Indian Economy is now entering the second generation of reforms. The quantitative restrictions are almost non-existent. The tariff barriers are crumbling down. This situation, coupled with high finance charges; Poor international penetration, protected labour and bloated bureaucracy leave no other option than to improve productivity.

Three options available are labour productivity, raw materials and energy. The first is time consuming and requires cultural change, though many industries are showing signs of success. The second one is technology and equipment intensive, requiring large investment, and with low return on investment. The energy conservation option in many cases have very high returns, (direct pay back in weeks or months), relatively low investments and proven technology. It is ironic that most of the indian industries accept partially proven technology for production with very high investments, while insisting on many similar installation for energy conservation before implementation.

Energy being both scarce and expensive, and the fact that energy saving is independent of any other productivity measures, is being realised by many industries.

The past few years are changing the outlook of many industries, as they have realised that the energy saving option is not only attractive, but requires low lead time compared to other areas. Thus, there is a higher interest in energy conservation than before. The passing of the energy conservation bill is another strong motivation for starting energy conservation measures.

Summing up, the need for using energy carefully is

l Energy is scarce

l Energy is expensive

l Energy saving does not affect any other productivity measure

l Energy saving helps environment

Hence,

l Energy has to be used carefully

management Tools

For managing anything, the tools are the same, be it finance, project, inventory, sales, or ENERGY.

The tools of management are listed below in their sequence.

1	Measure	One can manage only what is measured
2	Account	Without accounting, measured values are just figures.
3	Analyse	Change can occur only with analysis
4	Formulate action plan	An action without plan is un co-ordinated.
5	Implement	The final action, without which there is no profit.

Energy management too, has to follow the same steps. Only that in case of energy, two intermediate steps are used after analysis. They are :

1). Identify savings potential.

2). Estimate commercial feasibility.

The above approach alone, would lead to proper management of energy, and anything else would be less scientific.

Present approach

Presently all energy conservation starts with energy audit. An energy "auditor" is called, and he/they conduct a study of the existing operations for a duration of about a week or fortnight. They see the operation on those few days, and come out with some standard recommendations. Some of them get implemented, and some energy is saved. Still few gets implemented, but the results are far lower than expected. The industry compares itself with the bench marked energy consumption. If they are near the top, they get convinced that the best has been done. Other wise, the size and age of the plant, or investment constraints are the reasons for higher energy usage.

Thus, the momentum is lost, and precious energy gets wasted.

To sum Up

Energy management should be

· Measured

· Accounted

· Analysed

· To Identify energy saving potential

· To Ensure commercial feasibility

· Formulate action plan

· Implementation.

But the present approach is

Call energy auditor - get recommendations

Implement some - Save some energy

Implement others - Face difficulty or no savings

Compare performance with Similar industries - (Bench Marking)

Be complacent if closer to the best

Which misses the first three steps. This situation leads to some question, which, when probed become disturbing. .