Industrial Energy: Counseling the Marriage Between Energy Users and Efficiency Programs

Abstract

Industrial energy users and the efficiency programs that serve them enjoy a long and storied partnership. Each partner operates with the best of intentions, but with agendas that are not always reconcilable. At best, this yields a marriage that is not as fruitful as it can be. At worst, it creates alienation and wastes the value that this union has the potential to generate. Most marriages need periodic renewal, as the partners pause to take stock of their past progress and their future vision. The marriage of industrial facilities and energy programs are no different. If industrial energy efficiency is to reach its full potential, programs must evolve beyond a courtship based on the low hanging fruit of easy, low-cost improvements. What began as an effort to reduce utility bills can become a strategic partnership for boosting industry competitiveness and economic growth. This approach necessarily involves capital investment choices. Aside from the usual technical analyses, industry managers and program administrators will need to effectively navigate the procedures and politics of corporate investment. This suggests an evolution in energy program communications and conduct. This report compares the business as usual marriage between industry and energy efficiency programs. Drawing from a survey of stakeholders, we extrapolate lessons-learned and offer a vision for sustaining that marriage in the future. (Note: please read the footnote below to become familiar with the acronyms used in this report.) What are the opportunities and rewards? Equally important, how can the partners work together more productively? What does this vision imply for future program design and conduct? This report, submitted for the 2013 Industrial Energy Technology Conference, will offer suggestions. A companion social media platform will invite readers to react with comments that will refine our basic vision. It is our intention to have this document evolve into a public discussion-one that we hope lasts far beyond the close of the conference.