The Mounting Imperative to Manage Energy in American Manufacturing

In the throes of international economic volatility, U.S. manufacturers are focused on maintaining global competitiveness through product quality and production ingenuity — all while carefully controlling production costs. For some U.S. industrial subsectors energy costs can represent a significant portion of total production costs, so prudent management of energy is fast becoming a fundamental cost containment measure. 

Some energy-intensive industries are paying attention to volatile energy costs and are looking into energy management to limit exposure to international competition and energy price instability. In addition, growing societal pressure on companies to be sustainable is causing such firms to re-examine their energy usage patterns. By elevating energy efficiency into the management structure of an organization, industrial companies can realize important energy savings as well as proven co-benefits of proactive energy management — productivity improvements, reduced operations and maintenance (O&M) expenditures, diminished emissions intensity and more accurate production forecasting, among others. New standards and programs now exist that can enable manufacturers to realize such benefits.

Industry-Led Approach Unveils Substantial Energy Efficiency Opportunities

 In 2007, a group of leading American manufacturers assembled with the aim of helping U.S. industry reduce its energy intensity and improve competitiveness. This group developed into an independent industry-led coalition, the U.S. Council for Energy-Efficient Manufacturing (U.S. CEEM). Led primarily by corporate energy managers, this coalition draws upon collective energy expertise of U.S. CEEM that spans the breadth of U.S. industry.   

Over the past four years, U.S. CEEM has been active in developing resources to advance sound energy management in American manufacturing. The focus of these efforts is Superior Energy Performance (SEP), an ANSI-accredited plant-level certification program that is currently in its pilot phase.  In addition, U.S. CEEM supported the development of the ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management Standard, which serves as the foundational element of achieving SEP certification. Throughout this period, U.S. CEEM has been instrumental in ensuring that the needs of industry are represented in SEP.

ISO 50001 and Superior Energy Performance: Market Standards to Validate Effective Energy Management

With the publication of ISO 50001, industrial companies can now demonstrate their commitment to sustainability by designing an energy management strategy that conforms with the standard. These practices ensure that their customers — both consumers and other businesses — can count on the responsible energy practices of the certified manufacturer, as compliance is validated by third party practitioners.

SEP certification goes one step further, verifying two core requirements of the program: conformance with ISO 50001, and independently validated improvements in energy performance using the SEP M&V protocol. SEP certification will recognize the nation’s leading energy-efficient manufacturers who wish to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to energy-efficiency. Superior Energy Performance, expected to launch in 2012, will provide the first ANSI-accredited energy efficiency certification for industrial facilities — a strong step forward in improving energy intensity across U.S. industry.