Why factories ignore easy energy savings opportunities
A new case study reveals that manufacturers focus on fixing obvious energy waste while ignoring harder-to-tackle inefficiencies that could cut costs further. The gap isn't a technology problem—it's organizational, suggesting that companies need better internal knowledge-sharing and leadership commitment to unlock deeper energy savings.
Originaltitel: Bridging the Industrial Energy Efficiency Gap: A Case Study of Targeting Energy Waste in Industrial Manufacturing
Improving energy efficiency in industrial manufacturing remains challenging despite substantial technical potential. This has resulted in a persistent energy efficiency gap, which is increasingly understood as a socio-technical issue driven by not only technology limitations but also organizational and informational barriers. This study investigates how energy waste is targeted in practice through an in-depth single case study of an automotive company. Fifteen energy efficiency measures (EEMs) were analyzed and classified by type of energy waste addressed, digital technologies applied, and organizational knowledge required. The results show that industrial efforts primarily focus on reducing idling energy losses, while fewer measures address more complex forms of energy waste, such as over-processing losses. Digital technologies are mainly applied and rolled out at lower maturity levels, emphasizing energy monitoring and visualization. Further, different types of organizational knowledge are associated with targeting energy waste: technical knowledge dominates isolated interventions, process knowledge supports standardized technology diffusion, and leadership knowledge is required for cross-functional coordination. The findings highlight that bridging the energy efficiency gap requires the alignment of technological solutions with organizational knowledge and routines. This study contributes empirical insights into how manufacturing companies can structure and prioritize energy efficiency efforts and provides a framework to support the implementation of energy efficiency measures in practice.