JUSTIFI Tool Could Unlock Value in Energy Productivity Projects
Free Software Will Help Industry Understand the Full Value of Energy Projects
Energy productivity—the measure of how much economic value is generated for every unit of energy used—can be underestimated when multiple benefits are overlooked.
Multiple benefits are the operational and strategic improvements—such as productivity gains, quality enhancements, safety improvements, reduced downtime, and lower maintenance costs—that occur alongside energy cost savings in an energy productivity project. Overlooking these types of multiple benefits can leave money on the table and businesses with an incomplete view of all potential cost-saving project outcomes.
To address this gap, the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently released JUSTIFI, a free, open-source software tool that helps manufacturers better understand the full value of their energy improvement projects. The name JUSTIFI reflects its purpose: It is a justification tool that helps users identify, quantify, and report the often-overlooked multiple benefits of energy projects demonstrating how increased energy productivity can directly enhance industrial competitiveness.
When these results are quantified alongside energy savings, they can strengthen the business case for projects by reducing payback periods and demonstrating alignment with an organization’s key performance indicators and strategic objectives.
Ultimately, JUSTIFI can help support more informed decision-making and higher project implementation rates.
“This new tool will help U.S. manufacturers become more competitive,” NLR researcher Sarah Cooney said. “JUSTIFI helps users quantify the connections between an improvement project, operational performance, and business value.”
JUSTIFI also enables users to identify the tangible benefits in their specific project, quantify their value, and connect those results to a business’s strategic goals.
Since its beta release in April 2025, more than 1,000 users have tried JUSTIFI, and NLR and ORNL researchers continue to gather feedback to further enhance its features: The tool can now generate clear, decision-ready or custom-designed reports that tie project outcomes to key performance indicators and highlight payback improvements.
JUSTIFI software contains a database of common multiple benefits. “It is nice that there's a database that you can search within the software,” said a Michigan State Industrial Training and Assessment Center student who used the software. The tool gives users what they need to build a complete business case for their energy productivity projects: quantifiable outcomes that could yield better return-on-investment metrics than evaluating projects on energy savings alone.
Where is the hidden value in your energy productivity project? Visit the JUSTIFI platform and find out. Users do not need formal training to get started. You can also visit the multiple benefits knowledge library for more resources.
Last Updated April 28, 2026