The compressed air challenge: Making a difference for US industry

In 1997, the Compressed Air Challenge(R) (CAC) was developed as an outgrowth of the US Department of Energy's (USDOE) Motor Challenge program. The Challenge began as a voluntary collaboration managed by a sponsor, the Energy Center of Wisconsin, that included 15 sponsors from equipment manufacturers and distributors' associations, utilities, state research and development agencies, energy efficiency organizations, and the USDOE. The mission of the CAC is to develop and provide resources that educate industry on the opportunities and benefits attainable through compressed air system optimization. In 2000, the CAC became an independent not-for-profit organization that continues a development and deployment model based on shared interests and shared costs among public, private, and not-for-profit organizations that serve industrial customers. Since the first CAC training session in 1999, approximately 3900 people have been trained by CAC qualified instructors- both end users and suppliers. Using the CAC cost-share model has allowed sponsors to offer a very high-quality training product at a relatively low cost. For instance, USDOE typically spends $1 for each $10 spent to offer a CAC training session. This paper will summarize the findings of two recent independent evaluations were conducted by USDOE to assess the impact of CAC training and the market for compressed air efficiency services. One significant finding is that while approximately 76% of participants in the CAC training took specific actions within the 12-month period following training to improve the efficiency of their compressed air system, less than half of those randomly selected from the untrained population had taken any action at all in the past two years, including fixing leaks. Energy savings from improvements as a direct result of CAC training are conservatively estimated at $12.1 million per year. The market assessment also offers the first documented evidence that the CAC is beginning to have an impact on the compressed air market in promoting and supporting a shift from a component-based to a system-based approach.