Productivity and maintenance benefits of energy efficiency

Energy efficiency (EE) measures have shorter payback periods than generally assumed

Many energy efficiency (EE) measures in industry consist of improving purchasing and maintenance practices and procedures. These measures often have positive implications other than just energy savings. They can also reduce maintenance costs and increase the productivity of the site. These ancillary savings are often forgotten when calculating the payback rate of EE measures. In reality, EE measures often have significantly shorter payback periods than previously assumed. This is the principal conclusion of a recent study by the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

EE potential twice as large as generally assumed

The conclusion of the U.S. DOE confirms an earlier finding made in the paper 'Productivity Benefits of Industrial Energy Efficiency Measures', published in Energy 11 in 2003. This paper demonstrated a strong correlation between EE measures and productivity. Systematically taking into account the productivity benefits when calculating the payback period would actually double the potential of cost-efficient EE improvements, according to this paper.

LCC is best practice

The strong correlation between EE, maintenance and productivity is another excellent reason to make use of Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Using LCC when making purchasing and maintenance decisions ensures that all benefits are taken into account. This results in a more realistic, integrated, and accurate view of the potential optimisation of a production line. Unfortunately, LCC can often involve rather complex calculations to execute and, as a result, have discouraged far too many potential beneficiaries from making them standard or even common practice.