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DNR to host upcoming Industrial Energy Technology Conference

The ongoing resurgence and expansion of the energy-intensive manufacturing and industrial sector in Louisiana is creating increasing demand for the energy to sustain that growth, and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is partnering with Texas A&M’s Energy Systems Laboratory, a leader in energy efficiency research, to provide information on the latest technology and ideas on making industrial facilities and processes more energy efficient.

As part of the mission of the DNR Technology Assessment Division to promote energy efficiency, DNR and the Energy Systems Laboratory are co-hosting the Industrial Energy Technology Conference in New Orleans from May 20-23, focusing on industrial energy efficiency, current technologies that reduce energy-related production costs and business-smart energy practices.

“The most cost-effective and environmentally friendly energy is the energy you don’t have to use,” said Thomas Harris, director of DNR’s Technology Assessment Division. “The conference will showcase some of the many benefits of energy efficiency, from saving money and energy to creating economic opportunity now to ensuring a healthy and sustainable environment in the long term.”

Harris said that while Louisiana’s reputation as a top U.S. energy producing state is widely recognized, it is also a high energy consumption state, with business and industry being significant consumers.

“Providing information on the most energy efficient technologies, practices and strategies to the industrial sector is a means of targeting our efforts to achieve the most benefit in terms of making the state as a whole more energy efficient,” Harris said. “A secondary benefit is that many of the lessons learned in making energy use more efficient for industry can later be applied in the efforts of small companies and even residents looking for ways to cut their own energy costs.”

The topics covered will include the latest technologies and expertise on smart manufacturing, corporate energy management, energy opportunity analysis, and case studies of successful, real-world industrial efficiency projects, targeted to an audience of industrial energy managers, utility experts, government program managers and related fields. 

DNR Technology Assessment is funding its portion of the conference through a U.S. Department of Energy grant for promoting energy efficiency, as part of the division’s overall mission to promote and encourage the use of energy efficient, environmentally responsible and economically feasible technologies that reduce our nation's dependence on foreign energy supplies, conserve our natural resources and protect the environment.

The agenda and registration for the conference is available online at http://ietc.tamu.edu/home

For more information, contact DNR Technology Assessment Division, Billy Williamson at 225-342-4493.

Note: This release updated 5/12/14 @ 4:02 pm - Conference (dates) will be held May 20 -23, 2014.