Energy Management

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Energy management is a method to secure a constant improvement of the energy efficiency in a company. Danish experiences show that many companies can reduce their energy costs considerably by implementing energy management. Typically, a compagny reduces its energy consumption by 10 to 15 per cent during the first years of implementation.

The Danish Energy Authority has developed the concept for energy management in the 1990s in close co-operation with industrial organisations. The Danish Standard for Energy management (DS 2403), under which companies can be given certification, was introduced i 2001. The DS 2304 is an extension of the energy part in ISO 14000.

The system includes procedure for e.g. energy efficient design, monitoring and control of energy consumption, energy conscious maintenance, information, and education of employees.

Energy management is also an essential part of the voluntary agreements scheme on energy efficiency. Energy-intensive industrial companies can receive a rebate on the green taxes by entering an agreement with the Danish Energy Authority.

By the end of 2001, approximately 400 Danish companies had implemented energy management. They represent more than 60 percent of the total energy consumption in trade and industry.

Energy efficient design

Energy efficient design ensures that investments in new production facilities are optimised on the basis of a total assessment of price and operating costs, e.g. maintenance and energy expenditure.

Several demonstration projects have been carried out in Denmark in recent years. They show that companies achieve significant savings in their operation costs if they consider energy efficiency from the very beginning.

Typically, the savings are more than 15 per cent, and the payback period of the additional investment in higher energy efficiency is less than four years. Sometimes both operational costs and investment costs are reduced.

Energy efficient design is one of the elements in energy management. Energy management is a method to secure a constant improvement of the energy efficiency in a company.

Learn How to Reduce Energy Costs in Industry Today!

Are you interested in knowing how some industrial companies have benefitted from exercising good energy management techniques? How energy savings of up to 40 percent can be realized without capital investment? Would you like to know how to manage and motivate your staff to save energy? A new publication available through Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) addresses these energy management issues and many more!

Energy Management in Industry looks at the experiences of companies from over ten different sectors ranging from steel and glass to electronics and vehicle assembly. Examples of good practices have been drawn out of demonstration projects from six countries. Companies of all sizes are featured; from 26 to over 16 000 employees on one site; with total energy costs varying from between a few thousand dollars a year, to several million; from operating at a single facility, to across a chain of over 600 sites.

Readers will learn how to develop an energy audit, identify energy savings, obtain senior management support, monitor energy use, motivate staff to save energy, and develop a training programme. Special emphasis is placed throughout on the "people-based" approach to energy management. Readers will discover that while energy-efficiency technologies have a significant role to play in reducing industrial energy use, it is just as important to ensure that employees are also using energy wisely.