Energy Management has finally taken off!

Ladies and Gentlemen , presenting the new management buzzwords- Energy Management, Waste Reduction! You might say that is pretty lackluster Duke. But behold, Energy efficiency and waste reduction are going to drive us to higher levels of productivity this year because the market recovery to 2006 levels is still far away! The positive, we will live cleaner, leaner and greener!

In my this weeks tour of new customers, nothing got the excitement going like how the holistic approach to energy management will reduce costs, increase market competitiveness, improve cash flow and reduce wastes, thereby being the only way to go! There were none of the old "we would love to , but we are so busy with expansion projects that we do not know when we can look into this aspect of our business" like excuses- no , every where we went , we were greeted by a smile, a follow up meeting with the management and an honest thank you for sharing our ideas!

We also saw some innovative in-house measures. One that stood out was by Michael Finch, a very intelligent and fun person I met at a small soap products factory- actually built a pneumatic timer for the steam washers in his repair shop, just to ensure the workers don't leave the steam on after use! You see something similar at a regular gas station for air, where the compressor shuts off after 3 minutes, Brilliant adaptation Mike!

Energy management means a complete overhaul- step by step! Starting from measuring and getting data, analyzing and establishing the bench mark and good energy practices manual and continuously improving process control and logistics to contribute. You have to rethink your usage of everything- electricity, steam, chilling water, gasses and even raw material. You have to question the design of everything- lighting system, production equipment, waste systems and utilities. You have to analyze and go lean on everything in your company and finally even rethink your waste disposal!

Yes every area of your home, work and leisure establishment is a potential to save dollars and emissions and in turn boost our economy through new green purchases! For those who believe in global warming- this is great news, for those who don't but by now know that we need a new economic booster, this is good news too!

Most companies we visited were already on the right track, others needed help, some were making the case to dive in but all of them were looking into this aspect of business. The exception so far has been machine and equipment OEM's, who continue to look at capital cost only. My sincere advice to them is to start thinking about energy and waste and build it into your competitive advantages before you are too late and a GM / Chrysler happens to you in your line of work!
Talking cars, It was good to see a small snapshot in the news yesterday, that the government is going to buy fuel efficient vehicles, but ofcourse it was politically headlined- Obama to buy US vehicles. I wish the government would go ahead and set a target for reduction of fuel consumption for all it's departments and make the progress public on a website !http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5385XG20090409?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews

In fact why stop at the government, may be it is time to mandate that every product must carry a label- how much energy was used to produce the product and how much waste , including the packaging is anticipated from it's use! Making it visible will increase consumer awareness and make it a market competitive issue and as always the American industry will comply to the wishes of the consumers! - There are many such examples already- such as asbestos in buildings, trans fats and MSG in foods where consumer awareness has made corporations change course!

In the end, my message to all the stakeholders of the industry and government is that the automobile industry is the visible indicator of our times- so you either start listening to the new consumer, who wants energy efficiency and waste reduction, or you prepare for a rough future!

Energy management gains prominence

When my coworker Stefan Woehrle and I gave the first Energy measurement seminar in PCIC Europe in 2005 , the interest in managing and measuring energy on process plants was at best in the nascent stage! My last seminar was attended by over 80 people. 90% of the companies represented had an Energy in-charge or a team looking into the Energy needs. This represents a real fast forward in the adoption of energy management at process plants. In part it is a positive effect of the economic downturn and in part due to the scare from last years skyrocketing prices of Crude!
The good news is, technology is already available to save us real dollars, the better news is, in the long run it will make companies in the west more competitive and ease the voracious energy appetite.
what I would like to see though is the US gov and large corporations to take the joint lead and form an energy reduction team to look into every federal, state and corporate facility of their business, the prime objective will be to save energy through installation and adoption of systems and processes that enhance efficiency.

A holistic approach to energy management starts with using flow computers, flow meter, RTD temperature measurements on the steam, air, chilling water and gasses. The next steps are to cut and minimize leaks and wastes. But the real achievement is when we analyze every process for energy efficiency and question how much could we save should we adopt modern digital technology and or change the way we do business. For example, if we adopt online digital reporting for agency compliance, do not ever send printed copies of tenders and contracts, improve building standards for energy consumption, check the efficiency of every process and transaction and the number of visits it requires, streamline parking systems, create better interlinked campuses that don't need private transport- basically rethink everything to be leaner in energy consumption. The answers are all available or within reach, we don't need a revolution, just an accelerated evolution, are we ready to Re-think?

Read my paper at http://www.controlglobal.com/whitepapers/2009/029.html