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Energy Efficiency in Industry: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing (2013-2014)

How energy efficient is the automotive industry?

A coalition of motor vehicle manufacturers, led by Toyota, Nissan and GM, commissioned a study to benchmark the energy consumption of automotive manufacturing at the plant and process-level to create a model of energy use that will, after review by the industry, be submitted to the EPA for use by EPA Energy Star. Three groups of this project teams worked directly with the three sponsoring companies, using confidential plant and process level data to conduct data validation; perform a deeper dive into the process level data; develop predictive analytics using company and plant specific data; and analyze other energy efficiency/management issues that the team members will identify in collaboration with their partner company. Team members also visited an assembly plant and developed a company-specific case study.

Timing

2013-2014

Team Outcomes

Gale Boyd, Energy Star: Building Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Industrial Sector ($1,650,379 grant awarded from the International Community Foundation, 2013)

Gale Boyd, Assembly Plant Energy Benchmarking: Process and Plant Level Analysis ($99,999 grant awarded from Nissan North America, Inc., Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc., General Motors Corporation, 2013)

Video

Duke University Bass Connections Energy Efficiency in Industry: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing, Detroit

Reflections

Kate MacAdam, Kunyao Yu, Jingwei Deng and Mark Gockowski

This Team in the News

Bass Connections Goes to Detroit

See related team, Energy Efficiency in Industry: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (2014-2015).

Team Leaders

  • Gale Boyd, Social Science Research Institute
  • Josiah Knight, Pratt School of Engineering: Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Graduate Team Members

  • Gary Gao, Energy and Environment; Master of Engineering Mgmt-MEG
  • Justin Ong, Energy and Environment
  • Jake Reeder, Masters of Public Policy; Business Administration-MBA
  • Vikram Sridhar, Master of Engineering Mgmt-MEG
  • Jingxian Tao, Energy and Environment
  • Jill Wu, Energy and Environment
  • Dan Zhou, Energy and Environment

Undergraduate Team Members

  • Rahiel Alemu, Psychology (AB); Sociology (AB2)
  • Jason Chen, Economics (BS)
  • Robert Collins, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Robinson Ford, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Josh Laveman, Environmental Sciences (BS)
  • Kunyao Yu, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Rica Zhang, Computer Science (AB)

Community Organizations

  • General Motors
  • Nissan
  • Toyota