Key pillars of successful energy saving projects in small and medium industrial enterprises

Abstract

Commonly used approaches in energy management have been found to be insufficient in many small and medium industrial enterprises. The benefits of energy saving solutions can be rather limited. A lack of procedures providing optimal solutions is noticeable from a literature review. Systematic and critical observations of numerous energy saving projects performed by the authors revealed that it is possible to specify four pillars which are crucial for successfully implementing these projects. They should be applied as much as possible and can be specified as follows:1. Technical expertise: Knowledge of industrial facility and possible savings based on experience2. Good operational data: The acquisition of data in a facility3. Modeling, simulation and optimisation: Assessment of various options and the selection of the most beneficial one4. Methodology: A systematic approach including all three remaining pillarsThe benefits of each pillar have been demonstrated by several publications. This paper summarizes the pillars in a review study and introduces a systematic approach based on them. The four pillars were applied on various case studies. One of them is presented in the article. The application of all the pillars provides an efficient way to conduct energy saving projects.