The purpose of the Texas Industries of the Future program is to facilitate the development, demonstration and adoption of advanced technologies and adoption of best practices that reduce industrial energy usage, emissions, and associated costs, resulting in improved competitive performance.  The bottom line for Texas industry is savings in energy and materials, cost-effective environmental compliance, increased productivity, reduced waste, and enhanced product quality. 

The state program leverages the programs and tools of the federal Department of Energy’s industrial technologies program, which focuses on energy intensive industries.

In Texas we will initially work with the chemical manufacturing, refining, forest products, and biomass sectors, because these use 86% of the industrial energy use in Texas.
 

Benefits for the State, the Economy and the Environment
 

• Builds industry, university and government partnerships to target and solve pressing technology problems within key industries and across industries.
• Provides a forum for identifying longer-term technology issues of interest to Texas industries.
• Positions Texas to successfully compete for national funding for technology research, demonstration and commercialization.
• Provides increased access to technology resources of the national Department of Energy and national labs.
• Increases access to the national Best Practices tools and trainings, tailored to the needs of Texas facilities.
   

Activities 

• Formation of an industry-led steering group for the program.
• Hosted the Texas Technology Showcase in Houston (March 2003).

• Hosting Texas Industrial Energy Management Forums, in conjunction with STS-AIChE (ongoing).

• Conducted a two-day workshop to set the agenda for Texas Industries of the Future.   Participants reviewed national technology road mapping efforts in key industry sectors and identified Texas-specific needs (May 2001).
• Organized conferences on energy-efficiency strategies and emerging technologies to reduce NOx emissions from industrial facilities (Aug. 2004 and July 2001).
• Developed a needs assessment by the forest products industry based on input at a meeting with industry participants and university researchers (February 2002).  Texas A&M received follow-on funding to examine market development needs for a sustainable biomass energy and products industry in Texas (2004).
• Information dissemination regarding federal funding for technology RD&D and plantwide energy assessments.   Two plantwide assessments funded.
• Ongoing workshops on “Best Practices” to save energy and reduce costs in industrial facilities today.  More than 350 attendees trained at 19 workshops.
• Coordinated Texas input into a DOE  software tool to allow facilities to analyze impacts on NOx emissions of energy efficiency projects.   Now available on the national DOE website.
   

Background on Organization

The Texas Industries of the Future is a program of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at the University of Texas at Austin.  The Texas Industries of the Future is funded by a grant from the US Department of Energy, under a contract through the State Energy Conservation Office, with other project funding from the US DOE Chemical Team and US EPA pollution prevention program.

The Chemical and Refining Sector strategic plan is available here...>>