Energy Management Pathfinding: Understanding Manufacturers’ Ability and Desire to Implement Energy Efficiency

Abstract

Manufacturers are scrambling for relief from today’s energy ex-
penses and price volatility. Most industry decision-makers believe the
solution is to seek the lowest available energy prices. Too often, manag-
ers fail to grasp the opportunities offered by energy management, which
focuses on both consumption and prices. Industry can be resistant to
energy management for a variety of reasons. Simply put, energy man-
agement has no traditional place in the typical manufacturer’s chart of
organization, job descriptions, and performance accountabilities. While
technology is fundamental to energy efficiency, it is people who make
it work in an organizational context. DuPont, Frito-Lay, Unilever, and
Kimberly-Clark are a few of the forward-thinking companies that have
found ways to build energy management into their daily operations
to positive effect. The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) is documenting
these companies’ experiences in a series of case studies that reflect the
organizational and behavioral aspects of corporate-wide energy man-
agement. Case studies show that energy management motives and ap-
proaches are somewhat varied—there is no “one size fits all” solution.
ASE offers a typology of industrial energy management strategies to
illustrate the range of opportunities available to industry. Ultimately, it
is a manufacturer’s organizational character that determines its ability
to manage energy consumption. A checklist included in this article al-
lows the reader to diagnose a manufacturer’s aptitude for undertaking
various energy management strategies