Factors influencing energy efficiency in the German and Colombian manufacturing industries

Improved Energy-Efficiency (EE) helps not only in enhancing competitiveness through cost reduction but also in minimising environmental degradation. A good understanding of factors influencing EE, however, is essential for EE improvement. This chapter attempts to determine these factors in the German and Colombian manufacturing industries. Based on the primary data from German and Colombian industrial associations and representative industries, the factors that could influence energy efficiency performance are studied. These factors are classified a priori under three categories: Economic Factors (EF), Production Technology Factors (TF), and Political Factors (PF). Based on the primary data, the results in both countries should indicate that energy management for the industrial sector is important within business strategy and that the quantification and assessment of energy consumption and energy efficiency are input indicators to improve and optimise processes within a sustainability development. Moreover, the results show that in German industry, an adequate combination of economical, technical and political factors is important to achieve better energy efficiency performance, whereas in the Colombian case, improvements in energy efficiency are closely related with economic and production technology factors. The results suggest that policy strategies in the industrial sector have to comprise legal and fiscal instruments and voluntary agreements to generate supporting framework conditions to improve energy efficiency. Moreover, it is important to strengthen international cooperation for scaling up of sustainable energy solutions in developing countries.