McKinsey recently released a report entitled Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the US Economy where they offered a detailed analysis of the opportunity presented by adopting energy efficient practices.  Specifically, they considered positive NPV projects only - projects where the savings operating costs paid for the investment over an acceptable time period.  This approach, applied to a full range of industrial, commercial, and residential opportunities, identified an opportunity to save 9.1 quadrillion BTU of end-use energy by 2020.

Notably, opportunities in the industrial sector account for 40% of the total opportunity, with 67% of the total industrial opportunity related to improving the efficiency of industrial processes.  Industrial process energy represents an unseen portion of a product's environmental footprint.  Increasingly, process energy, along with other process byproducts such as air pollution and waste water, is taken into account when evaluating the environmental footprint of a product. 

In line electron beams are one of the world's most energy efficient forms of industrial process energy, with the capability to replace many inefficient thermal and chemical based processes for a range of industries.  AEB is currently commercializing solutions for industrial sterilization and curing of inks and coatings - energy intensive processes that span many different industries.  Electron Beam technology has the potential to address a wide range of other cross-industry process challenges such as pollution abatement.  The chart below illustrates the potential for energy, environment, and economic savings electron beam technology can deliver.