Increased Production with Lower Energy Consumption

24 August 2015

Last year, the already energy efficient Danish industrial companies saved five per cent of their energy consumption compared to the previous two years. This is shown by a new assessment of companies' energy consumption, performed by Statistics Denmark.

- Read the assesment from Statistics Denmark (in Danish)

- It is positive numbers not least because industries decrease their in energy consumption, while increasing their production. Our industry produces more with less. It benefits competitiveness and it shows that the Danish core competencies within energy efficiency come into play and create results that benefit Danish growth and welfare, says Anders Stouge, Deputy Director of the Danish Energy Association.

Comparing the figures for energy consumption and production sector by sector, it appears that efficiency is not only an expression that heavy production is replaced with lighter. For example, the plastic, glass and concrete industries used 6.4 per cent less energy, but produced 9.2 per cent more in 2014 compared to 2012. The same pattern is evident in the metal, pharmaceutical, furniture and machinery industries, which all experienced large growth rates and lower energy consumption.

-Industries worldwide are chasing ways to produce with lower energy consumption. Here, we can be proud of the fact that we are frontrunners with the most efficient industrial production, explains Anders Stouge.

Today, Denmark's industrial companies are among the leaders in Europe when it comes to transforming energy production. One reason is decade-long energy saving obligations, where utility companies have been committed to helping the industry to realise the potential savings.

-The industry mainly uses lesser solid fuel and oil, which means that the industry's electricity consumption share increases. And this corresponds well with the fact that electrical solutions often are more energy efficient, says Anders Stouge.

In 2013, Danish energy companies contributed to energy savings of five billion DKK amongst consumers. In total, about DKK 1.3 billion were invested in energy efficiency in the industry as a result of the energy-saving initiatives in 2014. The Danish Energy Agency estimates that these investments add up to a saving of almost three billion DKK in the lifetime of the savings.

Source: Danish Energy Association