Policies, measures and management strategies influencing energy efficiency in the manufacturing industry's evidence from Germany and Colombia

Improved Energy-Efficiency helps not only in enhancing competitiveness through cost reduction but also in minimising environmental degradation. This chapter attempts to determine these factors in the German and Colombian manufacturing industries. Based on the primary data from both countries, the factors that could influence energy efficiency performance are studied. These factors are classified a priori under three categories: Economical Factors, Production Factors, and Political Instruments. The results in both countries should indicate that energy management for the manufacturing industries is important within the business strategy and that the quantification and assessment of energy consumption and energy efficiency are input indicators to improve and optimise processes within a business strategy. Moreover, the results show that in German manufacturing industry, an adequate combination of economical, production and political strategies is the key to achieve better energy efficiency performance, whereas in the Colombian case, improvements in energy efficiency are closely related with economical and production factors. The results suggest that energy policy should include legal and fiscal instruments to generate conditions to improve energy efficiency in the manufacturing industries.