Anna Monis Shipley, R. Neal Elliott, Ph.D., P.E., Adam Hinge
February 2002
Executive Summary
Designing successful programs to address the small and medium-sized industrial market segment has been a challenge because of the large number of facilities, limited staff resources within plants, and the relatively small energy savings at each plant. As a result, many utility and federal government programs have focused on larger industrial plants and provided only limited services to smaller plants. Many efficiency programs have offered customized rebate programs targeted at their largest industrial customers while offering only prescriptive recommendations and rebates with little implementation assistance to smaller customers. While customized rebates may work well for a large facility, which has staff dedicated to energy issues, this approach has not worked for smaller customers. Prescriptive programs may not be flexible enough and configured adequately to guide efficiency improvements for a smaller facility.
In this study, we examine the concerns of managers of small and medium-sized facilities and explore the ways in which industrial decisions are made in these facilities. The technical areas for significant energy savings in plants as well as specific industries are outlined. We present a review of existing energy efficiency programs geared toward these plants and analyze how well the programs address the concerns of managers of small and medium-sized facilities. We also look into some of the failures of the existing programs and suggest areas for improvement.
We have found that energy is just one of many concerns of the industrial manager. For peak environmental, energy, and production efficiency, the processes and operations in a plant must be optimized. No single factor should be optimized to the detriment of the others. This task is more readily accomplished at the design phase of a project rather during later retrofits and process improvements. Most current programs for energy efficiency focus on offering prescriptive recommendations or rebates for retrofit energy improvements. It is evident that small and medium-sized firms require much more assistance in order to implement economically viable efficiency improvements. In order to bridge this energy gap, we believe that a more comprehensive program that involves a combination of education, prescriptive recommendations, and implementation assistance is needed. A program option that includes design advice for new product lines and plants should also be included in order to take advantage of the full economic and efficiency potential that a truly optimized facility offers.
Following are the key services that should be included in a successful program
targeted at small and medium-sized manufacturers:
Many of the elements of a successful program are already embodied in some form in many existing programs targeted to small and medium-sized industrial customers. In order to be a step above the others, a new program must be a more holistic approach, one in which all the elements of the energy efficiency improvement process are taken into account. In some cases, this approach would be too costly and/or difficult for any one entity to provide alone. Partnerships between utilities, public benefit programs, state energy offices, and private contractors may be the method in which the elusive goal of efficiency can be delivered to small and medium-sized manufacturers.
The potential for energy efficiency improvements in small and medium-sized manufacturing facilities is quite large, and may prove to be larger as the face of industry continues to grow and change. The road to efficiency is quite challenging but well worth the trouble.
40 pp., 2002, $13.00, IE002
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