Energy Demand Side Management - Small and Medium Sized Industry

I have no idea of how useful this information is, but I ran across it as I was looking for something else. U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Industrial Technologies Program - Save Energy Now Save Energy Now Updates Read about the results achieved to date. View a map showing all the assessments and events. Sign up for a webcast now! Order the Save Energy Now CD today! Sign up to partner with us! The U.S. Department of Energy launched Save Energy Now to help American businesses, factories, and manufacturing facilities save energy and continue to thrive during this time of diminished supplies and rising energy costs. Energy supply disruptions caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and recent hikes in energy prices, are impacting everyone in the United States, including the nation's industrial sector. Save Energy Now is part of the national campaign called Easy Ways to Save Energy (PDF 89 KB) unveiled by Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman to highlight easy ways for Americans to save energy now and throughout this winter, when prices are expected to remain high. The Save Energy Now initiative will provide U.S. industry with technical assistance and information to save energy and money and increase productivity right now. Read the Save Energy Now Fact Sheet (PDF 345 KB) for more details. Download Adobe Reader

A holistic strategy with practical tools and techniques that has been gaining support in a number of regional economies is referred to as Green Productivity, which was initiated by the Asian Productivity Organization. If you go to their website and look under e-books there are two books, one a Handbook on Green Productivity that is downloadable for medium-sized companies and formalized learning activities. The other is a Pocket Guide that was written for small business, although there is a far larger following for the pocket guide than imagined. There will be a CD version made available shortly with both books and other tools as the hard copy versions after 6 months are pretty well gone. Tools for small business (when defined as those legally constituted employer entities with less than 100 people) are NOT the same necessarily as those that will work for medium-sized companies (when defined as those legally constituted employer entities with more than 100 people up to 250 to 500 depending on the jurisdiction). There is a critical point that research on SMEs has uncovered - that 50 is a dividing line between formality and informality, which has a bearing on planning activities. Taking big company tools to small business by and large is a formula for frustration and failure. One tool that has proven VERY useful for micro-enterprise and up is Eco-mapping, as created by HW Engel from Brussels. Up to 80% of environmental costs are location-based. This mapping technique has been converted into a copy-righted tool that is diffused as shareware, use without charging and sharing results with the author. What is gaining ground in many small businesses to operationalize sustainability is to focus on improving productivity, because it is a commonly understood concept. Canada has a guide coming out shortly for small biz manufacturers on sustainability that includes the energy issue, that was branded and written with direct input from small business and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

L. E. Johannson, B.E.S. (Hons), M.Sc.,

FRSA President E2 Management Corporation (E2M)
113 Mountainview Road South
Georgetown, Ontario CANADA L7G 4K2
Tel: (1) 905 - 873 - 9484
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Email: [email protected]
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www.14000registry.com www.glassworks.org

Hi Laureen

You're talking 'cleaner production'. A google search on this will give you a host of relevant websites.

Good luck
SUE BELLINGER
ENVIRO FRINGE SERVICES

Trading as SB & Associates
Phone/Fax: +27 011 463 4902
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