AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Energy efficiency of enterprises is influenced by a number of
external and internal factors:
1. External factors:
state tariff policy in the energy resource sector and their
final cost;
state fiscal policy in energy saving;
energy supplier policy;
availability of energy supplier infrastructure;
regulatory rules in the field of regulation and energy
consumption audit.
2. Internal factors:
2.1. Investment opportunities of the enterprise:
indicators of the enterprise’s financial performance and
financial sustainability;
the proportion of innovative implementations at the
enterprise in energy efficiency;
the proportion of funds allocated by the enterprise for the
implementation of new energy-saving technologies;
the involvement of enterprise in public and private energy
efficiency programs.
2.2 Technological and innovation policy of the enterprise:
application of energy-saving technologies and equipment;
energy rating and metering system at the enterprise;
energy audit;
the proportion of production of energy-intensive products;
involvement in energy saving programs;
the degree of utilization of secondary energy resources;
production of energy resources by own/local energy
sources.
2.3. Personnel Policy:
staff incentive towards energy efficiency and energy
saving;
personnel qualification in energy saving;
encouraging suggestions for saving fuel and energy
resources through the wages fund, and other ways of the
personal motivation of the personnel.
The search for the optimal strategy of the enterprise to save and
improve energy efficiency, as well as its implementation and
monitoring of the results is called energy management.
Energy management is an activity which allows significantly
optimizing the energy inputs and is aimed at ensuring the
rational and saving use of energy resources. Energy management
at enterprises is regulated by the international standard ISO
500011 and provides for the following sequence of actions to
improve energy efficiency:
conducting an energy audit, which involves identifying
bottlenecks;
identifying optimal energy efficiency and energy saving
measures which can be implemented at a particular facility,
taking into account the available budget, and development of a
strategy for their implementation;
implementation of the energy efficiency strategy;
monitoring of achieved results and searching (if necessary) for
new ways to optimize production processes.
Energy management and its elements (for example, energy audit)
can be implemented by SMEs independently or purchased as a
third party service.
The main energy saving measures are presented in Table 3.
The compositional application of innovative and organizational
measures by the enterprise will provide an opportunity to reach a
new level of energy efficiency, thereby increasing the
competitiveness of both products and the enterprise in general.
Certain types of energy efficiency and energy saving measures
can lead to the optimization of the use of a certain type of
resource (for example, replacement of networks, installation of
meters), while others will have an integrated effect (thermal
insulation leads not only to a reduction in heat supply costs but
also to a reduction in the consumption of electric energy by air
conditioners).
At the same time, it should be noted that eco-construction is
mainly aimed at meeting the needs of domestic consumers. At
that, the construction of office centers based on eco-technologies
is still an unoccupied niche, which can be of significant interest
for both developers and potential consumers (tenants, who are
mainly representatives of SMEs).
Table 3. Main energy saving measures for SMEs
Industry
sector
Recommended measures
1
2
Agriculture
Organizing an accounting and reporting
system on energy costs;
Applying waste-free technologies of
production, processing, and
storage of agricultural products;
Equipping existing and newly commissioned
livestock and
poultry complexes with bioenergy plants to
produce organic fertilizers and biogas;
Improving the heating system of
greenhouses, livestock farms, and poultry
plants, drying processes of agricultural
products and production waste, utilizing low-
potential secondary energy resources.
Service
sector
Implementing energy-saving measures to
ensure compliance with the requirements of
relevant state standards, construction rules
and regulations to achieve the established
specific indicators of energy consumption;
Organizing energy cost accounting and
automated energy management in buildings
and engineering equipment systems;
Using heat recovery equipment in the
projects of buildings and structures.
Industry
Organizing record-keeping (including
technical record-keeping) of energy and
automated management of energy
consumption in production processes;
Using secondary energy resources for heat
and power generation;
Implementing energy-efficient production
technologies,
installing high-performance equipment in
terms of energy efficiency;
Full utilization of effluent gases heat, the heat
from the cooling equipment, heat from spent
steam, and the like.
Depending on the financial capacity, structure, amount of current
costs and expected benefits, SMEs have the opportunity to
choose a strategy to optimize energy costs. At that, measures that
do not actually require significant capital costs can be effective.
This concerns, for example, the implementation of the green
office strategy, which provides for personal responsibility and
discipline of each employee, that is, attracts SME employees to
save energy resources.
The behavior of employees in the framework of energy strategy
chosen by the management plays an important role in controlling
energy consumption. At that, the management of the enterprise
should take into account that the average employee transfers
habits from household energy use to the workplace. Therefore, if
an employee is accustomed to the careless use of energy at
home, it is likely that the same behavior will be observed in the
workplace, especially if he is not a business owner. It is logical
that the larger is the business, the more difficult is to manage
energy consumption processes and implement the energy saving
principles, and thus, the higher is the need to encourage
employees to save energy.
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