Energy Management for Improved Sustainability

Does energy management improve the profitability of small manufacturing enterprises? Energy is without any doubt a real cost to all business and more so for small business. Energy cost across all business contributes between 15 - 25% of total production costs with approximately 5 - 15% of total energy consumption in most small manufacturing enterprises being baseload (energy consumption at zero production). The hypothesis of this dissertation is that systematic and effective management of energy as a resource and a production input would improve business profitability. The research methodology included principally a review of a sample of two case studies; one that clearly demonstrated an appetite to embark on an energy management journey through the adoption of energy management best practice and another that saw energy management as a business nuisance and disruptive to production. Adoption of energy management opportunities resulted in Energy performance improvements which translated into improved energy intensities (unit of product per unit of energy) which as a consequence meant reduced energy consumption and costs which in turn meant reduced production costs.