ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 27

POWER PLAY

The Quest to Improve
America's Energy Efficiency
through Tribology:
Can We Save a Quad?
Carlton Reeves, Ph.D.

T

oday, massive amounts of energy are wasted through
ineffective or lagging tribological technologies and
through the production of materials to replace parts
damaged by friction and wear. Furthermore, several higherefficiency energy applications in power conversion and
transportation, for example, will require tribological advances
for their operational performance to be realized. The U.S.
Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (APRA-E)1 seeks to identify, investigate and quantify
tribological engineering advances with commercial potential
that will address these opportunities to save nearly 1 percent of
America's total annual energy consumption.
The United States produces enormous amounts of greenhouse
gases as it transforms and uses energy. During the last decade,
annual energy consumption in the U.S. has hovered near 100
quads (1 quad = 1015 Btu = 1018 J).2 Recently, increased demand
resulting from population and economic growth has been
offset by higher efficiency. However, reducing the production
of carbon dioxide (CO2) and managing its accumulation are
increasingly urgent challenges with the potential to positively
shape the future of our ecosystem and improve quality
of life, including addressing alarming trends of sea levels
rising due to glacier melting and crop production declining
due to desertification.3,4 Reducing energy consumption
while improving our energy efficiency across all sectors of
the American economy will have a direct impact on CO2
production while mitigating the deleterious effects of climate
change. One essential strategy to address this is to greatly
reduce the amount of energy used while at least sustaining
current levels of economic activity and productivity. Tribology
- the science related to friction, wear and lubrication - offers
the potential for massive reductions in energy use by reducing
friction (wasted energy) and wear (part erosion).

A substantial amount of the energy lost is a direct result of
friction and wear caused by improper design, lubrication
practices and other tribological phenomena. For instance, the
transportation sector consumed nearly 28 quads of energy in
2015 and contributed to nearly 34 percent of CO2 emissions in
2014.5 It is estimated that nearly a third of the energy used in
transportation was simply to overcome frictional losses, which
can also be attributed to increased exhaust and greenhouse
gas emissions.6 Moreover, the industrial and power generation
sectors used a combined 63 quads in 2015 and contributed
more than 55 percent of CO2 emissions in 2014.5 It has been
previously estimated that almost 11 percent, or 10 quads, of the
energy used by the transportation sector, the industrial sector
and the utilities sector can be saved by new developments in
tribology.7
With this goal in mind, the Advanced Research Projects
Agency-Energy is focused on identifying pathways and research
directions to reduce the energy consumed in the United States
by 1 quad annually through innovative tribological technologies.
There is an evident and pressing need to re-evaluate many
industries with a focus on addressing contemporary challenges

Compoundings December 2016 * 27 * Vol. 66 No. 12



ILMA Compoundings December 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings December 2016

ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 1
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 2
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 3
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 4
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 5
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 6
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 7
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 8
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 9
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 10
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 11
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 12
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 15
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 16
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 17
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 18
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 19
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 26
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 27
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 28
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 30
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 31
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 33
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 34
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 35
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 36
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 37
ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 38
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 40
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ILMA Compoundings December 2016 - 44
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