Energy Management Increasingly Seen as a Source of Competitive Advantage
Deloitte’s 2015 Resource Study found that business increasingly views an active energy management program as a way to create and maintain competitive advantage. The study, first conducted in 2011 and update annually thereafter, is based on a survey of over 600 corporate energy management decision-makers. Fully 44% (up 10% from 2014) of respondents identified energy management as integrated into corporate strategy, while 37% said energy management is integrated at the business unit or site level. Reducing electricity costs was identified as a key goal:
- 79% identified reducing electric costs as important to financial competitiveness
- 77% identified reducing electric costs as important to image/brand competitiveness
The latter suggests that companies are motivated by more than just cost-cutting; they are also taking into account external stakeholder views.
Businesses are spending capital to achieve their energy management goals. Goals have been set around electricity (88%), natural gas (64%), transportation fuels (59%), carbon (57%), and water (70%), with approximately one-quarter of goals across all five areas being targeted reduction goals. Ninety-three percent of businesses indicate they invested capital over the last five years to achieve energy goals, totaling around 17% of overall capital spending.
The most popular technologies and strategies for achieving energy management goals in 2015 were:
- 55% timers/sensors to control when equipment is powered on
- 53% motion sensors
- 47% building energy management systems
- 41% demand response programs
- 39% onsite generation technology such as solar panels
- 34% energy recovery systems
- 26% batteries for load shifting and peak shaving
New technologies will continue to drive increased corporate energy efficiency. A 2015 study by McKinsey & Company finds that operational improvements can improve energy efficiency 10-20%, but investment in new technologies can increase the savings to as high as 50%. Overall, the study finds that adoption of innovative technologies could save industry over $600 billion per year globally. The report outlines new technologies for the following nine sectors.
- Advanced Industries (e.g. semiconductors, electronics)
- Cement
- Chemical
- Oil Refining
- Consumer Goods
- Mining
- Power
- Pulp and Paper
- Steel
The full report can be found here — Greening the future: New technologies that could transform how industry uses energy.