A Brazilian Experience in Energy Management: Low-cost Actions as Strategy to Reduce Electricity Costs

The development of consumption of electric energy, the increasing difficulties to meet the demand, the high cost of the supply alternatives, the impact of new power plants to the environment, and the need for companies to enter a globalized and competitive world requires optimized use of resources. Many companies, especially small and medium-sized, find it difficult to conceive Energy Management (EM) as a management practice with decisive character for strategic planning guidelines. The purpose of this article is to introduce low-cost practices, generally unknown, to industrial energy management and to quantify its economic benefit. The methodology was based on minimization of electric power expenses, each practice being responsible for a degree of improvement. The results were obtained through a case study, performed by doing a brief energy audit in an industry that produces boilers, collecting energy profile data and history of electricity bills for one production cycle (11 months). The resulting average monthly economy exceeded 45% on bills and a total present value greater than R$ 1,000,000.00 for the cumulative amount in 2 years, value which could be either invested in retrofit installations, or applied in other targets of the strategic planning, contributing significantly to the competitiveness and market share growth.