic and environmental performance, and neither will we in the future. The study shows that many of the technologies have important non-energy benefits, ranging from reduced environmental impact to improved productivity, and reduced capital costs compared to current technologies.