Plant Services - June 2008 - (Page 58)

energy eXPerT Help wanted We have energy answers, but how can we reach full scale? rier to successful implementation. Everyone in the producwo prerequisites for breakthrough energy productivity business worldwide is overloaded with opportunity, tivity give a competitive advantage. First, effective not scratching the surface of true demand. As in any transenergy strategies recognize the need for fully inteformation, stress for some is opportunity for others. grated solutions from the primary fuel to the final product Restructuring the world’s energy footprint is becoming or process. Second, breakthrough energy efficiency requires the survival challenge of the 21st century. This column foconsistent day-by-day, year-by-year continuous improvecuses on industry challenges, but they pale in comparison ment with unwavering senior leadership. with the challenges of the world’s cities, most of which must This is rarely the approach most companies adopt. When halve their energy use in less than a generation while reenergy prices rise or new energy legislation looms, they seek maining competitive and attractive. a quick fix. Unrealistic, ill-informed goals are demanded Where will we find resources that can take from internal teams and accompanied by few, on these energy challenges and deliver results if any, additional resources or new ideas. The Organizations measured in trillions of dollars of productivoutcome is disparate, non-integrated meathat have most ity? They must be energy-literate, take on sures implemented in a hurry. Results are usumulti-decade energy efficiency and supply inally marginal, underlining the perception that of this skill set frastructure projects measured in hundreds of energy efficiency is an optional extra and not exist today. millions of dollars. They must be comfortable strategically essential. influencing the regulatory and legal frameOccasionally, a company recognizes the works that conflict with efficiency. They need to bring a need for a long-term energy-management process, along global perspective, following the client’s needs and drawing with investment plans and integrated approaches. Restrucon the best and brightest talent, technologies and practice. turing the energy footprint of a multinational company to Organizations that have most of this skill set exist today. achieve breakthrough productivity requires excellent proThey are the world’s leading corporations in the oil and gas cess- and project-management skills, accompanied by legal, industry. The new politics of energy is increasingly chalregulatory and investment-management expertise. lenging their historical leadership of the oil and gas part of When companies look for expertise, they all too often the energy chain. As countries envision a world of limited come up dry. Even if their teams truly understand what’s or even shrinking oil and gas reserves, nation-states are inneeded, which is itself a rarity, they can’t find the expertise creasingly consolidating control of oil wells and gas fields. to install the necessary processes, tools and projects. They Is it beyond imagination that the oil majors will make the either find highly qualified integrated energy expertise incultural shift necessary to see they have always been in the capable of tackling the depth and scale needed, or they find business of keeping the world’s energy systems moving? In resources that deliver scale, but only in a narrow arena. the past, they focused their formidable talents on deliverThis is no surprise, because the market is structured for ing fuels at low costs, high quality and in vast quantities. historical demands. Fully integrated expertise was needed In the future, keeping the planet’s energy systems moving only for small-scale, one-of-a-kind programs. Energy exwill require equally formidable talents focused on delivering pertise tended to deliver standalone, quick-fix solutions, efficiency at low costs, high quality and in vast quantities. which fall short of the possibilities offered by integrated Is this a marriage made in heaven: An industry seeking to approaches. redefine its future and a world energy productivity market I participated in the Energy Manager Workshop at the demanding rapid scalability? Industrial Energy Technology Conference in New Orleans, and the Globalcon meeting organized by the Association of Energy Engineers in Austin, Texas. It’s clear that the lack of Peter Garforth is principal of Garforth International LLC, Toledo, scalable energy productivity capacity is becoming the barOhio. He can be reached at garforthp@cs.com. 58 www.PLANTSERVICES.com June 2008 T http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com

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Plant Services - June 2008

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