Heat Treaters Work With DOE and Congress on Research Funding
By Diran Apelian, FASM
Director, Center for Heat Treating Excellence
Metals Processing Institute
Howmet Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE) launched its research projects earlier this year. Members met in April, and will be reconvening 14-15 November 2000, at the Worchester Polytechnic Institute campus in Worcester, Mass., to review progress and to deliberate future projects.
CHTE is working on behalf of the heat treating industry to persuade Congress to fund $1.8 million in basic research programs that will lead to long-run advances in energy efficient manufacturing for metals-based industries. If Congress gives the go ahead, CHTE is poised to compete for this research funding under the Department of Energy's Industries of the Future, Supporting Industries program. Such funding will assist in achieving CHTE's goals to enhance the industry's position by applying fundamental research to solve industrial problems and advance heat-treatment technology. CHTE is fully supported by its members; funding from the Industries of the Future Program will allow us to leverage our resources and to expand our research portfolio.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Innovative Industries of the Future Program
The U.S. Department of Energy is part of a long-standing, highly successful government/industry partnership that focuses on the nation's nine most energy intensive industries - The Industries of the Future (IOF) program. The philosophy of this program has been clearly articulated by Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson:
"As U.S. industries face the economic, technological and environmental challenges of the new millennium, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies is there to support them. Our customer-driven Industries of the Future strategy is helping companies in some of our most energy-intensive industries to work together in developing and delivering a unified vision of the future. By sharing resources and joining collaborative partnerships, our industrial partners are accelerating the development and adoption of energy-efficient technologies and processes. On the basis of these efforts to make efficient use of energy and materials, the nation's industrial sector can look forward to major gains in productivity, improved environmental performance, and increased competitiveness in global markets."
The nine industries formally recognized as IOF partners include, agriculture, aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metalcasting, mining, petroleum, and steel. Collectively, these industries account for about 75% of total energy use by all U.S. industries and nearly 30% of total national energy use. At the same time, they supply over 90% of the U.S. economy's needs for materials and represent approximately 7% of the GNP.
It's estimated that these nine industries spend over $50 billion a year on energy. But global competition, capital intensity, and the cyclical nature of these industries limit their research and development investment to only about 1% of sales, compared to the industrial average of about 3%. The Office of Industrial Technologies annual budget request is the only government investment focused on improving energy efficiency in these industries through pre-competitive, highly leveraged partnerships that lift the competitiveness of entire industries. The DOE estimates that for every $1 invested now in this program, $36 in energy savings will accrue in 2010 and $128 in 2020. This translates to a total savings of $7.2 billion in 2010 and $23.6 billion in 2020.
Heat Treaters Partner with DOE as an IOF Supporting Industry
The heat treating industry is fundamental to the manufacturing activity of three key IOF partners-steel, aluminum, and metalcasting - and adds approximately $15 billion per year in value to metal products. Indeed, OIT has recognized what the industry knows well -- that heat treating is crucial and essential to metals and metal processing/manufacturing. The DOE is also keenly aware that heat treating is an energy-intensive industry, requiring about 500 trillion BTUs per year. To put that in perspective, it equals the amount of energy it takes to meet the energy needs of 10 million single-family households for a year. Energy accounts for about 20% of the annual cost of doing business.
These factors, quite appropriately, led DOE to invite the heat treating industry to become part of the IOF program as a "supporting industry of the future". During the last four years the industry and OIT have worked closely to achieve an industry-wide consensus under the auspices of the Heat Treating Vision and Technology Roadmap. These important documents will serve to guide future research and development efforts for the industry in a cohesive and unified manner. The Vision document establishes industry-wide performance improvement goals for the year 2020. These goals include achieving zero emissions, reducing energy consumption by 80%, and eliminating distortions in heat treated materials.
President Clinton and DOE Request Funding for "Supporting Industries"
In his fiscal year 2001 budget proposal, President Clinton, upon the recommendation of OIT, asked Congress to give the supporting industries branch of the IOF $1.8 million for energy research funding. This recognition by the administration sent an important signal to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the supporting industries program was of national importance and deserved their support. However, administration support will take a program only so far, and it is Congress that makes the final funding decisions.
CHTE launched a comprehensive effort to educate and inform key members of Congress regarding the important role played by the heat treating industry and the high return on benefits to the nation in approving this energy efficiency funding. CHTE has worked diligently with key congressional offices to showcase industry support for the program funding. CHTE member companies wrote to their lawmakers to share informative materials about the industry, and CHTE staff met with congressional offices to discuss the merits of this proposal. The industry garnered a good deal of congressional support in both House and Senate.
Unfortunately, bad timing and harsh fiscal realities resulted in a failure of the House of Representatives to initially approve the funding request. This was not due to a lack of confidence in the value of the program. The reality is at the time the House considered their appropriation's bill, which included this provision, tight budget restraints left a number of popular programs, including "supporting industries" unfunded.
However, the results in the Senate were much more encouraging. The Senate actually was able to spend nearly $1 billion more on the same programs as their House counterparts. Accordingly, the upper chamber complied with the administration's request to fully fund the $1.8 million for "IOF supporting industry" research programs.
As of press time, the House and Senate are working together to reconcile the different provisions in their respective appropriations bills. CHTE has encouraged all House participants to accept the Senate language that fully funds the "IOF supporting industries". We hope to be able to report a successful culmination.
CHTE is aggressively pursuing to leverage its resources to advance the knowledge base of the heat treating industry. CHTE member companies are fully engaged in these initiatives, and have taken the lead in educating the legislature on the importance of the heat treating industry, and why investments need to be made to further the knowledge base, and the industry's competitive position.
If you want to participate, and to contribute, please contact CHTE Director - Prof. Diran Apelian at dapelian@wpi.edu (voicemail: +1-508-831-5992).
(Copyrighted by ASM International and used with permission)
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: August 29, 2007 09:31:57