2024-01-25 23:00:00
Energy savings are defined in the European Energy Efficiency Directive (2012) as the “amount of energy saved, determined by measuring and/or estimating consumption before and following the implementation of a measure aimed at improving energy efficiency, with external conditions that impact energy consumption subject to standardization.”
This notion of energy savings is not new but it was highlighted by the need, following the first oil shock of 1973, to no longer use energy as an inexhaustible resource. Oil supply restrictions have made certain countries like France aware of their fragility in the face of their lack of their own energy resources, which is formalized by the term energy independence, designating the capacity of a country to “autonomously” satisfy its energy needs, estimated by an official indicator, the energy independence rate.
The already old concept of energy savings invariably resurfaces, a sign of its robustness, an essential element in the search for optimized use of energy resources, pillar of the European program entitled “Rational use of energy”.
Furthermore, in the fight once morest climate change and taking into account the commitments made to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most effective and immediate action is the reduction of energy consumption, particularly through the search for energy efficiency, that is to say the best energy yield for a given system.
Basically, there is the need to find energy to satisfy more or less vital needs.
But can’t this energy demand be reduced?
Reflections on our ways of consuming or rather using energy (from which the notion of energy uses arises) lead to questioning some of these needs under the term “energy sobriety”.
Above all, it is increasingly necessary to find the right balance between energy needs and solutions to satisfy these needs, by preserving raw material resources as much as possible, or even by restoring more energy than that which was requested ( concept of positive energy).
Solutions for optimizing energy use, which have been tested, are just waiting to be implemented. They are technically and financially accessible. Many have no or low cost or a very short return time (less than a year).
France, with nearly 50 years of experience in this field, was a pioneer and numerous publications describe solutions in the fight once morest waste and in the search for energy performance.
The big revolution for an organization is to integrate energy management into company management in order to optimize the general functioning of its installations and systems. And no longer take energy for granted.
This article has three ambitions:
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show the progress already made in the field of energy savings and the reduction of energy consumption in France since the first oil shock, and in particular in the industrial sector;
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give an overview of the progress made but above all that which still remains to be done in the area of improving energy performance to be part of a long-term dynamic;
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provide information and advice always from the perspective of the best possible energy management for an industrial company.
The field being vast, the actors and the references numerous, this “overview” article on energy savings in industry gives the main elements and should be usefully supplemented by more specialized articles on each subject covered, including in particular one article on concrete energy saving actions that a company must implement.
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