Each year, America's utilities and factories send enough heat up their chimneys to power all of Japan. With proven technologies, we can harness that waste energy, however, and put it to work heating buildings and generating additional electricity. Such a change would dramatically reduce costs, make our industries more competitive, keep people employed, and create skilled jobs.
Industrial energy-efficiency technologies such as combined heat and power, waste heat recovery, and district energy have been used for more than 100 years. These technologies capture energy produced during electricity generation to heat additional buildings, or they use industrial waste heat as a fuel source to generate more electricity. As a result, businesses can achieve energy efficiencies of up to 80 percent.