Advanced Manufacturing Plays Role in Building a Sustainable Future
Producing clean energy and using energy as efficiently as possible are critical to reducing pollutants, slowing climate change, and reducing dependence on foreign energy. Energy efficiency is of particular concern to an energy-intensive industry like manufacturing.
New clean energy technologies will:
- Reduce manufacturing energy costs
- Create jobs for current and next generation workers
- Increase global competitiveness in emerging clean-energy industries
- Provide the basis for innovative new green products
- Improve sustainability
The Manufacturing USA network is approaching clean energy in numerous ways, including:
- Commercialization of medium voltage power, a technology improvement that nearly doubles power conversion efficiency at close to half the weight.
- Microfactories that use additive manufacturing on a local scale that is more circular than the legacy "take-make-waste" cycle.
- Embracing "remanufacturing" for its varied benefits such as maximizing value of materials in end-of-life products, to reducing energy bills related to components that have already been manufactured and need only reconditioning to specifications, and reducing the use of expensive virgin materials.
The institutes are committed to securing access to clean, inexpensive, reliable energy, which is central to the U.S. economy, job creation, sustainability and a high quality of life.
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