Energy Efficient Industrial Systems

Energy Efficient Industrial Systems

Energy Efficient Industrial Systems

Introduction

The argument “In today's economic situation and environment, a systems approach to the design and operation of energy-efficient industrial systems (such as manufacturing and supply, etc) is more important than ever” is totally authentic and this paper signifies and validates this argument in below texts.

The industrial sector of any country is responsible for more than 33 percent consumption of the electricity generated and emissions of carbon dioxide associated with the utilization of energy (Price et al., 2006). The motors employed in the industrial systems alone have been proved to be responsible for the 7 percent consumption of world's energy (IEA, 2006). The energy consumption trend of industrial sector increases if we move from developed countries to developing or under developed countries which are observed to be responsible for up to 50 percent of the energy consumption. This huge consumption of electricity by the industrial sector has created the tension between the economic and industrial growth of the country and the constrained and depleting supply of energy sources.

Energy Efficient Industrial Systems

Most of the countries in order to advance their industrial sector and in expansion of their industrial infrastructure are incorporating the energy efficient industrial system for increased competitiveness and efficiency. For example, eighty percent of the china's industrial growth in the last decade has employed energy efficient industrial systems in initial or substantial designs or redesigns respectively (IEA, 2007) which have resulted in better results and showed significantly less consumption of electricity.

Current Trends in Energy Consumption

Despite the huge potential of the energy efficient industrial system, policy makers and industrial sectors overlook the opportunities of the energy efficient industrial systems. It is the common perception of the industrial sector that the incorporation of energy efficient policies and systems will make their systems and processes more complex or lower their productivity. These premises are found absent in the countries that have been employed energy efficiency policies and procedures in their industrial systems. The substantial opportunities are observed for the efficiency improvement in the industrial sector by the incorporation of energy efficient system.

Variations are observed in the pattern of industrial sector's energy consumption of different countries and the causal factors of this variation include the different levels of technological advancements, maturity of the industrial sectors, concentration of the sector, and capacity and structure of the industrial sub sectors. In his study, Luken (2007) performed a comparative analysis of the energy consumption intensities of the year 2004. His study concluded that if the energy consumption of all the industrial sectors of developing countries could match up to their counter parts of developed countries, the energy consumption of the world can be reduced by up to 70 percent. Though the estimation is approximate but it signifies the existence of huge energy consumption difference between the industrial sectors of developed and developing countries.

Energy Efficiency and Industrial Systems

The energy consumption of the industrial sectors differs significantly from the residential or commercial sectors in prominent ...