Department of Energy

The Department of Energy (DOE) mission is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. This includes catalyzing the timely, material and efficient transformation of the nation’s energy system and securing U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing technologies, as well as, maintaining a vibrant U.S. effort in science and engineering as a cornerstone of our economic prosperity. To accomplish these goals, the DOE has established multiple manufacturing initiatives as cross-cutting innovative programs within the department to strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness across the board by boosting energy productivity and leveraging low-cost domestic energy resources and feedstocks.

Advanced manufacturing involves the minimization of the energy of the production, use, and disposal of manufactured goods, which range from fundamental commodities such as metals and chemicals to sophisticated final-use products such as automobiles and wind turbine blades. The manufacturing sector, a subset of the industrial sector, consumes 25 exajoules (24 quads) of primary energy annually in the United States — about 79% of total industrial energy use. The DOE partners with private and public stakeholders to support the research and development of innovative technologies that can improve U.S. competitiveness, save energy, and ensure global leadership in advanced manufacturing technologies.

The DOE uses manufacturing innovation institutes to develop advanced manufacturing technologies to support these initiatives. At the end of the fiscal year 2016, the DOE has awarded two institutes. The first, PowerAmerica, is focused on wide bandgap semiconductor technologies for next generation power electronics. The second, the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, is focused on composite technologies for vehicles, wind turbine blades, and compressed gas storage tanks. Since the beginning of the latest fiscal year, i.e. FY 2017, three additional institutes have been solicited, selected and awarded. These additional institutes include; Smart Manufacturing: Advanced Sensors, Controls, Platforms and Modelling for Manufacturing, Process Intensification: Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) and Reducing Embodied Energy and Decreasing Emission (REMADE) in Materials Manufacturing.