Development of a Performance-based Industrial Energy Efficiency Indicator for Cement Manufacturing Plants

Organizations that implement strategic energy management programs have the potential to achieve sustained energy savings if the programs are carried out properly. A key opportunity for achieving energy savings that plant managers can take is to determine an appropriate level of energy performance by comparing the plant’s performance with that of similar plants in the same industry. Manufacturing plants can set energy efficiency targets by using performancebased indicators. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its ENERGY STAR® program, has been developing plant energy performance indicators (EPIs) to encourage a variety of U.S. industries to use energy more efficiently. This report describes work with the cement manufacturing industry to provide a plant-level indicator of energy efficiency for assembly plants that produce a variety of products, including Portland cement and other specialty cement products, in the United States. Consideration is given to the role that performance-based indicators play in motivating change; the steps needed to develop indicators, including interacting with an industry to secure adequate data for an indicator; and the actual application and use of an indicator when complete. How indicators are employed in the EPA’s efforts to encourage industries to voluntarily improve their use of energy is discussed as well. The report describes the data and statistical methods used to construct the EPI for cement manufacturing plants. Individual equations are presented, as are the instructions for using them in an associated Excel spreadsheet.