Energy management has been high on the agenda of most industrial organization since oil prices skyrocketed in 2009. However, efforts for energy management have slowed down somewhat in the interim, even though the topic continues to be a high priority. When it comes to energy management efforts, some users are far advanced and have established enterprise-wide systems, while others are still just evaluating their actual energy usage.
The ARC report reviews selected best practices and shows the status quo of energy management based on an online survey with over 200 participants, accompanied by interviews and secondary research.
According to ARC, many corporations categorize energy management within the environ-mental function as energy usage is often reported as environmental compliance. However, organization can achieve significant reductions in costs and greenhouse gas emissions with cross-functional responsibility for energy management including the financial, operational, and environmental departments.
Currently, most companies are still just exploring energy management opportunities. More than half of the users are still investigating or simply metering their energy consumption without deeper integration into control. When companies decided to actually implement energy management, they experienced quick savings and continued to invest. The initial targets are between 8 and 15 percent energy savings per year.
