Systematization of energy efficiency factors at industrial enterprises

Abstract

Management of energy consumption at an industrial enterprise in market economy requires a fundamentally new mechanism to improve energy efficiency, which provides the necessity for modern systematization of business energy efficiency factors. The existing systematization reflects a fragmented approach to the problem and appears to be one of the reasons for the high energy intensity of production, and hence for the low efficiency of economic activities of enterprises. The purpose of this research is to systematize and analyze the interrelations among enterprises’ efficiency factors for determining the co-respective indicators necessary while elaborating and implementing energy- and fuel-saving programs in the future. The novelty of the research results lies in the fact that a matrix of interrelations among energy efficiency factors is formed on the basis of a systematic approach to industrial production engineering, which will make it possible to construct correlation and regression models in order to forecast energy consumption at enterprises. This is important for determining interaction among the factors considered, as well as between the factors and the external dynamic market environment, which, in its turn, allows for identifying key energy efficiency factors at a given time interval and for determining a cause-and-effect relationship between energy efficiency and performance of the enterprise. The unity of production engineering fundamental principles enabled us to identify energy efficiency factors in such key areas of enterprises’ activities as economic, industrial, institutional, social, environmental and legal. A characteristic feature of the systematization of energy efficiency factors is that they are considered in relation to factors specific to market economy: supply and demand for products and energy resources, access to market of resources and new technologies.