Renewable electricity will likely play a substantial role in a decarbonized energy system, and there are well-known seasonal patterns to renewable electricity output. We can manage these seasonal fluctuations by overbuilding our electricity generation capacity, implementing seasonal storage, or managing our energy demands seasonally. If industrial processes are more integrated with the broader energy system, they could play a role in managing these seasonal patterns, as they do not directly serve life-sustaining energy demands, and their products may be stored and sold at a later date. Here, we combine GDP, manufacturing, and energy consumption data to look at how existing manufacturing facilities operate, focusing on the utilization of their operating capacity and how utilization correlates with state-level energy consumption. Of the 12 states with the largest manufacturing energy demand, we find that they use an average of 75%–81% of operating capacity between 2014–2018. In most of these states, there is a positive relationship between energy consumption and capacity utilization, and decreasing 10% of manufacturing capacity utilization could translate into energy savings that are relatively large when compared to electricity sales for the same time period, implying that seasonal ramping of industrial production could play a substantial role in adjusting to seasonal energy trends.

可再生电力可能会在脱碳能源系统中发挥重要作用，可再生电力输出有众所周知的季节性模式。我们可以通过过度建设我们的发电能力、实施季节性储存或季节性管理我们的能源需求来管理这些季节性波动。如果工业过程与更广泛的能源系统更加整合，它们可以在管理这些季节性模式方面发挥作用，因为它们不直接满足维持生命的能源需求，它们的产品可能会在以后储存和销售。在这里，我们结合 GDP、制造业和能源消耗数据来研究现有制造设施的运营情况，重点关注其运营能力的利用率以及利用率与州级能源消耗的相关性。在制造业能源需求最大的 12 个州中，我们发现它们在 2014 年至 2018 年间平均使用了 75% 至 81% 的运营能力。在大多数这些州，能源消耗和产能利用率之间存在正相关关系，与同期的电力销售相比，降低 10% 的制造产能利用率可以转化为相对较大的节能，这意味着季节性上升工业生产可以在适应季节性能源趋势方面发挥重要作用。