Why do we need energy management?
Energy costs are rising and there is no reason to believe that they will decrease in the future. This is driven by factors such as:
- Increasing use of taxation and other financial instruments.
- Increasing supply and distribution shortages.
- Decreasing security of supply.
- Increasing importance of environmental issues and the public perception of these.
- Increasing importance of corporate social responsibility.
For many plastics processing sites, energy costs are approaching the cost of direct labour and energy costs are almost always higher than the actual profits of the site. Experience shows that for typical sites, where little action has been taken in the past, over 30% of the energy use is ‘discretionary’ - this means that the cost is incurred because the site management has either decided to take no action or because it has not recognised the opportunities for improvement. In most cases, energy use and costs can be reduced by over 30% and these savings add directly to the site profits.
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Where are the savings?
- Energy costs can be reduced by:
- Management actions that typically cost less than £1,000
- Maintenance actions that typically cost less than £1,000
- Capital investment actions that typically cost more than £1,000
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What are the returns?
The returns from energy management actions are quick, certain and need only internal effort. The payback for almost all management and maintenance actions is 6-9 months and for almost all capital investment actions is less than 4 years.
The returns from energy management are much better than the returns from increasing sales.
What do we need to start?
Implementing energy management requires an energy management system and this must cover:
The company energy policy.
- Performance assessment.
- Targets for short and long-term performance.
- Reporting - Systems must show results to get resources.
- Auditing.
Download the Booklet
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