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RIT picked to lead new Manufacturing USA institute on clean energy

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability, Rochester, N.Y., has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy, as part of its Manufacturing USA initiative, to lead its new Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute, a national coalition of universities and companies that will forge new clean energy initiatives deemed critical in keeping U.S. manufacturing competitive.

The REMADE Institute, under the RIT-led Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance (SMIA), will leverage up to $70 million in federal funding that will be matched by $70 million in private cost-share commitments from industry and other consortium members, including 85 partners.

The institute will focus its efforts on driving down the cost of technologies essential to reuse, recycle, and remanufacture materials such as metals, fibers, polymers, and electronic waste and aims to achieve a 50 percent improvement in overall energy efficiency by 2027. These efficiency measures could save billions of dollars in energy costs and improve U.S. economic competitiveness through new manufacturing techniques and small-business opportunities, and offer new training and jobs for American workers.

In addition to the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, RIT is home to several research centers that also will be leveraged in the federal initiative. The university will work in collaboration with Idaho National Lab; Argonne National Lab; University of Illinois; and other universities, national labs, and industrial partners in partnership with the U.S. DOE. In all, 26 universities, 44 companies, seven national labs, 26 industry trade associations and foundations, and three states (New York, Colorado, and Utah) are engaged in the effort.

REMADE Institute partners have the following five-year goals:

  • 5 to 10 percent improvement in manufacturing material efficiency by reducing manufacturing material waste
  • 50 percent increase in remanufacturing applications
  • 30 percent increase in efficiency of remanufacturing operations
  • 30 percent increase in recycling efficiencies
  • 50 percent increase in sales for the U.S. manufacturing industry to $21.5 billion and the creation of a next-generation recycling and manufacturing workforce