6 minutes11/25/2022
Huge price increases and fears of supply shortages for certain energy sources are causing uncertainty among many companies. What can you do now to address the energy price crisis? We provide 76 energy efficiency tips that can be implemented quickly and cost-effectively. These are all no-regret measures, meaning that even regardless of the current energy price crisis, these actions help save energy and reduce greenhouse gases.
The following infographic summarizes 76 measures that companies can quickly implement. All measures are considered low-investment (< 1000 EUR) and can help commercial and industrial companies reduce some of their energy use and mitigate increasing energy costs.
Many companies have already implemented some of the measures in the infographic, as many of these are low-hanging fruits. However, it is worth introducing organizational measures and optimizing workflows on a regular basis. Once the potential of these measures has been fully tapped, it may be necessary to consider investing in system and process technology to ensure it meets modern energy standards or use the best-available technologies.
Continuously optimizing energy consumption should be a fundamental part of any future-oriented company’s business strategy. By introducing an energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001, companies can pursue this goal over the long term and stay competitive.
The overall target for energy efficiency in the EU is to cut primary energy consumption by 26 %, and final energy consumption by 20 % compared to the 2005 levels. To achieve these targets, companies have to implement specific technical and organizational measures to either improve energy efficiency and/or reduce absolute energy consumption. Technical solutions are usually process- or sector-specific measures in energy-intensive sectors. However cross-cutting technologies, which are prevalent in all industries, can also have the potential to generate significant energy savings. Nevertheless, the first step to save energy or use it more efficiently should be to implement organizational measures, which usually come at no cost and might involve simple steps like reducing light intensities or temperatures.
Load management, which aims to avoid load peaks, can also reduce electricity costs. Energy controlling systems precisely monitor loads so that energy consumers can be throttled or shut down as required. This makes it possible to reduce network charges (costs incurred for use of power networks). Electricity supply companies therefore benefit as network utilization factors remain as constant as possible, with a flat consumption curve. While standard load profiles are applied for households and small-scale consumers, large-scale consumers with annual consumption in excess of 100,000 kWh are usually subject to remote power-consumption measurements at 15-minute intervals. In addition to the basic rate and kilowatt-hour rate, these companies must also pay a demand rate. This is based on the highest measured interval average in the billing period. As a result, a single load peak in the year can significantly increase electricity costs, even if a company’s average consumption is significantly lower. An energy management system provides crucial structures needed for load management, as it involves collecting and evaluating energy data at regular intervals.
