The New Energy Management Frontier: The Critical Role of a Systematic Management Approach in Making Technology Improvements Successful

Abstract

Improvements in technology certainly play a pivotal role in the quest for increased energy efficiency. However, sophisticated industrial energy users are increasingly learning that technology alone cannot drive long-term, sustainable reductions in energy cost. The role of people within an organization is just as important as technology. In fact, as companies continue to improve their energy efficiency technology, and their production processes, the role of people, and the management approach they are engaged in, takes on an increasingly prominent role in driving additional energy management improvements. This paper will highlight how instituting a systematic approach to the people, or management aspect of energy management, can help ensure that a company first of all undertakes the most beneficial and cost effective technology improvements, and that the benefits of those improvements are, in fact, achieved. Moreover, the paper will demonstrate how such a systematic approach can help identify improvements in energy efficiency that require little or no capital investment, and can lay the groundwork for building on initial energy efficiency improvements in order to achieve long-term, continuous improvement in energy management results.