Improving industrial energy efficiency by changing the energy culture

摘要

In recent years there have been several studies showing that behavioral change can contribute to savings of 5-15 % of the energy consumption of an industrial site. This was confirmed in a survey in 2011 of the Belgian and Dutch industry showing that behavioral change is both an opportunity and a challenge to achieve energy efficiency. The Energy Culture of an organization is the shared mindset that creates and sustains an environment leading to continual improvement of the energy performance of the organization. It is focused on the behavior of the people of an organization and their impact on the energy use. In this paper, we will show how significant energy savings can be achieved by changing behavior. The first step is an assessment of the Energy Culture of an organization. This evaluation is based on eight different dimensions: Visibility, Accountability, Collaboration, Targeting, Commitment, Motivation, Learning and Progress, and is executed using a combination of data analysis, surveys, interviews and workshops. Once the assessment is completed, it is possible for an organization to develop an action plan to improve whatever dimension or combination of dimensions they want to focus on. Noted that often work on one dimension has positive effects on several dimensions simultaneously. A case study will be presented were this approach was implemented at a chemical manufacturer. The result from the assessment was used to develop an action plan and this plan has now started to be implemented.