Companies rethink their policies: increasing profits through energy efficiency

Several Indian companies have discovered energy efficiency as a factor in profits; energy efficiency has even become law for industry. The energy-saving technology is at hand, and old habits are often the only reason for waste.

The galloping economic growth in India is placing ever greater demands on energy supplies. The country's coal consumption will quadruple over the next 25 years, and India cannot meet this demand. At the same time, there are increasing calls for the country to do something to stem its growing carbon dioxide emissions. This dilemma can only be resolved by divorcing growth from energy consumption.
 
An important step in this direction is the Energy Conservation Act of 2001, in which GTZ experts from the Energy Programme were involved on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This law obliges the country's 5,000 largest consumers of energy, including the state railroad and manufacturers of cement, steel, electricity and fertiliser, to make considerable reductions.
 
A major cement manufacturer who invested in an energy-efficient plant is now saving half a million euros each year in energy costs. This example should be enough to convince other companies to abandon outdated and wasteful plants.

One of the activities of the Energy Programme is to train energy managers – a new profession that is very prestigious. The 11,000 graduates so far are all finding jobs in companies that are increasingly reviewing the way they use energy.

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