Emerson receives award for energy efficiency at its Milwaukee facility
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin, United States, 26 June 2025: Emerson said its Appleton Group iron casting facility in South Milwaukee has received a 2025 Energy Excellence Award from Focus on Energy. Making the announcement through a Press Release, Emerson said the award recognises organisations in the state that go beyond basic energy efficiency solutions, both within their own organisations and those they support.
Emerson said its foundry is one of the 11 recipients this year, highlighting how energy-efficient industrial facilities can reduce costs, contribute to a healthier environment and strengthen local economies.
Erin Soman, Managing Director, Focus on Energy, said: “Emerson’s foundry shows that even energy-intensive operations can be leaders in energy efficiency. This award isn’t just about saving energy – it’s about people coming together to think differently about how we use energy and what that means for Wisconsin’s future.”
Emerson said that Focus on Energy is a statewide energy efficiency and renewable energy programme for businesses and residents in Wisconsin. It offers a range of rebates and incentives for energy-saving technologies as well as services that help organisations reduce energy use and costs.
According to Emerson, the Appleton foundry, which manufactures electrical fittings, enclosures and other cast products for electrical infrastructure, has worked with the Focus on Energy initiative since 2017. In that time, the partnership has made it possible for the foundry to identify, evaluate, design and implement many successful energy efficiency and utility cost-savings projects, Emerson said.
According to Emerson, these initiatives include the installation of new controls on its makeup air units, the replacement of channel furnaces with cordless induction melting furnaces and the replacement of over 800 fluorescent lights with Appleton industrial LED fixtures. Combined, the energy improvements save the facility more than 10,000 megawatt-hours (MWh), 65,000 million British thermal units (MMBtu) and USD 1 million in energy costs, annually. Emerson said the foundry also identified nearly USD 350,000 in energy-related incentives throughout this period.
Emerson said the foundry team’s commitment to optimising energy efficiency has cut the facility’s total energy consumption and emissions by about a third since 2017, drastically reducing its own emissions and operating expenses. These reductions, Emerson said, are especially significant, given that the century-old foundry had been among the largest energy-consuming facilities across all of Emerson.
John Schuster, Plant Manager, Emerson, said: “The Energy Efficiency Excellence award highlights the dedication of our team to improve our own environmental impact, support our cost reductions in Wisconsin’s energy system and work with external organizations to move toward a more sustainable future. What we’ve achieved in South Milwaukee is a success story for the Emerson portfolio, as well as for the castings industry overall. It’s an honor to be acknowledged in this way.”