WASHINGTON, DC — Successful industrial energy efficiency programs offer substantial assistance and flexibility, while using a variety of approaches to reach industrial customers.

The programs also require proper resources in order to adequately serve a sector that makes energy efficiency investment decisions in complex and disparate ways, a new report found. Yet, the sector stands to benefit substantially from improvements to energy efficiency, both financially and operationally.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy studied energy efficiency programs for the industrial sector in order to catalog best practices of those that got it right. Among the critical lessons learned from successful programs: identify internal champions, get to know the customer, and start with assessments, while building the internal capacity to do more. 

"This report is timely because of the important role of the industrial sector to contribute to energy efficiency savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions," Anna Chittum, lead author of "Industrial Energy Efficiency Programs: Identifying Today’s Leaders and Tomorrow’s Needs" and associate with ACEEE's Industrial Program, said in a statement last week. "As more states, as well as the federal government, set more aggressive energy savings targets, we need the significant savings available from the industrial sector to achieve these goals and keep costs down for everyone."

The industrial sector offers significant opportunities for reducing energy use at a time of increased interest in efficiency. Nearly half of U.S. states have set energy savings goals and set aside funds to pay for efficiency.

These goals cannot be met without the assistance of the industrial sector, which consumed nearly a third of the nation's energy in 2007, according to the report. Already the sector has contributed to an improvement in energy intensity, with the amount of energy needed to produce a dollar of goods declining by 50 percent in the last three decades.

The impact of the economic recession on industrial energy use has been twofold. The contraction caused a drop in industrial energy use, while energy efficiency investments have fallen off because firms are unwilling or unable to commit the capital.

Currently available energy efficiency technologies, however, can reduce consumption at a typical industrial facility by up to 20 percent, the report said. Up to 30 percent of the opportunities are related to behavioral changes.

Image CC-licensed by Flickr user ralphbijker.