With saving energy and money the focus of many today, a campus organization known as the Industrial Assessment Center is offering free energy-efficiency assessments to local small and mid-size facilities.

The Industrial Assessment Center, or IAC, is part of the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The UW IAC is one of 26 such university branches across the country offering free assessments to qualifying companies.

“The Industrial Assess-ment Center functions as a non-profit, with the parity of our funding coming from the Department of Energy,” said Andrew Martin, a junior at the UW and the lead of marketing for the IAC. “They established the National Industrial Assessment Center program to further energy efficiency and help alleviate the American reliance on non-renewable energy. The funding comes exclusively from the Department of Energy, and we do our best to make the most of it.”

According to the Department of Energy Web site, the Industrial Technologies Program leads national efforts to improve industrial energy efficiency and environmental performance and partners with U.S. industry in a coordinated program of research and development, validation and dissemination of energy efficiency technologies and operating practices.

The IAC is capable of offering such assessments for free because it is a non-profit operation.

Primarily students, with assistant professor Alexander Mamishev overseeing the entire operation, run the UW’s IAC branch.

“It’s really electrical engineering, mechanical engineering or materials science engineering orientations that they look for in a new member,” said Jeff Dallas, a junior involved with the program. “To tell you the truth, you don’t even necessarily need to be in those programs yet; they are looking for people who are earlier on in their college career. That way, the members can be on board with the program longer than just the two years they will spend in their engineering program as an undergraduate.”

The center assesses mid-sized companies with production facilities and annual revenues below $100 million. The companies applying for an assessment also must have fewer than 500 employees, annual utility expenses between $100,000 and $3 million, and no staff dedicated to energy efficiency.

When an assessment is to be done, the assessors arrive at the facility and are given a tour by the foreman. Then, the assessors individually observe the facility, making notes as to what can be done to save energy. The assessors then come back together with the foreman to present their findings, and see what things he or she is most willing to deal with.

From there, the center has 60 days to prepare a report for the company to work from.

“These reports are usually 60 to 70 pages long,” Dallas said, “and are full of assessments on each different area of the facility as to how that area can be changed to save energy.”

The UW IAC is currently accepting applications for new assessments from qualifying companies in the region.

Reach reporter Anthony Michael Erickson at news@dailyuw.com.