The Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance will lead a $140 million institute in Rochester, New York to improve the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing.
WASHINGTON — As part of the Manufacturing USA initiative, the Energy Department announced its new Reducing Embodied-energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute, which will be headquartered in Rochester, New York, and led by the Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance. REMADE will leverage up to $70 million in federal funding, subject to appropriations, matched by $70 million in private cost-share commitments from over 100 partners.
The REMADE Institute will focus on reducing the cost of technologies needed to reuse, recycle, and remanufacture materials such as metals, fibers, polymers, and electronic waste. It aims for a 50 percent improvement in overall energy efficiency by 2027. These measures could save billions in energy costs and enhance U.S. economic competitiveness through innovative manufacturing techniques and small business opportunities while providing new training and jobs for American workers.
“The REMADE Institute is a key example of how public-private partnerships like Manufacturing USA are critical to advancing America’s low-carbon economy and strengthening manufacturing industries across the country,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “This Institute will be an important catalyst to leverage innovation and energy-efficient technologies that will reduce harmful emissions while creating jobs and building America’s 21st-century economy.”
U.S. manufacturing accounts for nearly 25 percent of the nation’s total annual energy use. The physical products created through manufacturing embody most of that energy. Researching and deploying cost-effective technologies that could reduce the energy used in materials production might offer energy savings of up to 1.6 quadrillion BTU annually—more than the electricity, oil, and other energy consumed by New Hampshire, Hawaii, Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington D.C., and Vermont combined.
Extracting raw materials like steel and aluminum for manufacturing is energy-intensive as is the process used to make products with these materials. By enabling recycling and remanufacturing technologies (the rebuilding of original products using reused or recycled parts), the Institute aims to dramatically reduce life-cycle energy consumption for products and improve overall manufacturing efficiencies. The focus also includes new methods for information collection; gathering identification; sorting end-of-life waste materials; separating mixed materials; removing trace contaminants; robust reprocessing; disposal methods.
REMADE is the fifth Energy Department-led institute in the multiagency network known as Manufacturing USA or National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Since its establishment four years ago, Manufacturing USA has expanded from a single institute to a network of 13 institutes led by renowned experts in their fields. The Manufacturing USA Institutes have attracted over 1,300 companies, universities, and nonprofits as members—growing from an initial 65 members to more than 1,000 today.
The institutes continue attracting new business investments into their regions while developing cutting-edge technology and training American workers with skills applicable to our growing manufacturing sector. To date, federal commitments exceeding $920 million have been matched by over $1.87 billion in non-federal investment.
For more information about the REMADE Institute and participating organizations visit Energy.gov.
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